Those popular dead trees

If you've been following trends in landscape photography, then you would know what "Dead Vlei" means. If you're unfamiliar with the place, it's basically a very photogenic dried up lake near Sossusvlei in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. In the midst of this dried up lake stand a bunch of dead camelthorn trees.

Despite having been to Sossusvlei in 1995, we didn't actually knew about Dead Vlei back then. So, upon our recent road-trip through Namibia, we just had to make a plan to visit this iconic spot.

The problem with visiting a place of which you can see legions of photos over the course of a year is that it has the risk of not feeling new when you step into it for the first time. That's what happened to me. The place is haunting and special, make no mistake. I just think I'd seen so many photos of it that it didn't take my breath away in real life. I guess that is one of the problems of the modern photographic explosion.

I also found it ironic that you need to travel around 300km of gravel road from any direction to get to the entrance gate, but then you have a lovely 57km stretch of asphalt to take you to within 5km of Dead Vlei and Sossusvlei...the impact of modern tourism demands I guess.

Be that as it may - the other challenge is that it's pretty hard to capture unique and "fresh" photos of this place by now. But then again, I think often us photographers get so caught up in wanting to capture a location in our own unique way that just being in the moment and enjoying the privilege of being in a splendid spot of nature can pass us by.

So here are a couple of photos I was able to grab on the one morning we spent there.
I hope you enjoy them...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm  |  f16  |  1/25 SS  |  ISO-200

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 145mm  |  f11  |  1/400 SS  |  ISO-200

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm  |  f16   |  ISO-200

Let me know what you think of these in the comments below.

Keep clicking!

Morkel Erasmus

Take me to the place where the white boys dance...

To kick off this post, I have to apologise to the band "The Killers", whose song title made a perfect title for this photo and its resulting blog post.

As you may know, we recently returned from an amazing family safari-camping-roadtrip through some of the most iconic places in Namibia. One of the destinations was the famous Etosha National Park. Though it was not my first visit to Etosha, this was definitely my longest to date. We stayed a total of 12 days in the park, to ensure we made the most of each of the main camps and its surrounding regions.

One of the photographic opportunities that has eluded me on my trips to Etosha prior to this one, has been to see and photograph the iconic elephant bulls caked in the white calcium-rich mud of this particular arid ecosystem. In my presentations and workshops, I always make mention of the fact that understanding animal behaviour is key to obtaining good wildlife photos. This particular photo is also the result of such understanding, and a bit of luck...

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 70mm  |  f11  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-560

We first saw these elephant bulls when we transferred from Namutoni camp to Halali camp. They were moving across the pan towards the mudholes at the Springbokfontein waterhole. Because we were busy moving camp and had our big trailers hitched, we could not maximise the sighting for us photographically. It was also in the heat of midday, which meant the heat haze affected the quality of our photos.

During our stay at Halali, I was tempted to see if these bulls perhaps frequent this particular waterhole. I made a late morning run to this waterhole (a 32km trip one way) - and lo and behold, they were there, albeit further from the road than what is ideal. I knew now that these boys were the locals, this was their pub, and they would probably be found here most days until the rains come.

We decided to return in that direction the next morning - and although they weren't there when we first arrived, they had made their way to the same spot far from the road by the time we got back from our brunch stop (we made delicious jaffels on the edge of the Etosha Pan, yum)...this time there were a total of 9 elephant bulls in the immediate area! The 4 we'd seen previously, and another 5. Photos were, again, hampered by the heart haze (it was upwards of 45 degrees Celcius by this time).

That hatched a plan for me. The next day we would be moving from Halali to Okaukuejo, and although the potential is there for the "white ghosts of Etosha" to be photographed around that area as well, I really wanted another crack at getting bankable photos of these boys. So we decided to scoot out to Springbokfontein one last time that afternoon, in hope that they would still be around the waterhole and possibly even close enough for decent photos. Man, were we right!! Some of them had moved off way into the bush, but 2 of the bulls were feeding right next to the road, and they were super relaxed...meaning we could work some really nice closeups and even wide angle shots of them. The golden afternoon light and some puffy clouds made for a very enjoyable afternoon of photography.

Are these photos unique - will they win me awards?
Nope.
Does it matter?
Nope.
Did my friend and I enjoy the culmination of my quest to photograph these white boys?
Immensely.

Go out there, and enjoy your photography!

Morkel Erasmus

Returning to Namibia

For someone who feasibly lives merely a day's hard drive from the glorious expanse that is Namibia, I visit very seldom. I suppose that's the way it is - life gets in the way, other destinations beckon...but that will change soon.

We will be embarking on a 24-day camping adventure, with families in tow, across a vast portion of Namibia. That's something we South Africans love to do - overland camping, lugging everything along from a freezer to a portable shower to a mini-kitchen, "spending a fortune to live like a hobo", as the meme goes.

We were originally only going to go to Etosha for 2 weeks, but then we got thinking - we will be there already, why not add another week? So here is a quick rundown of our trip:

• Etosha National Park
• Spitzkoppe
• Sossusvlei
• Namib Rand Reserve
• Quiver Tree Forest
• Fish River Canyon

As you can see, it's a veritable bucket list of destinations.

We hiked the Fish River Canyon in 2009, and visited Etosha last in 2013, but I haven't been to the Namib desert regions since 1995!

To say we are excited is an understatement...

Camping with those you love under the immense stars in the wide spaces of Namibia for 3 weeks, cut off from social media and the political turmoil and all the drama in the world...eating good food, drinking good wine, taking some photos, reflecting on how God has blessed us...what more could you want?

See you all on the flipside...

Morkel Erasmus

Nikon Unveiled: Understanding Metering Modes

Today I bring you some more behind-the-scenes stuff from my time filming a series of short tutorial YouTube videos with Nikon Asia in Hong Kong back in 2015.

You can't visit Hong Kong and not go and brave the crowds (woah!) to see sunset and the city catch alight with nightlife from Victoria Peak gardens. Here is a photo I captured on this evening (I was even able to capture some photos to be used in the video as stills too):

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 @ 27mm  |  f16  |  15 seconds  |  ISO-200

Certainly not my preferred way of shooting a landscape (I prefer little to no hand-of-man elements), but it did come out nicely with the moving clouds in my opinion.

Here's a photo of me and my lovely wife on top of the viewing tower:

The video I am linking to this post covers the various metering modes used in Nikon's DSLR camera line-up.

I hope you enjoy these behind-the-scenes posts.

Until next time...

Morkel Erasmus