New video of Squiver workshop Turkey

It took a while, but the video impression of our landscape photography workshop in Cappadocia (Turkey) is finally ready!

The setting for this tour is simply stunning. We will take you to the best spots to photograph the surreal fairy chimneys, bizarre rock formations and beautiful valleys where cave houses and churches hewn out in the rocks used to be. We will also visit some hidden gems far off the beaten track where regular tourists don't go - that is how you get truly original images.

Because driving times to the various shooting locations are short, the day-to-day schedule allows for plenty of daily image reviews and photo tuition. So if you want to improve your landscape photography skills and photograph the wonders of Cappadocia, this is a great tour to make it happen! 

The tour takes place early May and we still have some places left. More info and pictures can be found on our website. If you want to make a booking, you can do that here. Ballooning is offered as an optional activity and comes highly recommended. 

This image was shot by Daniella with her iPhone, and processed with SnapSeed.

Just to show you, you don't need an expensive camera to enjoy our trips!

Copyright infringement is an issue...

Unfortunately there are media that use images without the permission of photographers. When you see an image and there is no reference to a copyright (to a stock agency or the name of a photographer), alarm bells should start ringing. Because in 99% of the cases it won't be a mistake by the printer, but a deliberate copyright infringement. 

I am fortunate that many of my images are known by people around the world, and that they recognize them as mine when they see them.

Thanks to observant readers, I sometimes get emails asking whether an image they saw in their local media is indeed a legit use of my image, as they did not see my credits. This time, it was in an Australian newspaper, but unfortunately it is not the first time this has happened. Nor will it be the last. So please, keep your eyes open and let's look out for each others images in the media (also on the web). Because it is something that should be important to everyone who loves photography.

 

Review: Markins Q20 Ballhead

A little bit of history: the M20

Seven years ago I wrote my first review on the Markins M10 ballhead. Shortly after that I upgraded to the M20, and I have been using it ever since. It is still in perfect working condition, and my guess is that it will easily outlive me. From the moment I turned pro a couple of years ago, the M20 has been used and abused almost daily in various ballhead-hostile locations all over the planet.

The Markins M20 on a Gitzo GT3530LSV

Each year in february I lead a photo workshop in Japan, where we photograph in sometimes seriously cold conditions, often with snow, and this is a recipe for disaster with many ballheads. Low temperatures can cause the ball to 'stick', turning it into a completely useless metal ornament on top of your tripod. Snow and sleet can make things even worse, but the M20 has never let me down.

No matter how cold it was, the M20 always performed perfectly. 

This image of sleeping whooper swans was shot on Hokkaido, Japan, in mid winter.
The M20 kept moving smoothly, my fingers did not.

Bryce Canyon, USA. I know, it looks nice and sunny, and I'm smiling. 

Half an hour later I was in my car trying to thaw my painful, near frost-bitten fingers. 

The M20 was a lot tougher.

Earlier this year I spent over three months in the Sahara of Northern Africa; Algeria, Chad, Libya and Egypt, and later Namibia. The circumstances there were the exact opposite of those in Japan, and possibly even worse. It may come as no surprise that there is some sand in the Sahara, and photographers don't like to get it on or in their gear because we know it will cause trouble. But what can you do when there is sand everywhere, there is more dust than oxygen in the air, and when sand storms are a daily routine? With the M20 the answer is simple: you do nothing. Never did I try to protect the head from sand or dust, and it never stopped working. The tolerance in the moving parts is so small and precise, that dust and sand simply cannot get into it. Even after falling in the sand on numerous occasions, or staying outside during a sandstorm, it needed no special attention before using it again. Needless to say that I consider this one of the best investments that I have ever made. So why did I want to get the new Q20? I simply needed a second ballhead to be able to work with different setups.

The Q20

Back in 2004, my Markins ballhead was still quite exotic. Most photographers used the well-known leading brands at the time, and most of them had never heard of Markins nor seen any of their ballheads. A lot has changed since. Serious photographers all over the world now use Markins ballheads, and I regularly see them on my workshops. When I saw the first Q20, my initial response was that it hadn't changed much - which to me made perfect sense. Why change something that has already proven to be the best in its class? On closer inspection though, I noticed some interesting design changes.

The Markins Q20 on a Gitzo GT3530LSV tripod

The main knob

First, there is the knob. On my M20 the knob is made of metal with very little relief. In normal conditions this works fine, but when you're photographing with gloves on, the metal knob doesn't offer enough grip and it is difficult to unscrew and open the clamp. The new design features a slightly larger knob that has a rubber part with ribs, offering way more grip - a serious improvement in terms of handling. But also without gloves the new knob offers more grip, it doesn't get as cold, and is much easier to open and close.

The clamp

At first, the clamp on the Q20 seemed larger to me than the one on the M20, but on closer inspection they're the same size. The design has changed a little bit, making it look larger, but it isn't. The clamp now also features a spirit level. I'm not using this new feature for three reasons. First, most of my cameras have built-in spirit levels. Second, when I'm not using those, I use a small hot shoe mounted spirit level. And third, I don't really get the placement of the spirit level - it's right on top of the clamp, where the camera is going to be. That means that you first have to level the clamp, and then mount the camera. This makes very little sense to me, because I like to be able to move the camera around to fine tune my composition so I need to be able to check the spirit level constantly, and I would have to remove the camera from the head in order to do that. It doesn't bother me that it's there though, so I just ignore the little green eye.

The clamp is of the dovetail style - in my opinion the most stable connection. Markins offers a large variety of camera plates that will fit the Q20, just make sure you pick the right one for your specific camera body. Personally, I prefer to work with L-brackets. They're much larger and heavier than regular plates, but they are rock solid and never ever move one bit, they're much faster when you want to switch from horizontal to vertical and vice versa, they're better for the stability of the whole setup (you don't have to flip the head, the camera remains right on top of the center of gravity), and they offer great protection for the camera. I got mine from Kirk, but you can get them from Really Right Stuff as well.

The L-Bracket for the D3 series. 

I have two of them, made by Kirk. Much better than regular plates.

Another change I noticed right away, is that the numbers around the base of the head now have little indents. I don't think it will make much of a difference, but it does look slightly better.

Interesting

When I put the M20 and Q20 next to each other, I noticed something very interesting - they're a mirror image. I can vaguely remember that you could order the M20 for right handed operation and for left handed, and apparently I have chosen the left handed version. The Q20's got everything the other way around. It's funny that I hadn't really noticed this straight away in the field, and to be honest I don't really care; I can fasten a knob with my left hand and my right hand.

The Q20 (left) and the M20 (right): mirrored versions

The Q20 with rubber grip and spirit level (left) and the M20 (right)

Numbers

But there's more - important changes that you can't see:

-Stronger: the Q20 now offers 250 kgf-cm/217 lbf-in of torque

-Higher load capacity: Measured to be 50kg/110 lbs for a load offset of 5cm/1.97in from the center of gravity

-Lighter: the Q20 weighs only 555 g/1.22 lbs

-More efficient: The load capacity to weight ratio is 90:1

That means the Q20 is no Jaws 2, Terminator 2 or Aliens 2 - it is actually better than version 1.0

In the field

So how did it perform in the field? The first trip that I used the new head on, was our Namibia workshop. Dusty, dry air, and lots of sand. In a desert environment you'll notice pretty soon if you're working with professional quality equipment - if not, it will just stop working. The Q20 worked just as I expected. As a matter of fact, I often didn't even know which head I was shooting with, my trusty M20 or the new Q20. On numerous occasions I crawled through tiny windows in a deserted diamond mining town in the Namib desert, dragging the tripod and the Q20 through the sand. No problems there. As with my Gitzo tripod, I never bothered to clean the head, as it didn't seem necessary. It's just great to use gear that you can totally rely on. However, there was this one cold morning that the head started to 'stick'. It would move smoothly when moving the clamp in large and fast movements, but it would stick when trying to make small adjustments. This was really annoying, because it slowed me down when the light was good and I missed a couple of shots fiddling around with the friction control, trying to get things back to normal again. When I got back home, I realized I hadn't bothered to read the small leaflet that came with the Q20, which said that I should add some WD-40 to the ball to prevent this from happening. After I had done that, the problem disappeared.

How low can you go? Pretty low with the Q20 flipped sideways, 

connected to the vertical part of the L-bracket on my D3s.

Nikon D3s with AF-S 14-24/2.8 on the Markins Q20, mounted on a dolly. 

Dust was the prime ingredient here, but the Q20 kept working flawlessly - also after the shoot.

The second big test case was Antarctica. And below freezing temperatures, sea water and snow were just the right circumstances for it. On most of the landings, my camera gear was all packed in my Kiboko camerabag, except for the tripod and Q20. We used zodiacs to transport us from the ship to the shore, and the Gitzo/Markins combo got baptized by the ocean on more than one occasion - the sea can be pretty choppy at times. The M20 could handle salt water pretty well, so I figured the Q20 should be able to deal with it as well. And it did. I have never bothered to get the salt water from my Gitzo and M20, and I haven't with the Q20 either. It just kept on working after each landing, even during the odd snow storm. The Q20 passed the test.

Antarctica. Salt water is no problem for the Gitzo, icy cold temperatures are no problem for the Q20.

Even the King penguin chicks on South Georgia were very impressed 

when they saw the D3 and AF-S 200-400/4.0 VR II mounted on a Q20.

In terms of rigidity and stability, I didn't notice any differences either. I had brought my 200-400/4 to Antarctica, and with the D3s attached, this is not a light combination. However, with the Q20, setting the right amount of friction takes just a few seconds and it works like a charm. The only thing that's important when working like this, is to tighten the tripod collar on the lens or you won't be able to smoothly move the camera/lens combo. And it's critical to set the right amount of friction, or your combo will flip over and topple the whole tripod. I have used my 600/4 on several occasions with the M20, with and without a Wimberley Sidekick, and I am certain that it will work just as well with the Q20. It might not be ideal, but it works. If space or weight is an issue, it's nice to know you leave some excess metal at home.

Not so great

What else is there to say about the Q20? Well, in my review on the M10 I wrote that I would like the panning knob to not only have a friction mechanism, but also a locking one. When you attach the head to your tripod a bit too enthusiastically, it can sometimes be very difficult to get it off again, especially in cold weather. You need to tighten the panning knob really hard to be able to unscrew the head from the tripod base, but what often happens is that even a tightened panning knob doesn't provide enough friction and the entire head just slips on the base of the ballhead. The only way to remove the head from the tripod in those cases is to loosen the screw underneath the base of the tripod with the proper tool. And if you like to pan without loosening the panning knob, you can also experience the exact opposite: you can't tighten the head to the tripod base more than the friction of the panning knob allows you. This means that the head maybe turn loose as you're trying to pan without loosening the panning knob. In all these years, this problem is still not solved, even though the panning knob on the Q20 is slightly larger.

It shouldn't be too difficult or expensive to redesign the panning knob so that it can completely lock the base and prevent it from slipping, by either pushing it in or pulling it out for instance. But apparently it is, because to my knowledge other heads don't offer this either and have the same issues.

Other than that, not much, really. O, one thing though. My Gitzo tripod got blown over a couple of times on a hike on South Georgia. There were very strong winds, and the lightweight carbon fibre tripod was no match when the camera was not mounted on it. The Q20 got smashed against the rocks several times, and even though it can take a beating, I do seem to have lost the little plastic cover on the main knob. It's not a big thing because it only has a cosmetic purpose, and I should have paid more attention. It does explain why in the images above the plastic cover is missing from the main knob.

Conclusion

My final conclusion: this is one hell of a ballhead. If you're using a Markins ballhead already, this won't come as a surprise. If you're not, then you should seriously consider at least trying one. They're incredibly compact, light, smooth and rigid, and extremely reliable. There are many ballheads around to choose from, but few of them get as close to perfection as the Q20.

© Marsel van Oosten

Review: EIZO ColorEdge CG245W

My first serious computer monitor was a LaCie Electron Blue IV, an incredibly heavy, blue beast. It served me well for many years, until recently. It can no longer reach the desired brightness, so I had to start looking for an alternative.

At the time when I bought the massive LaCie CRT screen, it was one of the best monitors around. It certainly wasn't the cool way to go - that would have been the flat screens - but if you wanted to see true, solid blacks instead of mere dark grays, a CRT screen was your only option. LCD monitors were regarded as lacking the color accuracy required for photography professionals, and if you wanted to get true black and high contrast, an old school CRT monitor it was.

My old set up with the LaCie ElectronBlue IV. The device on the left is my DroboPro.

If you care about your images, you need to care about your monitor. All too often I hear about photographers that spend thousands of dollars on cameras and lenses, and almost like an afterthought, they buy a third rate display that isn't capable of correctly showing the images they've captured.

If you want to fully appreciate all the colors and tones of your images, you need a good monitor, just like you need a good camera and good lenses.

But that's not all. If you want to make sure that what you see on your screen is actually how things are supposed to look, and how others will see your images, you also need to calibrate your screen. If you're working on an uncalibrated screen, your digital image won't reproduce faithfully in print, and they'll also look different when viewed on other displays.

From early on I've always been aware of the importance of a calibrated monitor, so I bought the best hardware calibration device available at that time: the i1 Monitor by Gretach-Macbeth (now discontinued). It performed flawlessly, although the whole procedure was always a bit tedious as it involved attaching the device to the center of the screen with a suction cup, and fiddling around with the buttons on the display itself. After 15 minutes or so the calibration process was finished, and it's always a reassuring feeling knowing that what you're seeing on your screen is exactly what you're supposed to see.

Over the years, things have changed considerably. LCD monitors have become the mainstream choice for photographers worldwide, and CRT displays are a thing of the past. But with so many manufacturers and so many different screens - what is the right choice?

Making the right choice

There are basically three kinds of LCD panels: TN, VA and IPS.

VA stands for Vertical Alignment, TN stands for Twisted Nematic, while IPS stands for In-Plane Switching. I won't start speaking super technically here, but these technologies handle the way the liquid crystals move differently, resulting in different performance. Probably the biggest difference between the three, from the buyer’s perspective, is the price. TN displays are much cheaper compared to VA and IPS displays. Part of the reason of the higher price is the doubling of the number of transistors per pixel in displays, which uses two transistors.

If price is not an issue, then VA and IPS are the sure winners. VA and IPS displays do not suffer from color limitation problems, while many TN panels have limited color depth like 6-bit. To achieve better color reproduction, TN displays for instance use frame rate control and dithering but this can affect the sharpness of the image. VA and IPS displays can recreate a wider variation of colors without the use of dithering and is generally the desired technology for people who extensively work with digital imaging.

Another difference is the viewing angle. IPS displays have a very wide viewing angle and you can view the display from a very slanted angle while the image still retains its colors and you can still make out the figures on the screen. VA and TN displays, when viewed at an angle, begin to suffer from loss of color. The image becomes washed out, as if you are viewing the image through thick smoke. Furthermore, IPS technology is more energy efficient and environmental friendly. For me the choice was obvious: IPS.

The EIZO ColorEdge CG245W

After doing some serious research, I ended up choosing the EIZO ColorEdge CG245W.

EIZO? Who are EIZO?

Back in 2003 the EIZO ColorEdge series was the world’s first line of LCD monitors specifically targeted at graphics professionals. One year later, EIZO introduced the world’s first LCD monitor capable of reproducing the Adobe RGB color space. The image quality, long-term reliability, and innovative features of EIZO monitors have made them the products of choice for many photography professionals throughout the world.

While outsourcing production is now common practice in the monitor industry, EIZO continues to manufacture its products the same way it has throughout its over 40 year history — with its own staff at its own factories. This allows EIZO to keep close control over production quality and offer the industry’s only 5-year manufacturer’s limited warranty.

If you say color accuracy, you say EIZO.

The ColorEdge CG245W is a 24.1" (61 cm) LCD display, using a 1920x1200 IPS widescreen panel. It is also the world's first self-calibrating monitor - nice! I wanted a screen slightly larger than my old CRT, while still being able to keep my second monitor next to it for all my Photoshop palettes. I know, with a larger screen you can keep all your palettes neatly organized on the side, but I prefer to keep my main monitor as clean as possible.

Specs: http://www.eizo.com/global/iblick/spec/?id=CG245W

Unpacking

The first thing I noticed when the box was delivered, was the weight. Moving my old CRT screen took half a football team, but this box was anything but heavy.

The box. No need to call your chiropractor.

Opening the main container you have a long, flat box containing the instructions, a disc with the manual and software and the sections of the shading hood (for shielding the display from stray light and keeping image color consistent) for either horizontal or vertical monitor setup. A monitor cleaning kit is also included.

Getting the display out of the box was easy. The display itself was neatly wrapped in protective material.

Protective wrapper against damage during transportation.

Connecting the screen to my MacPro was as simple as any other device. Plug in the power cord and connect the USB cable to the computer, and voila. It was nice to see that when I turned on the computer, my desktop was immediately shown full screen, exactly filling the entire screen from edge to edge. With the LaCie this was definitely not the case and I had to spend quite some time fiddling with small buttons to adjust the screen before it would finally fill the entire space available.

And boy, does this screen look good!

The Screen

The design is simple, just the way I like it. There is a small border around the screen that houses the calibration device in the top bezel, while the bottom bezel features some small backlit menu buttons. You can dim these buttons if you prefer not to see them.

Simple and elegant design. If you like jigsaw puzzles, then you'll love assembling the hood.
The calibration device is shown in the active position here.

I ended up not using the supplied hood, because my whole set up is in a corner of my room, with no stray light coming from either side. Also, it would block part of the view of my secondary monitor, which I use for my palettes.

Backlit buttons at the bottom of the screen have 7 brightness levels and an off function.

Another nice feature that I was not used to, is the ability to adjust the height of the screen via the monitor’s “FlexStand”. The bearing-less design of the FlexStand requires very little force to make height adjustments.

The ColorEdge CG245W comes with a FlexStand that offers tilt, swivel, 
90° rotation for portrait mode viewing, and height adjustment.

At the back of the screen there are two DVI-I inputs that accept both digital and analogue signals, and a single DisplayPort (digital) input. DisplayPort is your best choice if you want to make use of the 10-bit simultaneous display.* In 10-bit more than 1 billion colors are shown simultaneously, which is a whopping 64 times greater than the 16.7 million colors of a 8-bit display, and gives you much smoother color gradations. DisplayPort transmits both video and audio signals.

*Note: A graphics board and software that support 10-bit output are also necessary for 10-bit display.

On the upper left of the monitor you can find two USB 2.0 ports. I mainly use these for quick access to USB sticks and my travel backup drives.

Most of the screens you see today are of the glossy kind - both my MacBook Pro and my iPhone feature these glossy screens. They're great for vivid colors and rich black tones with high contrast ratios, but they also suffer from an incredible amount of reflections. I'm therefore happy that the ColorEdge CG245W uses a non-glare LCD. It shows 98% of the Adobe RGB (1998) color space, perfect for imaging professionals, and it has an excellent viewing angle.

You can tell that EIZO takes color accuracy very seriously indeed. Each unit is calibrated individually at their factory, and they include an Adjustment Certificate, Setup Guide and Quick Reference document with each monitor.

The Adjustment Certificate (Uniformity Data Sheet) that was taped to my monitor.

Software

The included EIZO Utility Disk contains a couple of software applications. Most important are the ColorNavigator Agent and ColorNavigator.

The ColorNavigator Agent is simply an icon in your dock that changes from blue to red when the number of hours between calibrations that you have specified has passed. By right clicking on the icon you can choose directly from any of your saved profiles.

To actually calibrate the monitor, you have to use the ColorNavigator software.

I previously used the Eye-One Match software, and although that was very easy to work with, ColorNavigator proved even simpler.

Calibration

The ColorEdge CG245W features a unique built-in calibration sensor that is housed in the top bezel of the monitor. This sensor is about the size of a USB stick, and it swings down over the center top of the screen when calibration starts. No need for third-party calibration devices anymore, it's all included with the ColorEdge CG245W.

When starting the calibration procedure, the built-in calibration device swings down.

The ColorNavigator software makes calibration a real breeze. When you open ColorNavigator, a window appears asking you to select the calibrating device. The built-in calibrator is simply called 'Built-In' and it appears as the default choice.

After hitting ok, the second window appears. When opening the software for the first time, you have two choices: a profile for photography and graphic design, and a profile for printing. Choose one and click next.

Apart from using the two factory profiles, you can also add your own profiles. 
I fine-tuned the photography profile by increasing the brightness level to 100cd/m2, 
and I created an sRGB profile.

The third screen offers some last minute reminders before the calibration process starts. Hit proceed and calibration begins.

The whole process took only a couple of minutes. At the end of the procedure another window appears, showing the results of your calibration. Simply save the profile, and that's it. Your new ICC profile is instantly integrated into a ColorSync managed workflow. It really couldn't be any simpler.

Or could it?

Well, one of the really cool things this monitor can do, is self-calibration. By using the OSD menu, you can schedule the ColorEdge CG245W to self-calibrate at a specific time and at specific intervals. You can even schedule the calibration to happen during the night, when your computer is shut down and you're vast asleep - pretty cool!

Conclusion

The EIZO ColorEdge CG245W is a high-end monitor for imaging professionals and all people that take color seriously. The design is great, installation and operation is simple, the screen is razor sharp and evenly lit, colors look stunning, and the calibration couldn't be easier. No cons then? A few. This monitor isn't cheap, but you get what you pay for. The User’s Manual could be improved and at times the writing is confusing. I tried the Dutch version for a minute, but that didn’t help either. Luckily, you don't really need the manual to get things to work. Once you get it to work, the calibration process works exactly the way that I described above. Fast and simple.

My final nit is a peculiar one. I noticed there is a difference between how my images look in a color-profiled environment such as Photoshop and Lightroom, and an environment that doesn't use color profiles, such as internet browsers. When preparing images for the web, I always convert them to sRGB to compensate for the fact that web browsers don't display Adobe RGB very well. The conversion to sRGB usually does the trick. On this monitor however my images look exactly how they should in a color profile environment, but they look warmer and more saturated in web browsers etc. I have contacted EIZO about this, and apparently this is the result of the monitor simply being too good - it shows much more color information than the average monitor.

I would never have thought that you can have a monitor that is too good, and I must admit that it is somewhat annoying. As a work around I have created another profile in ColorNavigator: sRGB. When viewing images outside of my color profile environment, I switch to the sRGB profile using the ColorNavigator Agent.

My new set up with the EIZO ColorEdge CG245W.

As a professional photographer though, the thing that counts more than anything else is quality. The ColorEdge CG245W is an excellent screen and it makes working on my images a real joy. Add to that the ease of use and the self-calibration, and it's clear I made the right choice.

Moon Death

Deadvlei in Namibia is without a doubt one of the most surreal places on this planet, and arguably one of the most photogenic. No wonder so many landscape photographers want to visit this amazing location. As we visit Namibia every year, each time it gets more difficult for me to create truly original images of this popular spot. And that is good, because it forces me to think beyond the obvious and search for angles and lighting conditions that I haven't seen before - and believe me, I've seen them all. :-)

As almost all Deadvlei images you see are taken with sunlight, I decided to take a different approach and use the moon. We planned our visit carefully so that I could use the light of the rising moon, about two hours or so after the sun had set. The fact that the ground here is very light really helped to brighten the foreground, often a problem with night photography. Timing is very important because with very little moonlight the landscape gets too dark, shutter speeds too long and the stars become rice-shaped. Too much moon and the sky gets too bright and you won't see any stars - the scene will look like shot in daylight.

To create a better visual hierarchy and a clear focal point, I used a small flashlight to light paint the middle tree - in my opinion the prettiest and the most important one of the three. I really like the way the trees are leaning and how the little silhouetted trees in the background are neatly spread out.

>Click here for large version<

If you would like to join us on our next Namibia Untamed photo workshop and do some spectacular night photography yourself, please have a look on our website for more information, images and tour impression video clips.

New setup for the Squiver Photo Tour to Alaska in 2012

We have changed the location for our Ultimate Bears photo tour in 2012, taking you to Clark National Park. We no longer have to go through Kodiak and lose valuable days; we can offer you direct flights from Anchorage or Soldotna to Lake Clark.

This amazing trip will bring you extremely close to wild brown bears, as we photograph them in their natural surroundings, with a rugged backdrop of mountains and glaciers, wild rivers and creeks. We will be staying in a very comfortable lodge, booked exclusively for our group. It is located in Lake Clark, in the middle of over four million acres of wilderness. 

We offer you outstanding photographic opportunities to view the earth’s largest carnivore, roaming the wildest and most untouched habitat remaining in the world. The bears have become used to people being in the area, so they totally ignore us while we observe and photograph them. We will photograph them running after salmon, fighting over territory, feeding in the meadows, digging for clams, stealing each others catch, or as they doze, catching their breath before the action starts all over again.

We will take only 8 guests on this trip in September 2012, so don't hesitate and make your reservation now. Please click here to download a PDF with detailed information about this trip. Pictures and a video impression of the tour are available on our website.

Nikon Pro magazine cover shot

Two of the snow monkey shots that won Marsel the title Nature Photographer of the Year in the US earlier this year, are now featured in the latest edition of Nikon Pro magazine. Marsel's favorite snow monkey image of the series was used on the front cover.

Click here for the original cover image (without type) at a much larger size.

The image that was used on the inside of the magazine is the same one we used in our blog post of 29 September.

Nature's Best Awards

Arches NP in Utah is probably the most popular place in the world to photograph natural rock arches, but there are many other locations in this spectacular state that are just as interesting and that get much fewer visitors.

On our visit to Utah last year we came across this large hole in a rock face, and at first sight it didn't look very interesting.

When it started raining, we walked around the rock, searching for a place to shelter. When we got to the other side, we saw this huge half dome with the hole in the distance. It was a spectacular sight, but as often with scenes like this, it was hard to get a sense of scale in the photograph.

I asked Daniella to climb up to the window and stand in it, and that made all the difference. After a couple of shots the setting sun briefly peeked between the clouds and colored the rocks near the window deep red.

>Click here for large version<

We are very happy that this image was awarded a Highly Commended at this year's Nature's Best International Photography Awards.

Marsel successful in Wildlife Photographer of the Year!

We're in London right now, where we attended the Veolia/BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year ceremony. Marsel's photograph 'Moonlight over Aloba' was selected from over 41,000 entries! The image was a Specially Honored winner (3rd Prize) in the Wild Places category.

We already arrived in London the day before yesterday, where Marsel was interviewed for ITV television. Later that day there was a meet and greet with all the other winners at the Natural History Museum.

Marsel had promised himself to never ever wear a tuxedo, but the awards ceremony seemed a good reason to break that promise.

>Click here for large version<

The awarded photograph was shot at night in the Ennedi region in eastern Chad, close to the border with Sudan. We had timed our visit there with a good amount of moonlight to be able to use it as the main light source, while at the same time still be able to see some stars. There is no light pollution in this region (we never even saw another vehicle during our three week expedition), and full moon would have been way too bright.

This natural rock arch is over 120 meters high and one of the prettiest we have ever seen and photographed. It is also one of the most remote large arches in the world. We had to drive through the Sahara for three full days to reach this area, and it was not a pleasant drive. In the end it was all worth it though, because we've been able to photograph places that have never been photographed or even visited before.

This image is available as a Limited Edition print only. If you're interested, please drop us an email.

D3s, AF-S 24-70/2.8, 25s @ f/2.8, ISO 1600

Presentation at Belgium Digital LITE

On Sunday 16 October Belgium Digital (a online Belgian photo community) organizes their annual get-together with workshops and other informative & interactive sessions. Marsel will give a presentation on wildlife & landscape photography, during one of the morning workshops. Location is the San Marco Village, between Antwerp and Brussels. For more info about Marsels workshop and the event, please visit BelgiumDigitalLite.

Join us in Japan and get a 400 Euro discount!

If you are interested in going to Japan, this is the time to make the booking. If you fill out the booking form before the end of October, you will get a 400 Euro discount per person on the participation fee!

We have been able to negotiate this special offer through our agent, due to the fact that Western tourists are staying away from Japan. We however feel we should support their economy and the tourism sector. The regions we will be visiting during our tour are far away from the areas that were affected by the Tsunami that hit Japan and the powerplants that ran into trouble because of it. The United Nations has declared Japan to be a safe destination, so safety should not be a reason to stay away. 

Winter is the perfect time to visit Japan. Its breathtaking, snow-covered landscapes are the perfect backdrop for us to photograph Japan’s unique wildlife. During this spectacular trip we will visit the famous snow monkeys, while they enjoy a hot steam bath in volcanic hot springs and play in the snow. We will travel to the northern island of Hokkaido (the Alaska of Japan), where we will photograph rare and beautifulred-crowned cranes while they perform their gracious winter dances, large flocks of whooper swans floating in misty lakes covered with ice and beautiful mountains in the background, and white-tailed and Steller’s sea eagles, as they sit on the pack ice that has drifted over from Siberia.

Download the day-to-day schedule (PDF) and read all about this exciting tour, which starts on 13 February 2012, ending on 25 February 2012.

Be quick and take advantage of the special discount of 400 Euro per person! It is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Fill out the booking form before the end of October to apply for this special offer.

Interview in Digital Camera Magazine

UK-based magazine Digital Camera now features a 7-page interview with Marsel in their October issue. The editor has selected 11 images to go with the interview.

In the article Marsel talks about how he became a nature photographer, how things changed since the introduction of digital photography, the problems, the preparation, and how he works in the field.