Northern Namibia 2011

[tcom]

Hi

I returned the weekend from an awesome three weeks trip in northern Namibia.

The trip was an excellent mix between mostly landscape photography in very remote areas (ie. seeing one other car in 3 days) during the first week and wildlife the other two weeks.

Equipment taken:

• Pentax K-5 for mainly wildlife
• DA*60-250 for wildlife
• DFA100/2.8 WR for macro
• DA15 for cityscapes when I did not want to show around the 645D in the streets
• Grip for K-5
• Pentax 645D for landscapes
• DFA645 25/4
• DFA645 55/2.8
• FA645 75/2.8
• Light laptop to sort the photos and take notes
• GPS receiver to geotag the photos

Well, the camera bag was pretty heavy but it was well worth it.

Prime lenses are not that ideal on areas where you are not supposed to leave the car. This is especially a problem on ultra wide angle lenses where the foreground gets important. I intended to use the DA15 on the last day when having free time in Windhoek instead of walking around with the 645D, but I finally decided to not take any photo in Windhoek. I could have left the DA15 at home.

The equipment worked really well in these harsh, extremely dusty and hot conditions (42°C during the day). The weather sealing worked great.


At the moment, I am still sorting and processing the photos, it will still take a few days before I do start posting the photos here.

[blackcloudbrew]

Can't wait to see them! Welcome back.

[tcom]

Well, let's start with a small posting, I am too tired after all the sorting and processing...

First of all, here is a map of the trip: http://g.co/maps/2przj

October 1st

The first day started pretty slowly, after landing at 6am in Windhoek and after immigration, we took the road to the Erongo region.


Rock Hyrax
1
K-5, DA*60-250, 250mm, f/4, 1/1000s, 80iso


Omaruru Kuppe
2
K-5, DA*60-250, 108mm, f/4, 1/1250s, 80iso


Be careful...
3
645D, FA645 75/2.8, f/2.8, 1/1250s, 100iso


To be continued...

[Ron Kruger]

I really like taking these trips with you, and fantisizing that I also own a 645D.

[davidhampshire]

oh,   wow,   i've seen some of your photos on ppg over  the past year,    and i always love them.   and for some reason,   almost always know they are your photos,   why is that?      very cool.     if i remember correctly you did some infrared too,  that are awesome.   dave

[Mike Pearson]

Great start Dominique, bring them all on 

Mike

[tcom]

Thank you for the comments so far.

[tcom]

4
645D, FA645 75, f/8, 1/320s, 100iso


5
K-5, DA*60-250, 250mm, f/4, 1/125s, 80iso


6 Tented bungalows of the Erongo Wilderness Lodge
K-5, DA*60-250, 60mm, f/4, 1/250s, 80iso


Sundowner in the rocks by the evening
7
645D, DFA645 25, f/4.5, 1/125s, 100iso


Well, that's it for the first day.

[tcom]

October 2nd

We did not need a wake up call in the morning, baboons nearby took charge of it.

We take an early morning walk around the lodge.

8
645D, DFA645 25/4, f/4, 1/50s, 100iso


9 Rosy-faced Lovebirds
K-5, DA*60-250, 250mm, f/4, 1/320s, 200iso

[tcom]

10
K-5, DA*60-250, 140mm, f/14, 1/800s, 80iso


11
645D, DFA645 55/2.8, f/10, 1/200s, 100iso

[tcom]

12
645D, DFA645 55/2.8, f/10, 1/320s, 80iso


13 To give a scale, can you see the tented bungalows of the lodge on the left?
645D, FA645 75/2.8, f/7.1, 1/400s, 100iso


After this, we return to the lodge for breakfast and pack our stuff.

[Ron Kruger]

Pretty desolate place. I was impressed with that orange dragonfly and the love birds. I've noticed you like ISO 80 on the K5. At first, I thought it was a gimic, but I too can see a real difference just 20 points makes.

[tcom]

Yes, it is a desolate place, but it is really impressive to walk in this region where it looks like some giants played with some giant granit rocks.

I thought the 80iso of the K-5 was a gimic as well until I tried it out and found it does bring out some superb color rendition not found at higher iso.

[tcom]

Well, we continued the trip, heading in western direction towards Brandberg, the highest mountain of Namibia.

We stopped in Uis where we were joined by the second vehicle, the supply vehicle containing food, drinks, tents, sleeping bags, tenting equipment and spare parts for both vehicles just in case as we will be sleeping in tents in very remote areas for most of the first week.

Then we continued and took the southern track around the Brandberg. We stopped shortly because of a Chameleon on the street:

14
K-5, DA*60-250, 180mm, f/4, 1/1000s, 80iso


We take a lunch break in the wild:

15
645D, FA645 75/2.8, f/7.1, 1/800s, 100iso

[tcom]

We take another stop later in the afternoon for a pretty unique plant, the Welwitschia Mirabilis:

16
645D, DFA645 25/4, f/7.1, 1/250s, 100iso


17
645D, FA645 75/2.8, f/10, 1/320s, 100iso