Rock the kasbah

A long-awaited trip to Morocco proves that switching off the urge to complete photo assignments is a lot harder than it looks...

- Tom Mason

What starts out as planning a simple break for leisure soon takes on a life of its own, initial web searches throwing up all manner of awesome locations. In the blink of an eye, I'm once again queuing up at the gate for check-in; my intended holiday has now turned into a full-blown photographic trip, and I'm trying to sneak a photo bag weighing well over the low-cost airline limit above my head. You guessed it: the holiday isn't really a holiday anymore! Being totally objective in reviewing the past five years, I think I've been on one holiday, a short trip back to see some friends, while every other trip I've been on has, in some way, evolved into me working. Probably one of the most notable has to be a trip to Morocco, somewhere my girlfriend and I had both been keen on visiting for years.

The idea of idyllic streets and medinas, tasting the food, and enjoying a total change in culture seemed like a perfect break. My exploratory Googling had seen me build up a list of possible areas to visit, but I wanted to try something different and focus more on travel photography rather than wildlife because this was supposed to be my holiday too!