Okay so this location has been photographed once or twice before but it is amazing.
Check out my blog post on this location. Deadvlei: A Namibian Icon
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New on 500px : Stark by morden_ohare by morden_ohare
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Tag Archives: deadvlei
New on 500px : Light Streaks by Justinreznick by Justinreznick
Early morning light at Deadvlei, Namibia.
Prints: justinreznick.com
Workshops: landscapephototours.com
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New on 500px : Extreme Fogscape by MarselvanOosten by MarselvanOosten
Before you start reading: please click on the image above to see it on black. I spend about a month in Namibia every year, and I have been doing so for some 14 years now. In the beginning, people were amazed when I showed them my first pictures from Namibia – most people had never heard of the country, let alone that they’d seen any images from it; ‘Wow, that must have been photoshopped!’ Soon after our first visit, my wife and I set up the first photography tour to Nambia in the world. It was an instant success, and the past years we’ve been doing two to three tours to this amazing country every year. Needless to say I have quite a few Namibia shots. One of the creative challenges for any photographer, and that includes me, is to try not to duplicate what you’ve already done before. The first few years that was not very difficult, but after five years or so it started to get more challenging. There were times that I thought I had tried all the lenses, all the viewpoints, different lighting conditions, different seasons. An additional ‘problem’ in my case was that my Namibia images were pretty well known fairly quickly, which resulted in Namibia being high on most landscape photographers To Visit lists. The moment you get thank you letters from the Namibian Tourism Board for promoting their country, you know enough. So the more photographers started visiting Namibia, the bigger that creative challenge got – not only did I have to make sure to not duplicate what I had shot there myself, but also what other people had been shooting there. The fact that I was bringing groups of serious photographers there myself every year obviously didn’t help, not to mention the fact that suddenly many other landscape photographers from all over the world started to set up tours to Namibia as well. But as they say: competition is good, it pushes you harder. And so it did. I was the first photographer to create an extensive night photography portfolio from Namibia many years ago, and many have followed since. Then I was the first to create a time-lapse video in Namibia that was shot entirely at night, and pretty soon many followed. Am I complaining? No, that’s just how things work. Especially with the amount of exposure you can get on the internet in general and this site in particular. It just makes it harder and harder to come up with something original. Another complicating factor is the fact that with landscape photography it is very easy to copy someone’s composition, especially if you know how to find the location. With Deadvlei that’s not very difficult. On multiple occasions I’ve run into photographers in Deadvlei who had my images on their phone and were trying to find the compositions that I had used in those shots. And on last year’s trip, I saw a photo tour leader there who found the exact spot from where Frans Lanting had taken a photograph that was published in Nat Geo the year before. His participants were all lining up behind him to copy the shot. So what can you do? Keep thinking about new possibilities. It’s hard, and it’s getting harder every year, but there will always be creative possibilities that have not yet been explored – or at least: not at your specific location. Whenever I see a photograph from another photographer from this place, I can point out exactly on Google Maps which tree it is and in what direction it was shot. It’s sick, I now – I’ve been there too many times. But I’m leaving for Namibia in a few weeks again, and I have already thought about what I will try to shoot there this time. That’s how the panorama you see here from three years ago was born as well. Sure, people had shot panos in Deadvlei before, but I decided to shoot one with a 200mm lens in rare foggy conditions. It’s the combination of those two creative decisions that have resulted in a unique image – for me, that’s what it’s all about. The pano above was shot with a 70-200/2.8 lens and it consists of 21 stitched images. The original size is 21,000 pixels on the longest side, hence the ridiculous aspect ratio. I apologize for the verbal diarrhea – too much caffeine this afternoon. But before I forget: If you would like to join me in a few weeks on this year’s Namibia Untamed tour and learn more about landscape and night photography, then you’re in luck: due to a cancellation we have one opening again, and we offer a 500 Euro Last Minute discount as an extra incentive. If you’re interested, and of course you are, please check out our website for more information: Squiver Photo Tours & Workshops Hope to see you there! Marsel ©2014 Marsel van Oosten, All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.
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New on 500px : Lessons From The Desert by HougaardMalan by HougaardMalan
| Facebook | DA | Website | Blog | Prints | Please like my facebook page for more frequent updates on travels, photos, tips, tutorials and photographic expeditions. I always tell my ‘students’ that nothing is more important than putting yourself in a landscape and practicing as much as you can. Those words always hit home when I revisit a place that I thought I knew. After spending 7 weeks in Namibia (bringing my total time spent there to nearly 5 months) I would certainly like to consider myself wiser. There were quite a few differences this time, but the most prominent was probably that I had two cameras instead of one and for the first time I had a long lens. People who own one camera will think of every imaginable excuse to get a second one…I can say this from experience. I finally justified buying second body to start shooting timelapse so that I could shoot stills AND TL when the light is great. The two bodies certainly fulfilled that requirement, but I also learned the pain of dragging 2 bodies, 4 lenses, 2 tripods and enough water around the desert. Having a second body was by no means revolutionary to my experience of Namibia, but a long lens was. I have always been stubbornly addicted to wider lenses and ever since getting Nikon’s super-light and ultra-sharp 70-200mm f/4 I have been in love. This lens truly came to life in the Desert where so many landscape features lose scale through the 14mm. Nowhere was this more apparent than at Sossus- and Deadvlei. This location has never really spoken to me and prior to this year I had spent more time chilling than shooting in Namibia’s iconic sandy bowl full of petrified trees. Approaching it with a longer lens changed my view completely and I really enjoyed Deadvlei for the first time. Capturing the scale of the place is not an easy task, but I think I may have a shot or two that does it justice. Below is just one little spoiler of my Namibia images from this year’s trip. There are many still to come and I think that my relationship with the desert has taken a few steps forward. I enjoyed Kolmans as much as Deadvlei, I had three opportunities over Sossus for Aerials, the light was at it’s best Spitzkoppe and I even ventured north to Etosha. I depart for the Wild Coast tomorrow and after that I’m taking a short breakaway to Magoebas. I’ll have the best of Namibia up on my site before the 10th of May! This image is the intellectual property of Hougaard Malan. It may not be used in any way without the author’s written consent.
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