I Had a Henri Cartier-Bresson Moment in Morocco - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

It happened in the "blue city" of Morocco and the story started with a cat, a cat that seemed to be doing yoga.  Most cats we met in Morocco were frantic, always running away, missing one eye or a part of ear and wearing scars on their faces.  In other words, I'm not impressed with them.  

So this day, when I met thy cat in the alley of one street, cleaning herself with the most difficult poses imaginable, I took an interest in her and started photographing her.  And then, bang, a boy come running in my direction...  

El fin.  

Boy-and-Cat-in-the-Alley-Chefchaouen-Morocco-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography-Verticle

Visually, this image instantly reminded me of an image of Henri Cartier-Bresson that was made in Siphnos, Greece, 1961.  What do you think?

P.S. In case you are interested, here's some bonus reading about Henri Cartier-Bresson's approach to his famous "decisive moments":

 ... "he began by picking a background that already seemed interesting to him because of its texture, geometric structure or accumulated images and signs, something he defined as ‘screen’. Then he waited for children or passers-by to come along and find their place in this layout of forms, which he described as 'instant coalition'". - "Learn” Serendipity for More Compelling Photos by Nadia Gric.
 

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Viva, Mexico! - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Five years ago in Mexico city, Jose, in his sarcasm, described how only the modern development collapsed in the (infamous) 1985 earthquake, and all historical buildings stayed intact.  Back then, it was fun to laugh it off.  

Today, my heart wrenched at the sight of loss, fear and agony when the earthquake stroke central Mexico again, exactly 32 years from the last one.

Accordion-Boy-Mexico-City-Mexico-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

I met this boy in the historical centro part of Mexico City.  I so wished that there will be no more separation nor loss due to natural or human-inflicted disasters.    

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Who Let the Cats Out? - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

There isn't much talk about the French painter Jacques Majorelle who put 40 years into creating Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh, Morocco.  There has been a lot of talk about how Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé purchased the garden in 1980.  Probably for that reason, the garden is one of the most visited sites in Morocco.  And for that reason alone, we weren't going to visit the site.  One, I never did and was not interested in owning a YSL item (no offense to YSL).  Two, a garden is not meant to be enjoyed with so many others that are rubbing shoulders with you on a constant basis.

Well, that changed when we realized that the painter's studio is now a museum dedicated to Berber culture (note: Berber, a.k.a., Amazigh.  More on them later).  

Berber-Museum-Jardin-Majorelle-Marrakesh-Morocco-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

Boy, speaking of being mentally under-prepared!  Despite the scorching sun, lines for tickets were so long that it's as if fans of YSL were waiting outside one of its flagship stores for its new season debut.  Following a successful acquisition of the tickets to entrance, it's an upstream battle to fight our way through the crowd, endure the kids' screaming at the group of fish, and the pond that they are in, and get out of way of the selfie aficionado and selfie sticks.  

Finally, the museum was in-sight, along with its ever-so-inspiring colors, textures and shapes.  Oh, wait, all that inspiration has to wait.  It has to wait for more selfies and waves of them.  For an "abstract fine art" that I made above, I assure you, it was not an easy task.  

Seriously, who let the cats out?

Girl-Group-Selfie-Jardin-Majorelle-Marrakesh-Morocco-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

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