Category: Landscapes

Sossusvlei – Valley of Dunes

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Sossusvlei – Valley of Dunes

Dunes

Sossusvlei would have to be one of the highlights of this trip for me due to the amazing sand dunes (another was Etosha).   The Namib-Naukluft National Park covers an area of nearly 50,000 square kms.  It is one of the largest nature reserves on our planet.  Sossusvlei is located in its southern reaches and is where mountainous sand dunes cloak the Namib Desert.  These are known as star dunes because they are formed by equally strong winds from different directions.   The Sossusvlei dunes are considered to be the world’s highest.

Sossus Dune Lodge

We spent three nights at the Sossus Dune Loge in huts spread out around the base of a mountain, joined by a boardwalk with quite a long walk to reach our rooms.  Our first day here in 46 degree heat wasn’t the most comfortable.  Our rooms although nicely appointed didn’t have air-conditioning,

 Thankfully the next couple of days the temperature dropped to mid to high 30s.  As well as trips to the dunes, we had options of helicopter flights and ballooning.  I did both and will bring you pics in a future post.

Sossusvlei - Valley of Dunes

Dune 44

Sossusvlei - Valley of Dunes

Sossusvlei - Valley of Dunes

Mrs & Mr Ostrich at sunset

Sossus Dune Lodge

Aerial view of our accommodation – Sossus Dune Lodge

Luderitz & Ghost Town Kolmanskop

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Luderitz

After a short flight we landed at our next stop, the town of Luderitz located on the coast.  Surrounded by sand dunes and nine kilometres inland from Luderitz is the airport.  I still remember our Cessna 210 landing and seeing the rest of our tour group (from the “caravan”) walking into the terminal.  The mass of sand that was being blown around in the high winds meant that I could only see just their upper torso as their legs were lost.

Our lovely hotel (Ludertiz Nest Hotel) was situated right on the waters edge just out of town.  We spent two nights here which meant we were able to make three visits to Kolmanskop.

Ghost Town Kolmanskop

Kolmanskop is amazing.  The Ghost Town of Kolmanskop is now an abandoned diamond mining town which has been overrun by the sands of the Namib Desert.  In its heyday the town was home to over 300 German prospectors and their children.  Along with about 800 Ovambo labourers which had come from the North.  There were grand residences for the mine manager and other key personnel.  A state of the art hospital, bowling alley, casino, baker, ice factory, slaughterhouse, theatre, clubhouse, and library etc.

The discovery of the first diamond in 1908 brought an influx of fortune seekers to the area.   So began the construction of the buildings between 1908 – 1910, the town peaking during the late 1920s.  Due to dwindling diamond deposits and richer finds to the south, the processing plant was shut down in 1936.  The offices were moved south and the hospital was closed down a few years later, with the the last resident departing the town in 1956.

 

Kolmanskop

Kolmanskop

Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop

Fish River Canyon

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And so it begins, a two week landscape photography tour with a couple of my favourite photographers, Christian Fletcher and Nick Rains, and twelve other wonderful photographers who helped make this a very special journey for me. Stunning scenery, wildlife, more stunning scenery, more wildlife and one on one time with Christian and Nick plus the never ending supply of food.

Fish River Canyon

The second largest canyon in the world (the Grand Canyon in Arizona is the largest) is pretty spectacular but I found it rather difficult to photograph.  The enormity of it was overwhelming, so a little help from Nick and Christian was appreciated to get me started.  Individual cottages lined up along the rim of the canyon was our accommodation for the next few nights.

 Our accommodation at Fish River Canyon was in individual cottages lined up along the rim of the canyon.  The cottages branched out either side of the restaurant, reception, deck and pool area.  As the front of the cottages were glass fronted the view was incredible.  A brilliant coloured sunset greeted us on our first evening.  After that night the wind picked up to a howling gale and we quickly found out why there were no internal doors in the room.  They also provided earplugs with the room key for those that had trouble sleeping with wind noise.

Our days here here at the canyon filled with landscape photography, editing and a game drive for those that wished to.  We went looking for the Mountain Zebra.  Unfortunately the Zebra were not to be found but we did come across Springbok and Oryx.  Here’s a couple of pics from this location.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoy seeing some of my trip to Namibia.

Fish River Canyon

Sunset Fish River Canyon

 

Sunrise Fish River Canyon

Sunrise Fish River Canyon

 

Quiver Tree

Quiver Tree

 

Fish River Canyon

 

 

2nd Place Perth Nationals

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2nd Place Rural Life

2nd Place in the Perth Nationals Australian Rural Life.

I’ve been entering the Perth Nationals or the (Perth Royal Show Photography Competition) for the last couple of years now and have achieved a merit in this category every year but have never been able to make it into a placing until now.  The above image was taken from a helicopter last year during our motorbike trip to Darwin.  It’s an aerial image shot over Packsaddle Plains.  I have no idea what the crop is that has been planted but it looks like an awful lot of something.

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The Wonders of Victoria Dam

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On a recent overnight visit to Perth I headed up to Victoria Dam (a water supply for Perth City) in Carmel early in the morning.  My aim was to do some birding but it turned out to be much, much more.  It’s quite a walk on the weekends as the 2nd car park is closed and that’s closer to the dam.  Armed with my 300mm f2.8 birding lens and backpack with some breakfast, oh and don’t forget the rain coat as it had rained overnight and was still threatening to start again.  I didn’t find any birds that I hadn’t photographed before.  I was hoping for some Firetails or a Western Rosella, maybe next time.

Birds

This Australasian Grebe was happy to forage around in his little pond with me photographing him until a family joined us and the noise scared him into the reeds.  I was quite surprised at how well he blended in with the ground and the water in the 2nd image.

The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is a common sight in many areas.  We have them roosting in the bush behind our place. This female was not alarmed by my presence and stayed long enough for me to get a few shots off.  This is a female (white bill and yellow spots) Forest Red-tail, a subspecies found in the South West of Western Australia.  These birds are listed as Vunerable, if you wish to read more about them here’s a link to the WA Museum.

Victoria Dam-3

Australasian Grebe

Victoria Dam-5

 

and More

The early morning light, recent rain and a good quality lens at a big aperture make for good bokeh.  Here’s a great little article on Bokeh is you’re interested in the effect. I’ve never really used my 300mm lens for anything other than birding or sports photography.  Today was a different story.  There was just too much to photograph and I didn’t have another lens with me.

Victoria Dam-4

The low cloud cover, or was it fog, in the valley created a beautiful mood which I did my best to capture.

Victoria Dam-2

I was very surprised to see the city appearing out of the clouds.  Quite a cropped image but I think shows the diversity of the views from the walk down to the dam.  In conclusion, it appears that I didn’t photograph Victoria Dam itself.  And as I didn’t photograph any new birds perhaps I need to come back another time.

Victoria Dam-1

York Art Society Photographic Awards

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For the last 5 years or so I’ve been entering local Agricultural Show photographic competition/exhibitions with a good success rate.  This year I’ve decided that it’s time to lift the bar and enter a different “class” of competition, I guess you could say.  Starting off with The York Society at the Sandalwood Gallery.  This competition required images to be framed and by looking at the judges comments, the frame has a big impact on the judging.  They have 4 categories – Open Colour, Creative, Monochrome and York subject.  I’m very pleased to say that I took out 1st place Mono category for this image and also a Highly Commended in the Open Colour.

York Art Society 1st Place Mono