Alan Keohane, connecting tourists to Morocco through photography

In the 1980s, Morocco’s mountains were not really a mainstream destination for foreigners and tourists holidaying in North Africa. Back then, tourist activities like trekking, mountaineering or just traveling to the Atlas Mountains were not as common as nowadays. Alan Keohane nevertheless decided to give it a go.

In 1986, right after graduating art school, the British photographer decided to bring people trekking in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. «It was in the days when there weren’t any Moroccan mountain guides and no travel agencies that specialized in mountain tourism. It was a very small industry back then», the Marrakech-based photographer told Yabiladi.

Taking this job has allowed then-graduate photographer to discover the country and visit its hidden gems but also meet its people and take photos.

Working as a mountain guide in Morocco opened several other doors for Keohane, who managed to publish his first book shortly after. «In 1991, I published a book called the 'Berbers of Morocco' and the publishing company commissioned me to do another book 'Bedouin, Nomads of the Desert'».

After finishing his second book, Keohane decided to live in Morocco with his wife. The idea was to settle down in Marrakech and work as a photographer. This decision required him to register as a foreign correspondent to be able to practice photography in the Kingdom.

«I registered as a foreign correspondent and I was the only other British correspondant in the country, there was a journalist who represented Reuters and there was me. There was just the two of us for the English-speaking world», he recalled.

Tourism, a growing industry

Living in Morocco, traveling and working as a photographer has allowed Keohane to witness the evolution of the tourism industry. To him, it went from a small market that few people in the English-speaking world knew about, to a bigger one that currently attracts people from around the world.

He also particularly saw how mountain tourism grew throughout the years. «By the time I was working as a guide none of this tourism that we have now existed», he explained.

«Tourism in the 1980s was very different, no one knew about it and it was not really promoted», he added, recalling that during a conference he attended in Marrakech in 1990 about the development of the tourism industry «journalists asked the minister about his plans on developing mountain tourism and the answer was ‘what mountains?’».

To Keohane, photography has helped promote this type of tourism in Morocco. His work as a foreign correspondent in the country has also participated to that. Thanks to his knowledge of the south and all the traveling his did, he made documentaries for foreign televisions, including the BBC and Australian television networks.

In the early 2000s, the photographer decided to establish his company in Morocco and base his work as a photographer in the country. «Photography can be a very lonely job. I will be most of the time traveling and staying away for long periods alone to take photos. I wanted to be able to go home at the weekend and be with my wife», he explained.

And this is what happened, Alan Keohane opened his studio in Casablanca and focused on taking fashion photographs for magazines and the textile industry, which «was bigger at the time».

But with the opening of international hotel chains and riads in the Kingdom, he decided to go back to tourism. «I ended up giving up my studio in Casablanca», he said, and he started photographing hotels interiors.

Alan and his wife have lived in Morocco for almost 30 years; and see it as a country that has a lot to share. «I spent a very long time traveling across Africa and the Middle East and it was a conscious decision when I asked my wife to live in Morocco», Alan recalled.

Alongside running their photography company through Marrakech, Alan Keohane and his wife still enjoy their adventure in Morocco and plan to visit and discover more places in the country.