FIELD

N° 03 · DOSSIER 013

Aït Bougmez · High Atlas · Morocco · 31°41′N 6°27′W

The Bougmez Underfoot

One day, three locations, two runners, a mule guide. November 2025.

Region High Atlas

Coords 31°41′N 6°27′W

Elev. 1,800 m

Date NOV 2025

Frames 24

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Aït Bougmez · High Atlas · 31°41′N 6°27′W

Dramatic / almost hostile

1200 Depart / 1400 Gorge / 1600 Pass / Tsiki — Sunset and Blue Hour. One day. Two runners. A mule guide named Bassouz.

LOCATION

High Atlas foothills, southern Morocco

A single day's route from the Aït Bougmez Valley through Happy Valley Gorge to the Tsiki Pass — three locations, gorge to summit, daylight to dark.

Region High Atlas

Coords 31°41′N 6°27′W

Elevation 1,800 m

Date November 12, 2025

Happy Valley

[PROSE: arrival, the road giving way to dirt, "Happy Valley" by name. Donkeys loaded with hay, terraced fields stepping up toward the gorge mouth.]

◆ FIELD NOTE · DOSSIER 013

Happy Valley Gorge · 31°41′N

“ [FIELD NOTE: placeholder — short line about Bassouz]

Field note · Day 4

Desert Valley Road 50&stitch vertical panorama

Scale

[PROSE: the country opens up after the gorge. Switchbacks cut into scree. The runner is a dot against the terrain.]

Achmed and Aziza on the Tsiki switchback.

When the Light Drops

[PROSE: dusk. Ten degrees in twenty minutes. The pass changes character.]

◆ FIELD NOTE · DOSSIER 013

Tsiki Pass · 31°41′N

“ [PULL QUOTE: placeholder — the brief's 'dramatic / almost hostile' lands hardest here]

Field note · Day 4

DOSSIER 013 · PROOF SHEET

Selected frames.

12 FRAMES · SELECT

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06

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HEIST.STUDIO / FIELD 35mm + 50mm + 70-200mm · NOV 2025

One day.

Village to summit to dark.

12:00

Depart

Leave the retreat. Drive south toward Aït Bougmez.
14:00

Happy Valley Gorge

Bassouz meets the group. Mule, donkeys, slot canyon.
15:00

AGA Mountain Field

Open terrain. Four frames. The weakest light of the day.
16:00

Tsiki Pass

Switchbacks, scree, ridgeline. The country opens.
18:30

Sunset

Golden hour on the pass. Two-figure silhouettes.
19:30

Blue hour

Speedlight and headlamp. Flash on rock spires.
21:30

Return

Hammam and hot tub. The day is done.

What the country gives. What the light takes.

THE COUNTRY

[PROSE: what the gorge and pass give — natural framing, scale, the mule guide, the runners as figures in a landscape that doesn't care about them.]

THE LIGHT

[PROSE: what the light takes — the compressed schedule, the lost detail shots, the gender gap, the techniques that happened by accident not by plan.]

Kit manifest.

Two bodies, three lenses, one speedlight, and a Black Mist filter.

01 PRIMARY

Canon EOS R5 Mark II

Primary body. Daylight and dusk.

02 SECONDARY

Canon EOS R5

Secondary body. Paired with the 70-200mm.

03 PRIMARY

RF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Primary lens. Gorge portraits, motion blur, firelight.

04 SECONDARY

RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM

Wide. Switchbacks, ridge silhouettes.

05 TELEPHOTO

RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Telephoto. Compressed the pass switchbacks.

06 NIGHT

Speedlight + Nanlite

Night flash work on the pass. Headlamp portraits.

DOSSIER 013 TOTAL: 24 FRAMES

◆ CONTINUE THE FIELD

Next from the archive.

All dossiers →

N° 01 · DOSSIER 011

Nomads of Djebel Saghro.

A day with the Ait Atta — tea, bread, herds, and firelight in the volcanic highlands.

Anti-Atlas · 31°16′N

Read dossier →

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