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.
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
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4 comments:
Awesome work! Loved it!
Congratulations Marsel. A great achievement.
"because we've been able to photograph places that have never been photographed or even visited before."
http://vimeo.com/23393522
To Anonymous (who else?): If your point is that people have photographed in Chad before, then you're right. Nowhere did we suggest otherwise, so I don't really see the point of your comment.
We have visited locations that are relatively well known, such as Aloba Arch, but we have also spent considerable time exploring areas that are completely unknown. That is, they're on the map, but no one goes there because they're close to inaccessible. We have photographed in areas where even the locals had never been before. I have hundreds of images of rock arches that no one has even seen before. Same goes for Algeria and Libya.
Marsel
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