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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Four: Photographing human response – gesture, body language, and expressions > Haggling in the souks, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
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29-DEC-2006

Haggling in the souks, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006

Haggling is an art form in Marrakesh. You generally offer one third of the asking price and if not successful, you walk away. Often, the seller will come after you with a counter offer. No matter how low the price may go, the seller usually wins in Marrakesh. I stood on a street corner, some distance away from this shop. My subjects were standing on the sidewalk just in front of it. I used a 375mm telephoto lens, making myself invisible to them so as not to affect their behavior. They never saw me because of that distance and because they were so involved in the bargaining. Using my continuous shooting mode, I made about twenty images of this encounter in three separate bursts. I liked this one the best because of the intensity of the gesture. The seller, at right, is doing everything he can to persuade the man at left to buy. He invades the anonymous customers space, his grasping fingers fail the air inches away from the man’s jellaba. My goal here was to express the intensity of the bargaining process through body language and gesture.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/400s f/8.0 at 79.1mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis26-Jan-2007 19:24
That is exactly what is happening here, Mo, and I tried to tell the story as best I could through the intensity of inter-related body language and gesture.
monique jansen26-Jan-2007 17:07
Very intense atmosphere in this photo. The guy on the right is trying with all his might to talk the guy on the left into something, he is using his body to try to convince the guy, who remains an abstraction
Phil Douglis16-Jan-2007 20:49
I love the way you phrase this, Jen. "The seller invades the customer's space and seems determined to 'get' him." You are right -- this is what he does for living. He sells things, and you can feel his passion in those hands. I also liked your point about execting the next momement in this still photograph. That is what makes still photography so wonderfully expressive, Jen. We stop time on one hand, but we imply a continuation of movement on the other. What happens next is up to the imagination of the viewer. As you know, and as you demonstrate in our own work, engaging the imagination is at the core of expressive photography.
Jennifer Zhou16-Jan-2007 13:17
I see why you chose this photo out of the 20 images you made Phil. The hands are about to grab the shoulder of that man, you freezed them right there in time, his hands and the shadows together intensify the moment. The gesture is full energy and I kind of start to expect the next movement in this still photograph.

The buyer is hiding himself in the jellaba, a passive gesture, a sense of self protection. But the seller as you said invades the customer's space and seems to be determined to "get" him. A great story-telling photo which was interpreted in your very own way.
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