New photo tour added to Utah, USA: Arches under the stars

We've always wanted to visit the National Parks of Utah, and when we finally did in November last year, we were stunned by the incredible beauty. Sure, we'd seen many photographs from Utah before our visit - who hasn't - but it just goes to show that a picture can never beat the feeling of actually being there.

We were so impressed by the landscape and the photographic possibilities of Arches National Park and the surrounding areas, that we decided to organize a photo tour to this dramatic geologic marvel of the American Southwest.

Arches contains one of the largest concentrations of natural sandstone arches in the world. The arches and numerous other extraordinary geologic features, such as spires, pinnacles, pedestals and balanced rocks, are highlighted in striking foreground and background views created by contrasting colors, landforms and textures. It is truly a landscape photographer's dream.

Water and ice, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park. On clear days with blue skies, it is hard to imagine such violent forces, or the 100 million years of erosion that created this land. The more than 2,000 cataloged arches range in size from a three-foot opening, the minimum considered an arch, to the longest one, Landscape Arch, which measures 306 feet from base to base. New arches are being formed and old ones are being destroyed. Erosion and weathering are relatively slow but are relentlessly creating dynamic landforms that gradually change through time. Occasionally change occurs more dramatically. In 1991 a slab of rock about 60 feet long, 11 feet wide and 4 feet thick fell from the underside of Landscape Arch, leaving behind an even thinner ribbon of rock.

The park lies atop an underground salt bed, which is basically responsible for the arches and spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins and eroded monoliths that make the area a photographer's mecca.

After we thoroughly explored the park and some of the lesser-known areas outside, we decided that winter would be the perfect time for this trip. First of all, winter has the fewest crowds. Arches NP is a very popular destination, and rightly so, and we want to avoid getting hordes of tourists in our shots. Also, in winter there is always a chance of snow. Southeast Utah is part of the Colorado Plateau, a "high desert" region that experiences wide temperature fluctuations, sometimes over 40 degrees in a single day. Winters are cold, with highs averaging -1 to 10C (30-50F), and lows averaging -18 to -6C (0-20F). From personal experience we can tell you that Arches in the snow is even more breathtaking, so it's worth the chill factor.

A nice advantage of photographing in winter, is that sunrise and sunset times are a bit more humane. :-) The light is also softer in winter and the air more clear.

Chances are that we'll be getting a couple of clear nights, during which we will try some night photography. Marsel will give a dedicated workshop on night photography, light painting and shooting stars and star trails, so that should be great fun. We have already selected a couple of good locations for this specific purpose and we're looking forward to our nightly sessions!

Balancing Rock, Delicate Arch, The Windows, Wall Street, Devils Garden, Landscape Arch, are only a few of the locations we will visit. But outside of Arches NP there is also plenty to photograph, like the countless bird's eye views of the regions many stone canyons and spires from the high plateaus of Canyonlands National Park. And for those that like hiking, there are even more landscape gems to discover. We already know where to find them, and what the best time of day is for photography, so we won't waste any time.

Moab will be our base from where we will start our daily excursions. It's a quaint little town, but it's got everything we'll need, including good food.

We expect this trip to fill up fast, so if you're interested in joining us - don't hesitate and book a spot on this tour. More information & images can be found on the photo tours page on our website. You can also download the detailed day-to-day schedule (PDF), with lots of panoramic images. Hope to see you there!

Sand Storm

The past few weeks I have finally been able to find some time to go through the thousands of images that I shot over the past year. It was an interesting journey, jumping from Libya to Alaska, and from Egypt to Japan, all in a matter of days. I've only scratched the surface, but it was nice to relive all those amazing trips in front of my computer. Here's one from our last trip to Kenya.

The Common Eland (Taurotragus oryx), also known as the Southern Eland or Eland antelope, is a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. It is the largest antelope in the African continent.

The name "Eland" is derived from the Dutch word for moose. When Dutch settlers came to the Cape Province they named the largest wild herbivore they met with the name of the huge northern herbivore. In Dutch the animal is called "Eland antelope" to distinguish it from the Moose, which is found in the northern boreal forests. This is all very confusing for us Dutchies, but we only have ourselves to blame for it.

The eland has a mass of about 650 kilograms, which is the double of the kudu. Elands are said to be one of the slowest antelopes, but they can jump over a height of 2.5 meters or above. When walking, the joints in the eland's foreleg produce a sharp clicking sound, the cause of which has not been widely investigated. The sound carries some distance and is a good indication of an approaching herd. Scientists take it as a form of communication.

The elands are most active in the morning and late afternoon, lying sheltered in the heat of the day. They're commonly found in mixed groups, usually containing 25-70 individuals, though up to 400 have been observed.

They're not as common as most of the other African antelopes, and most of the times I've tried to photograph them, they ran away the moment they saw me. Buttshots galore.

I had spotted this small herd of eland one late afternoon and decided to stick around and see how they would react on my presence. I didn't want to spook them, so I started shooting with my 600. After a few moments I moved a little closer and stopped again to let them get used to me. This proved to be the right strategy for this herd, because eventually I was able to switch to my 200-400.

The whole scene wasn't particularly interesting though - the light was getting pretty, but nothing was happening that could really excite me. That was until the wind started to pick up and I saw a huge sand storm on the horizon, moving in my direction. My guide noticed this as well and wanted to seek shelter, but I decided to risk getting sand blasted and see how this would influence the scene.

A few minutes later the storm hit us hard - the Jeep shook heavily and the sand almost peeled my skin. Most animals don't like sort of weather, because it confuses their senses - it's almost impossible to hear, see or smell your enemies in these extreme circumstances. The eland therefore huddled together, waiting for the storm to die down.

The tons of sand in the air did just what I was hoping for - it reduced the subjects to shapes, created a warm low contrast mood, and eliminated most unwanted detail. This is my favorite shot as it shows the large bull separated from the rest of the herd, as a true leader. I also liked the elegant pose of the hind leg.

I cropped it to a pano format because the empty sky didn't work for me.

[Nikon D3, AF-S VR 200-400/4.0, 1/200 @ f/11, ISO 800]

If you want to join us to this year's Kenya tour, please check out our website for more information.

Another publication in National Geographic

I'm proud to announce that National Geographic has selected yet another one of my images for their magazine.

The image is featured in the April issue as a double page spread, and shows the inside of one of the abandoned houses in Kolmanskop, Namibia.

Kolmanskop is a deserted diamond mining town in the middle of the dunes of the Namib desert. Once a thriving town, it was suddenly abandoned in the 50's when more diamonds were found in another place. Since then, the desert has been claiming back her territory. The early morning sun only shines directly into this room at a specific time of year.

This image is available as a Limited Edition fine art print. Please check out the Shop section on our website for prices and sizes.

Namibia Untamed 2011: fully booked

We're still getting emails from people wanting to join the 2011 Namibia Untamed tour, but unfortunately we're already fully booked. The good news however is that the dates for the 2012 tour have been set and will be published on our website soon.

Interview with Marsel

Nature photographer Kristel Schneider has interviewed Marsel for her blog Visions and Nature. You can find the interview here.

Earthquake in Japan

We just heard about the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan. We are deeply shocked by these terrible events and our hearts go out to the Japanese people.

For those of you who have travelled to Japan with us before: we have contacted our friends and colleagues in Japan and we're relieved that they're all ok.

TPOTY Public's Choice

My charging lion shot received the most votes from visitors to the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition in London, so it is now officially the Public's Choice. A big thank you to all the visitors that voted for my photograph!

I've won a personalised leather portfolio book from Plastic Sandwich, and I'm looking forward to build my own.

Back from Japan

We have just returned from Japan. It was one of our best visits ever. Not only because we had such a wonderful group, but also because of the weather conditions. There was so much snow everywhere that the views were even more spectacular this time. We got falling snow at the snow monkeys, which was tough for the lenses (why does the wind always blow in the opposite direction that you're shooting in?) but great for photos. We also got hoar frost at the swans and the cranes, something I hope for every year but doesn't happen often. The ice conditions were a little bit too good - there was so much ice that we had trouble leaving the harbor with our boat. Not that we needed to go very far, because there was a lot of raptor activity and we all got great white tailed eagle and Steller's sea eagle shots.

Our next White & Wild Japan tour will be from 13 to 25 February 2012. For more information, please have a look at the Photo Tours section on our website.

Squiver earns Five Star rating on Photo Travel Review Magazine

We are proud to announce that the online magazine Photo Travel Review has rated Squiver Photo Tours with their highest rating: five stars!

Photo Travel Review is run by photographers who have traveled extensively throughout the world. Each of them is recognized widely in the photographic community for the quality of their photographic skills. In addition, they each bring a wealth of experience from their occupations and professions. Their interest is to provide information of value to people who want the perfect photographic adventure.

From their website:

'The PTR Team knows the world photographic community very well. We have attended seminars, conducted our own, and we know the work of most well-recognized nature photographers. Marsel and Daniella offer something very special to the traveling photographer — vast experience and recognition for their work, a variety of places to go, reasonable costs, and expert instruction. In sum, the best combination of all attributes that make up a successful photographic holiday.

Photo Travel Review Magazine highly recommends Squiver Tours. The offerings are among the best in the world — Squiver has earned PTR’s five star rating.

We are tempted to add a “+” to the rating because their tours are among the most reasonably priced that we have encountered.'

Of course we knew this already, but it's always nice to hear it from someone else. ;-)

If you would like to be part of the Squiver experience, please have a look at our website for tours currently on offer. Our trips are for all experience levels and you don't need expensive gear to return with great results.

We are working hard on two new trips, and we will introduce them here later this month.

Naturescapes Image of the Year

I am proud to announce that my star trail image 'In the Dead of the Night' was awarded Image of the Year in the Landscape category of the 2010 Naturescapes Images of the Year Awards.

The image was shot on last year's Namibia Untamed photo tour.

Namibia is not only the least densely populated country of the world; it is also one of the driest. The clear desert air is perfect for shooting stars and star trails, so that's one of the things we always try on each year's Namibia tour.

We had planned the trip to coincide with new moon, so that we would have pitch-dark nights with lots of stars. For this shot of a dead camelthorn tree in Deadvlei I made a 58 second exposure for the master image, during which I painted the tree and the foreground with a small torch and a warm-up gel. There was still some afterglow on the dunes in the background. During the night the camera took little over 80 shots, each four minutes long.

As I was shooting with a D3X, I converted the star shots to jpeg after raw conversion before stacking them in PS, to keep the file size manageable.

Equipment Used: Nikon D3X, AF-S 14-24/2.8 at 14mm, 58 seconds, f/5.6, 80x4min at f/5.6, ISO 100, Gitzo tripod, Nikon programmable cable release.

Our next Namibia Untamed tour will be in May, and we're already looking forward to shooting star trails there again. If you would like to join us, have a look at the Namibia Untamed photo tour page for more information. Don't forget to check out the video of this spectacular trip on our website www.squiver.com!

Marsel

Desert Expedition 2010/2011

We've just returned from our two month desert expedition in Northern Africa. It was intense, but incredibly beautiful. We still have to sort all the images and footage we shot there and we're already leaving for Japan in a few days, so we hope to be able to share some of the results when we get back home again.

NPN Editor's Pick Award

Just a few weeks before we're heading out to Japan again for this year's White & Wild Japan tour, we found out that Marsel's shot 'Bliss', featuring three Japanese macaques enjoying a warm bath in a natural hot spring, was awarded 1st Honorable Mention in the 2010 NPN Editor's Pick Awards.

Ever since Marsel first posted the shot online, it has instantly become one of our most popular prints. If you would like to order a print yourself, please have a look at the Store section on our website for prices and sizes.

Greetings from Egypt!