We are pleased to announce the results of the First VPS Landscape Salon. We received a total of 2624 entries from 174 authors. The most entries were received in the Landscape with Human Interest section (823) while the Manipulated Landscapes section received the least with only 447 entries. The True Nature section received 746 entries and there were 608 Panoramic Landscape entries. Congratualtions to all who received acceptances. A slideshow of the accepted images is currently being prepared and will be available on CD soon.
The results can be found here and will also be available on the PSSA website.
Witsand Nature Reserve in the Northern Cape - The Photographer's Eden
Written by Johann van der Walt (APSSA)
Sunday, 22 March 2009
(Update: Download a road planner to get to Witsand from the Vaal Triangle here)
The Witsand Nature Reserve is situated about 70km south west of Olifantshoek in the Northern Cape. It is surrounded by typical Kalahari grassland and red dunes. The Witsand system consists primarily of windborne sand. This extremely light and fine Kalahari sand was blown into the quartzite formation that underlies the dune system and holds vast quantities of spring, run-off and rainwater. Here in time, the oxides are leached from the sand, providing the many different colours and nuances, which give these dunes their particular beauty. From space (see the Google Earth view) it is a very bright –almost blinding – white spot surrounded by the typical red Kalahari sand.
The dunes are easily accessible from the camp site. This makes for a short hike for the photographer who wants to capture the sand blown ripples in the early morning and late afternoon light.
To the west – in the direction of Griekwastad, lies the Langeberg mountain range which forms a stark contrast to the dunes.
As the Witsand dunes are surrounded by typical Kalahari vegetation, you will find lots of tall grass growing on the dunes – especially after a wet season. The grass helps to create great composition focal points.
Zooming in on the patterns formed by grass sweeping across the sand creates beautiful abstract photographs.
For the photographer a typical day at Witsand consists of getting up before dawn to make sure you are positioned for a good photograph before the sun rises. The hour after sunrise is spent finding interesting compositions as the rays of the sun change the landscape every minute! This is followed by a well deserved breakfast at the camp site. The rest of the day is spent relaxing in an environment where you will find an abundance of ... nothing!
The early afternoon is normally a good time for scouting to find new and interesting formations to photograph during sunset.
The hour before sunset is again used to take photographs using the last light of the day.
At night around the camp fire, the photographers speculate whether they have managed to capture that magic moment today, and if tomorrow will be as magical as today, or even better...
“Everybody can get angry that's easy. But getting angry at the right person, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason and in the right way that's hard.”
