Jan-Erik Saß
“Since nature was always an important part in my life, I simply wanted to make more out of it and ended up freezing scenes in photos to share them with others. That is also how photographing nature makes me realize every time, how worth protecting our beautiful planet really is.”
Equipment used:
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 and Sony a6300, Sony 70-200 f4 G
Location:
Namib Desert, Namibia
In May/ June 2019 I became the opportunity to travel two weeks around Namibia while dry season. A part of it was the Namib Desert which is one of the oldest deserts in the world. From the moonlike and vast mountain ranges towards the inland of Namibia, to the incredible Sossusvlei and the dunes at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It offers a wide range of different habitats.
When I wanted to take my first landscape photos, I noticed that a wide-angle lens does not do it for me. There was so much going on that it was difficult to make stand out a subject. As I also wanted to take pictures of wildlife, I brought tele-zoom lenses with me. They where much better suited for those areas in my opinion. It is also a great way to isolate abstract scenes out of the landscape. This was the beginning of the utilization of tele lenses for landscape in my photography workflow.
I like a strong contrast in my images, and this suits my photos from Namibia perfectly. It complements that it is a challenge to live in these harsh environments. Furthermore, I want to give my audience an idea of one thing that impressed me the most, which is the loneliness that you can experience there. No surprise because Namibia has the 2nd less population density in the world and we drove hours without seeing other people. That’s why the photos with mostly simple and minimalist scenes represent this fact very good, I think.
It is definitely an awesome place to take photos and I can’t wait to visit Namibia again…
Photos are made to be seen!