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October 19, 2010

Travel Time…

As the last clouds leave the Cape, the First billowing thunder heads roll on to the other parts of Southern Africa. This is my time to leave the prison cell that is my desk and head for freedom in the mountains, the deserts and on the coastline. New goals and new aspirations call for new material and that is exactly what I’m planning. I’m finally going to Hole in the Wall and the great Drakensberg. Two of South Africa’s most prominent landscapes that are not only missing from my portfolio, but that I have never seen with my own eyes.

Hopefully La Niña will deliver some of these!

I leave this Sunday the 24th on a 5 week trip that looks roughly as follows

  • 3 nights at the Storms River Mouth
  • 2 nights at Kenton on Sea
  • 5 nights at Hole in the wall
  • 2 nights at Giants Cup in the Drakensberg
  • 2 nights at Kamberg in the Drakensberg
  • 5 nights at Mahai in the Drakensberg
  • 1 night at Golden Gate
  • 6 nights of workshops in Bloemfontein and Pretoria… can’t be all play, no work
  • 5 nights at the Rhodes/Barkly mountains
  • Then it’s the December holidays including
    • 3 nights at the Barkly mountains…again :)
    • 5 nights at the Dwesa reserve on the wild coast
  • In late January I head off to the Blyde River Canyon for 4-6 nights
  • 4 nights at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
  • 4 nights in Kokerboom kloof in the Richtersveld
  • 2 nights on the farm Kanaan in the Namib rand…remember in my Namib post I mentioned the book with the amazing images? All taken on Kanaan!
  • 2 nights at a lodge next to Wolwedans
  • 2 nights at Sossusvlei
  • 1 night at Augrabies
  • 2 nights rest in Pretoria
  • 6 nights Sehlabathebe in Lesotho

Wilderness night skies

(more…)

October 6, 2010

Namibia: The Ancient Frontier II

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!

October 3, 2010

Mitchell Krog

The name Mitchell Krog has become synonymous with electric storm photography amongst South Africans. Apart from his mindblowing lightning shots, he also has a stunning and comprehensive collection of nature photography from Macro to landscapes to wildlife. To see more of his work and find out more about the man behind the camera you can visit his website and for any inquiries you can contact him via email

The beautiful Blyde River Canyon in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa captured at sunrise. This is the 3rd largest canyon in the world and also one of the greenest. Nature sure did not disappoint me this morning and it's a location I will be exploring more in the future.

One of the most recognisable animals of Africa has got to be the Elephant. Under a very dramatic stormy sky we came across these two elephants walking across the open plains of the Maasai Mara. The colour image holds its own ground but the black and white reigns supreme.

I spent several days in Namibia in 2009 and Deadvlei although well traversed and well photographed still offers many unique opportunities for a landscape photographer. Having seen so many thousands of images of this iconic world heritage site I tried something different and I have a soft spot for the resulting image.

If there is one place in the world to see a Cheetah in an environment that shows it off best, that place is the Maasai Mara. I had numerous sightings of Cheetah on my last trip there and this particular Cheetah sat for some time posing for us Papparazzi and she seemed to really enjoy the attention.

On a hot summer's night in Namibia under a starry sky I captured this image of some Quiver trees against the beautiful night sky. The clouds which I first thought may be a nuisance that night turned out to be a perfect element for the image and add a whole new dimension.

The Maasai Mara certainly holds many opportunities for the landscape photographer, granted it's not the cheapest detsination in the world but well worth it. This particular morning the most amazing glow from the sun just created the most idyllic scene I've seen in some time.

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