It’s almost 5 months since my brief and rushed trip to that unbelievable place on Africa’s West Coast. Every time I see one of my images or someone else’s I get a sick feeling inside of me and my whole being aches to get back to the red sands, white grass and Acacia trees. Luckily there is less than 4 months separating me from my next trip to the Namib Rand.
Don’t forget about the C4 landscape photography workshop in the Namib Rand and Sossusvlei from 3-9 April 2011. I will be co-hosting along with award winning nature photographer Shem Compion. Only 6 of 12 spots remaining and they’re filling up quickly so book ASAP!
The images from my first blog article were less than half of the good material I got on my trip in May, but time is scarce and I wanted to get my processing skills back from the grave again. It’s amazing how much it deteriorates after 5 months away from a ‘proper’ computer (not a laptop). I’ve been at home for the majority of winter and thus my processing skills are back on track and better than ever. I’ve processed some of the unseen material and I’ve reprocessed a few which I’ve already posted online in various places. Any critique or queries are welcome!
Biblical - Another one from the most unbelievable sunrise I've ever seen. I tend to always be complaining about how unlucky I am with light and weather on trips, but in this case I was truly fortunate! Stitch of two shots @ 16mm. Here is a slightly larger version - http://hougaard.deviantart.com/art/Biblical-181361944
Netherworld - Mid day light with some alternative processing gives some interesting results. I was just going crazy with snapshots while doing reconnaissance climbs of every dune and hill in sight. I liked the composition so I played around in PS a bit.
Bronze and Blue - These koppies are on a farm owned by one of my dad's best friends. It's just past Grunau next to the B1 and we got there just before sunset after a 900km drive. I scrambled up these rocks and managed to compose a shot in time
Mini Fairy Circle
Acacia Star - The first morning was pretty much fooling around in the dark, but I managed to get one or two good ones. The Raw from this isn't quite nice, but some double blending to get more detail from the branches and highlights gives it a nice touch!
Deep Skies - I posted a similar, but portrait composition with different weather of this exact scene. I don't really know which one I like more. The other sky was much more simple, but this one has better depth and tonal variety
Fairy Circle Twilight - A crescent moon hangs over a landscape unique to this small region of the world. Grass covered dunes strewn with these circles where nothing grows. Reprocessed, but I'm still not quite happy. I tried to get it to look like the velvia version.
Nubib Sunrise - The beautiful farm of the Nubib lodge on my first morning. a Big thanks to Rust Brand for showing me the area and introducing me to all the farmers
Unforgiving - The desolation accentuated by some alternative processing
Inferno - And one last image from that stunning sunrise!
So far I’ve got 4 trips to Namibia for 2011. One in January, March, April and September and really I’m looking forward to the January trip for rain and thunder and the March trip when it’s green! Please feel free to give me some critique!
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