Well, I just got back from leading a group to Namibia. If you are unfamiliar with Namibia, you should take the time to learn more about the country and its gorgeous landscapes. We covered a ton of ground, visited many different and unique ecosystems, took tons of photographs, and had an all around great time. From an equipment standpoint, I have never had to send in as many lenses for cleaning as I need to do right now. Out of my 6 lenses on the trip, 4 are being send in to Canon CPS due to sand in the focusing rings. Just a cost of doing business.

here are just a few sample photographs:

Skeleton Cost of Namibia from the air:

Beautiful shots! I love the Sosussvlei shots with the sensuous curves and shadows, but it's hard to choose only one. The trees are so sureal that Dali would be envious.

Great job! Thanks for posting!

Excellent series....the 2nd shot and some towards the end are my favorites.

Great series! But you have some serious vignetting to correct on some (with the balloon for example). #1 could be another planet in a SciFi movie.

WOW! These are fantastic! I particularly like the first one. The contrast between the green water and the sand dunes is amazing.

I like the other images on your site as well. I really dig the B&W treatment of the natives from afar. Great Work.

BTW, all the links on the gallery page at the bottom don't work. They all point to the local nambia06 directory, but should be going to your sites root instead.

Thanks

Thanks for the quick feedback, everybody. Yes, there are some vigetting issues with the 24-105mm lens, but again, these are just quick edits.

Great series...my favorite is the third. I love it's composition. This is a very nice introduction to Namibia for me...it is beautiful. Jarv

FABULOUS, Andy! As you may remember I leave for Zambia at the end of May - but Namibia is on my wish list! These are just lovely. Hope you share some wildlife shots, too... I'll go over and check that forum right now.

Thanks for posting and welcome back!

Just went and skimmed your gallery - I see you got to meet some of the Himba people. Those photos - both color and back and white - are wonderful. Which lens did you use for these? Thanks again.

Edited by Sharona on Apr 26, 2006 at 07:08 AM GMT

Really super set, Andy!
Love the first 4 and 6.
Terrific colors and clarity, and a great sampling of that beautiful country!

Barry

Excellent image. The third is particularly wonderful in its simplicity and the I got to love the aeroplane shot!!
Ute

Andy, amazing work! 1-4 are gorgeous. #3 & #4 being my favorites (almost Dali-esque). I should congratulate you on your #6 too - like a classic landscape shot for a geomorphologist. These are all wonderful and a total treat to view this morning.

To say those shots are stunning I think would be an understatement. You're reminding me why Namibia needs to be on my "must visit someday" list...

Just a quick question: Since you said these are only rough edits, I assume you didn't add much if any color saturation to the dunes? If so, the colors there are just amazing!

Did you have to do a lot of sensor cleaning? Wondering how much sand made it inside the camera bodies vs the lenses. I'm inferring due to the amount of dust and sand there, keeping lens changing to a minimum is a good idea...

Andy - congratulations on a fantastc series. Looks like you really enjoyed yourself out there.

Amazing captures, Andy...every single one of them. One of these days, I'll have to sign up for one of your trips.

L. Bergman wrote:
Just a quick question: Since you said these are only rough edits, I assume you didn't add much if any color saturation to the dunes? If so, the colors there are just amazing!

Did you have to do a lot of sensor cleaning? Wondering how much sand made it inside the camera bodies vs the lenses. I'm inferring due to the amount of dust and sand there, keeping lens changing to a minimum is a good idea...

In ACR, I have not used the saturation slider past about +5 for 99% of the shots. The Skeleton Coast from the air photograph needed a ton of correction work, as shooting through the airplane window messed with the colors pretty badly. So I had to do a crop of the sky, realign the horizon, and increase the contrast. The saturation was at about +10, but the contrast slider was way over to the right. Airplane windows really do horrible things, you know.

Regarding cleaning of my sensors, I had to clean my sensors many times during the trip. I am used to dusty environments to begin with, but this was very different. Sand has the ability to really mess with your camera gear, and I got to a point where I never switched lenses. Here is what I took with me:

Canon 5D
Canon 20D
16-35mm f/2.8 L
24-105mm f/4 L IS
70-200mm f/2.8 L IS
400mm f/4 DO IS
45mm TSE
90mm TSE

For the Kolmanskop ghost town shots, I mostly used the 16-35mm on the 5D. For almost everything else, I used the 5D with the 24-105mm and the 20D with the 70-200mm. I rarely used the TSE lenses, and chose to rely more on the RRS panorama kit instead for stitched panos. I have not yet processed any of the panorama shots, as I am still in the software selection process. I will likely use Panorama Factory, as it is the only pano software that imports and exports 16 bit TIFF files. If any other software does this, I would love to hear about it.

Today I am shipping my 400mm DO, 70-200mm and 24-105mm lenses back to CPS for cleaning. There was one day when the winds were very high out on the dunes, and sand found its way into every place you can imagine. Just a cost of doing business. I am used to sending my gear in for cleaning on occasion, but not 3 at one time like this round.

What would I do differently on the trip? I would probably leave the TSE lenses back at home. Other than that, it was a perfect setup. The 400mm DO was purchased used just for this trip, and now I am actually thinking of keeping it for rental purposes. There are many people who sign up for my wildlife safaris that don't already own long lenses. I have many people ask me where to rent the bigger primes, and this is an easy way for me to add value for people. Heck, I can even bring the lens to Africa for them. I can also rent my 500mm and use the 400mm DO for myself. No preference on my end which is chosen.

Thank you for all of your kind comments. You are all very flattering!

Wow, these are great. One more place to visit on my list! Amazing how u can travel around the globe on this forum!

Beautiful series, Andy...they just kept on getting better in my books as I scrolled through. Thanks for sharing the views of this wonderful country.

Al B

Vey interesting. In particular the slideshow. I liked seeing the participants in the workshop and the inverse anthropologic aspects.

Were those the dunes that elepnants like to slide down in play?

Good question. I had heard about the elephants and their sliding down the dunes, but I don't know of where that takes place.

superb series and website. i was there last summer with my parents and these just remind me of the amazing landscapes. the diversity in scenery was what struck me most, and the large distances between habitation.

it remains the most beautiful place that i have visited and also the most desolate. when i'm earning big bucks in a couple of decades count me in on one of your trips

just had a second look and was wondering where you managed to shoot the Himba women in the dunes? was this a privately organised arangement? these and the chameleon shot are amongst my fav's. did you manage to shoot san tribespeople? many thanks, Andrew.

Hello Andy,

Great series and very interesting text to go with them. All are tremendous, I wouldn't want to pick a favourite.

Andy,
Always look forward to seeing your trip photos...just went through the whole gallery... awsome stuff bud.

aspence111 wrote:
just had a second look and was wondering where you managed to shoot the Himba women in the dunes? was this a privately organised arangement? these and the chameleon shot are amongst my fav's. did you manage to shoot san tribespeople? many thanks, Andrew.

I actually arranged for a more organized pro photo shoot with the Himba. So after a long afternoon of conversation with a translator, and some wonderful cultural exchanges with polaroids that we gave to them, they loved the idea of being subjects out on the open dunes for us. They really had a great time, and we made a generous donation of some maize, sugar and tobacco for their time. We really did have a great time with these ladies, and based on their smiles, comments and overall attitude, I have to say that they enjoyed it as well.

We didn't make it to the San people, as we were many hundreds of kilometers away from where they are based. We didn't make it to the eastern part of the country where the Kalahari starts and the Namib ends. Perhaps next time.

Wow, fantastic series Andy!!