Earlier in 2017 I had the opportunity travel to Namibia and go on assignment for Olympus Australia . The goal was to show off the diversity and durability of the OM-D E-M1 Mark II in an extreme environment by capturing both video and photo content of this off-the-beaten path destination .
It turned out that Namibia was the perfect place for this assignment . I had never been there before and had very little knowledge of the country .
I had , of course , done my research and knew of the places I wanted to see and capture . But Namibia is one of those countries that will take quite some commitment and time to get around . It ’ s a big country ! The perfect road trip country really . Although 90 % of the trip was spent on gravel roads , because Namibia doesn ’ t really have an extensive network of paved tarmac roads . Let ’ s rather call it the perfect ‘ off-roadtrip ’ country .
There was one particular shot I was after .
So , immediately after landing in Windhoek and picking up the fully equipped 4x4 , I set out on the 6h drive to catch the golden sunrise in Deadvlei .
Since Deadvlei is inside the Sesriem National Park the gates only open 30min before sunrise . Giving you just enough time to make it to the iconic valley of dead trees at the end of the road . And after a short 20 minute hike through the soft sand my destination appeared between the mountain like dunes .
With a few seconds to spare it hits me : I just travelled half way around the world , driven all night and gotten up to see , experience and capture this one particular moment , and it was about to happen , right here , right now !