Images Dated 20th December 2009

Dead trees and sand dunes in blistering hot sunlight at Deadvlei, Sossusvlei Salt Pan, Namib Naukluft National Park, Namibia

The iconic Deadvlei in the Namibian desert is truly a special place on this planet. I had woken at 4am this morning and was first in line waiting to enter the national park of Sossusvlei Namibia. Upon arriving at the parking area I then proceeded with a long tiring walk in soft dune sand to arrive at Deadvlei which is nestled in between some very large dunes. The sight is quite spectacular yet almost ghostlike and being the first person there I had plenty of time to size up an area I had seen so many photographs of over the years. The textures, shapes and constrasts are indeed quite something and I decided to try something different with this image. I waited until the sun was a bit higher to achieve what I had in mind. I specifically wanted to express in an image the feeling of being in the desert under the blazing african sun with not a drop of water in sight. This was taken at 9am in the morning and the mercury was already approaching 30 Degrees Celsius. Image taken with a Nikon D3s, Nikkor 14-24mm lens @ 14mm, ISO 200, 1/200, f/22. Raw and Processing adjustments included Exposure, Vibrance/Saturation, Noise Removal, Curves and Sharpening

© This content is subject to copyright