The sand dunes in Namibia are a sight to behold. They are among the highest and oldest dunes in the world, some reaching up to 300 meters tall! The dunes have a variety of colors, from pale yellow to deep red, depending on the mineral content and the time of day. The dunes are constantly shaped by the wind, creating curves and ridges that contrast wonderfully with the clear blue sky.
One great thing about a zoom lens like this 70-200mm for landscape photography is it allows this nice effect called “compression,” where you can do effects like this. The technique brings in the two layers of sand dunes from beyond and make them look more dramatic. I kept a little bit of light on the back sand dune to give a clue that I didn’t just Photoshop in a darker background. I don’t do that sort of thing, even though I could.
Deadvlei, Namibia
This is a rather unique Quiver tree, on the edge of the largest canyon in Namibia. Every one of these trees is totally unique, and one never looks like another. They feel a bit like humans or words in that way, and how they work in context to one another and the environment is as interesting as their individual shape. One evening, the sky was as clear as still water and everything came out in context behind and through the tree.
Visrivier Canyon, Namibia
TreyRatcliff.com
A study of light, shade and texture.
Dipping into NFTs with my Burning Man images has been a fun experience so I’ve selected a handful of my other art, converted into animated content and listed on OpenSea. You’ll find a whole range of options from straight up purchases to auctions and a couple of other twists. For example, if you’ve been considering one of my massive fine art prints for a while then this is a great way to get in on the action, you can bid on one as an NFT and receive the 1.66 x 2.5 meter physical print if you win!
Here is a little preview of one NFT…
Check out this preview of Madagascar, one of the many places we are going on the upcoming Africa Photo Workshop. I learned all sorts of things about this place… like 80% of the species there are found nowhere else on earth. There’s a whole documentary on Netflix too about it where you get to hear the sweet whispers of Sir David Attenborough!
Of course, the workshop is not just going to Madagascar, but also Zimbabwe and Botswana. It is going to be amazing!
Be sure to visit our workshops page to find out what’s happening next. In this little promo video below, you’ll see quite a bit of footage from Africa!
I’ve had a ton of fun going back into my unprocessed back catalog and re-processing them with some of these latest tools. In today’s adventure, you’ll see a fairly “harsh” (maybe that is too harsh of a word) treatment of this street scene from Paris.
Here’s one of my favorite (and rather simple) photos from Namibia. The deserts there are so beautiful, and it is a little confusing to figure out where to shoot. It all sort of looks the same, in a strange, flowing way. So, I found this all to be a particularly interesting challenge… actually I think everyone at our Africa workshop did!
I’m really excited about this upcoming trip to Africa. Check our Workshops page to see if it or the one in 2019 in New Zealand are still available. We had such a blast on the first Africa one for sure! While we were there, actually, we recorded the first series of “Becoming an Artist” (click to get the whole thing in our store).
When we travel, we’re such an affable, fun-loving group of artists that we end up making great friends with all the staff at these resorts. I often think at times the guests kind of ignore that staff and just think of them as servants or something. Not us! They join in with us as much as possible and come to our after-dinner parties. This is a photo of some of the amazing crew from Namibia after they finished making an amazing breakfast on top of a mountain.
This is a great phone! I loved it so much that I bought my wife one… the camera is just incredible too. I’ve just set a little reminder to put together a Pixel-only gallery so you can see some of my favorite shots.
While in Namibia, we visited this village and saw these gentlemen start a fire. I watched closely, as I always have this fear that I’m gonna end up alone in the wild and I’ll need to know how to do this. Even though I watched every little detail, I’m still not sure I could repeat it. I think a better plan is just to take these guys with me.
What? You didn’t get this one yet? Be sure to grab it in our online store. You can buy and download right now! 🙂 It’s our highest-quality production and I think you’ll love it. 🙂
For those of you that saw Episode 1 of Becoming an Artist, you’ll remember I was in this dugout rowing around hippo-infested waters! After we were done with filming, I took a photo of our awesome camera gal Bel Jones here, relaxing with her hand in the water. It’s handy to have both a camera person and a model all in the same person! 🙂
