Influencers

Manta Ray’s ….

are the most worthless creatures our planet has ever produced. Have you ever thought about what these blackheads of society used to do?

That's right, just 30 years ago Influencer simply didn't exist.

Only since the invention of the Internet have people who can't do anything themselves had the idea of ​​living at the expense of others, because that's what influencers do. They get invited by hotels and restaurants and live off the number of followers that provide themselfs with income through platforms like YouTube.

But what stands out above all else is that pretty young ladies in particular often believe that it is enough to hold their face in the camera and babble whatever nonsense comes to mind. Have you noticed how often these so-called influencers think it's enough to present themselves? I often have the feeling that they are just as excited as I am about what they are going to say next...

Iconsiam seen from the famous Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok

I locate the beginnings of such scroungers in the last century in Southeast Asia. Because before Chinese people were able to vacation abroad, there were no people who photographed themselves in front of famous buildings or locations. But the Chinese only did this for one reason: they wanted to have proof that they were really there.

Upper Antelope Canyon at midnight in 2009 (Page USA)

Even back in the early 1990s, I found this boasting to be a very bad and, above all, annoying habit. In my opinion, this is where the influencer developed from, because just like the influencer, the Chinese also have no manners and behave badly. Who else would come up with the idea of ​​filming themselves eating with their mouth full and spitting made-up comments into the camera about the taste of every dish, no matter how cheap it is? Anyone who was able to enjoy even a little education from their parents learned at a young age that you can do all sorts of things, but under no circumstances should you speak with your mouth full while eating. During the meal you have to be quiet and period.

Why do I explicitly mention that only cheap restaurants are advertised by so-called influencers? Because good restaurants don't allow anyone to film themselves while eating and thereby disturb other guests. Only cheap, poorly run restaurants allow such bad behavior. For example: Try filming with a camera at Le Normandie in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. You will be immediately removed from the restaurant if you behave like this, and that's a good thing.

Aerial photo from the Dead Vlei with Soussus Vlei in background

To put it briefly, influencers are never interested in providing us with valuable information on a topic. It's all about marketing yourself as best as possible and making money. And nothing else. You always have to keep in mind that all the posts are paid advertising. Nothing is independent, because the influencer only does the advertising if he gets money for it. Be it from YouTube, or from a hotel or restaurant, or a brand that pays for advertising.

Mayaafushi Island

So my good advice to you out there... trust your gut feeling rather than a self-proclaimed influencer.

PHUKET 2025

In June this year we will fly back to Thailand, more precisely to the beautiful Karon Beach in Phuket. A destination within Thailand that we haven't visited in many years. Although I've probably never been to Karon Beach directly to be honest. We have been to Koh Samui and Hua Hin several times, but we have never gone further south in the last 20 years. Many of the beaches were too touristy for me and the cuisine there wasn't very varied. At least that was the reason to refrain from visiting again for a longer period of time.

Since I discovered the legendary Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas in Hua Hin, we have been going there more often because we took advantage of the 5 star standard and the large rooms with all their luxury, but especially the free afternoon wine and cocktail offers for club members. And funnily enough, the Centara grand on Karon beach is the cheapest of all 5 star hotels in the centara group. There you can enjoy all the amenities of the Centara Grand Hotels and only pay half the price of other locations.

KURAMATHI 2.0

So now it's almost time, in January 2025 we'll be visiting the beautiful Maledivian Island Kuramathi again. As a reminder, our last stay in paradise was nearly 5 years ago. Anyone who reads about Kuramathi on the Internet will hardly be able to imagine that this relatively small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean can accommodate 860 guests and that over 1,000 employees ensure their well-being in the background.

Aerial photo from Kuramathi Island

Of course everything looks even more impressive from the air and you immediately start dreaming when you see the turquoise water. However, it should not go unmentioned that the environment is massively affected by all the overwater bungalows that most tourists like.

Overwater Bungalows near the Sandbank at the western part of Kuramathi Island

With a width of only 330 meters and a length of 1.8 kilometers, Kuramathi is already one of the 6 largest islands in the Maldives. What's also amazing is that there are an incredible 21 restaurants/bars on this small island!

Island Map

The Beach Bungalow (cheapest room category on Kuramathi) costs $10,430.00 including full board without flights (accommodation only). If you book including basic all-inclusive, it will cost $13,913. And if you choose Select All-Inclusive, it's $16,860, all for 2 people and 14 nights.

Beach Bungalow

The two-bedroom beach house costs $18,565 for 14 nights and 2 people Select All-Inclusive.

two-bedroom beach house

If you book the Thundi Water Villa with pool, these 14 nights without flights cost $20,933 all-inclusive.

Thundi Water Villa with Pool

And all these prices are only calculated for 2 people in January 2025. If you take your child/children with you, it will be correspondingly more expensive. And flights in Premium Economy quickly add another $2,100 per person. With three of us, as in our case, it quickly becomes $30,000 for a two-week stay. So it's not an extremely cheap pleasure. Many of my friends are shocked when they heard how much such a 2-week trip costs these days, but they obviously don't take into account that all other vacations to any destination these days also cost a lot of money. And if you look at the fact that some of the 400 bungalows on Kuramathi are fully booked six months in advance, there are apparently enough tourists who are more than willing to pay the price for this middle-class island (Kuramathi "only" has 4 stars).

The GocheGanas Drama in April 2012

April 26, 2012 - Departure with Emirates in Vienna:

After it's already a good 5 years since I was last in Namibia and a year-long vacation planning, I boarded the Emirates Airlines plane. in Vienna on Thursday, April 26th at 2:35 p.m., in a good mood. After a flight time of only 5 hours 45 minutes, we landed in the United Arab Emirates, better known here as Dubai, at 10:55 p.m.

Dubai Business Lounge

A few years ago, no one would have thought of flying voluntarily to this inhospitable desert emirate, unless of course you are a soldier and like to play war, or work for an oil company.

However, since the sheiks are clever people and they are obviously aware that their numerous bubbling oil wells could soon dry up, the idea of ​​opening up new markets is very clever. Since my connecting flight to Johannesburg was only scheduled 6 hours later, I had enough time to leave the airport and be chauffeured to the famous 7-star hotel, Burj al Arab, in an Emirates Airlines limousine.

Of course, I had the idea for a long time beforehand, because the limousine has to be booked and leaving the airport if you have booked a connecting flight is not actually planned. But it is quite possible and even reasonably feasible without stress. For me, because of the brand new camera, it was also a first stress test for my Nikon D4, as I had only received the camera a few days earlier, as one of the first in Austria.

04/27/2012 - Dubai:

When the exit formalities were completed and I got into the limousine, it was already after midnight local time in Dubai and therefore pretty dark. When I arrived at the Burj al Arab, I briefly discussed with the security guards at the gate whether I was allowed to pass through the gate to take a few photos, even though I wasn't a hotel guest.

I was very surprised when one of the security guards eyed my camera in the best English and said … ah, a Nikon D4, not bad, it's brand new, isn't it? Yes, that's right, it is indeed new, I said with a friendly smile and wondered why a hotel security man knew more about cameras than my own wife, twisted world…..?!

I was actually allowed to take a few photos for a few minutes by the palm trees on the left near the exit. As always, despite the late hour, it was unbearably hot in Dubai and after a few quick shots, my limousine took me back to the airport.

Unfortunately, my good mood faded again as soon as I got to Gate 216, because there were a lot of holidaymakers with hand luggage, but no plane that you could have boarded. The promised A380 became an ancient bomber and only 5 hours later we were allowed to board the plane.

If I had known in advance that my stay at the airport would take a full 11 hours, my planning would certainly have been completely different.

But as so often in life, it turns out differently than you think......

The flight itself then lasted a little more than 8 hours and so I arrived in Johannesburg with a four-hour delay, where nobody from the airline took care of us arriving late. Our connecting flights were gone, of course, so we had to rebook and hope. Instead of 2:20 p.m., I landed in the capital of Namibia at around 5:20 p.m. I don't have to mention how unnerved and tired you are after such a 28-hour ordeal.

But the real shock came at the baggage carousel, because after almost all the passengers had their luggage and left the airport happily, I still stood there nervously and in disbelief, looking at the baggage carousel and waiting, with a mixture of desperation and anger in my stomach, for that to happen I would finally be able to start my well-deserved vacation. Unfortunately, like five other passengers that evening, I waited in vain. It's hard to describe the feelings that go through your head at that moment. You plan for over a year, laboriously save every cent from your mouth just to be able to make your dream come true and then...... you stand on the conveyor belt and have to face the fact that some sloppy asshole in Johannesburg either didn't do his job, or even worse... stole the luggage right away.

Not many things in life are more frustrating I can tell you. I felt like crying, and that's no understatement. Full of confidence, I had not only packed my tripod, which was indispensable for photographing the stars, in the travel bag, no, there was even the charger for my brand new Nikon D4 in it.

without a tripod it's not that easy to take such a picture...

This meant that as soon as my 2 batteries were empty - which would have been the case after about 600 photos at the latest - I would not have been able to take any more photos. Sky, a very nice young man from GocheGanas, my first lodge, had been waiting outside for almost 2 hours when I entered the hall completely unnerved and told him about my lost luggage. It's only when something like this has happened to you that you learn how indifferent you actually are to all the other people around you.

Not that it's surprising, no, but when you have to run around in the same clothes for almost three days afterwards and don't even have a toothbrush, you quickly get a whole new perspective. From the perspective of a Central European, this may seem quite strange, but when you travel to the most sparsely populated region of our planet, it is anything but easy to equip yourself with everyday items. Hundreds of kilometers around our hotel complex there is nothing but wild animals and steppes.

But it’s possible…. if you are good….. LOL

This is great for a safari, but sucks if you need a toothbrush or just a clean XL t-shirt. Completely unnerved, I checked into the GocheGanas and complained to everyone who didn't want to hear it. At dinner I enjoyed Namibian hospitality for the first time in five years.

The evening menu was not only rich, no, it was almost a poem and I really enjoyed the grilled game with a few bottles of beer. I slowly realized that I had to come up with a contingency plan in case my luggage wasn't with me tomorrow and I wondered if it made any sense to continue the journey if I didn't even have anything to wear.

My dress size wasn't a problem, but since my hand luggage was crammed full of cameras and lenses, even my medication and all other essential items for survival were in the big luggage. After a good hour, in the darkness of Namibia, I made my way back to my bungalow. I got the last one on the bottom left which meant there was no bungalow below me and nothing blocking my way out onto the beautiful countryside.

I took my camera, checked all the settings, marveled at the starry sky and tried to place it makeshift on the wide balcony railing, which turned out to be impractical. Then I went in front of the bungalow, put some foam from the photo backpack on the stone steps and placed my D4 on them so that the lens was pointing straight up into the sky.

Of course, this only works if you have a remote release, since the camera is not fixed in any way and even the slightest touch during the long exposure leads to a blur. Although my desperation hadn't diminished at this late hour, or I knew how to proceed, I tried to make the best of the situation and annoyed me about a stupid flagpole, which I couldn't get out of my field of vision, no matter how hard I tried.

After a few more attempts I got really cold and retired to the cozy room. The owner of the facility had previously sent me one of his clean t-shirts and a toothbrush was suddenly available in my bathroom.

04/28/2012 – GocheGanas - Namibia: After a short night, I showered for the first time and freshened up, which was a bit of a challenge with the outside temperature around 5°C, because it was really frosty in the bathroom, which even an electric heater couldn't change within a few minutes. After taking some handheld sunrise shots and walking a ½ hour hike down to the guest car park, I enjoyed a lovely breakfast on the restaurant terrace.

The view down into the valley is really sensational and despite the lack of luggage I tried to distract myself by examining yesterday's photos on my laptop. How long had I planned to photograph the sensational starry sky here at GocheGanas and now the second day had already begun and apart from a few botched shots taken from the ground, I had nothing to offer….. that was a shame.

But all the whining didn't help, Sky was already waiting for me to take me to the airport again and check whether my luggage came with the morning flight or not. Of course, just like yesterday,…. NOTHING!!!

Not the big travel bag and not the small suitcase, so nothing at all.

As anyone can easily imagine, my disappointment was boundless. Any hope I had given myself during the long sleepless night was gone and I realized that I actually had to check out of the hotel in an hour and then I would be all on my own. Then there would no longer be any locals who had supported me at the airport in my efforts to get into the restricted area of ​​the arrivals hall.

As an additional treat, I found out at the Lost and Found counter that it was absolutely nothing unusual for the nice ladies of the airline that holiday guests did not receive their luggage. Yesterday there were five passengers who missed their luggage, today there were even 7 desperate tourists like me waiting for a container to be found or loaded. emptied and their holiday luggage would be found.

For all those who are planning a holiday trip to Namibia, I advise you to carefully consider whether a flight via Johannesburg is really necessary.

Next time I would probably even fly over Germany with Namib Air, just to rule out the risk – (with the many missing suitcases every day and the small planes it hits a few poor tourists every day!!), or whatever Book the first two days in Windhoek, because then, in the worst case, you could simply wait until your suitcases are brought to the hotel.

In any case, I would never again assume that I would receive my luggage immediately and then have to drive to a destination 50 km away in a rental car, which I first had to take over (which is a challenge that should not be underestimated after a long-haul flight). That is far too much stress and drastically increases the risk of accidents to an unpredictable level.

Cursing and very desperate, Sky and I drove back to GocheGanas, where I had to take my hand luggage and check out again with a heavy heart. The owner of the hotel kindly agreed to take me to the airport again (which means a 45 minute drive there and back each time).

Sossus Dune Lodge

Of course, when I got there, I was way too late to be able to drive to Sossusvlei, so I politely asked for the manager to be able to discuss my photographic ideas with him. We had a few drinks at the bar and I got some very interesting info on the power supply and the staff at Sossus Dune Lodge.

05/07/2012

The next morning, like almost all of the guests, I took part in the daily scooter rally to the 4x4 parking lot (which is 55km away) to stop there briefly, switch to four-wheel drive and immediately continue to Deadvlei. It's fun, with 15kg on your back and a tripod you could smack an elephant with, ALL ALLOWED to run up and down the fucking dunes. man I hate that. Please don't get me wrong, I love landscape photography, I'm just a bit lazy and would like Doppelmayr to finally build a chairlift to Deadvlei.

But since there is no chairlift and everyone else climbs Big Daddy like the idiots anyway to get up there in anticipation of the sunrise and let the sand blow around your ears, I take pictures calmly and especially alone in Deadvlei. I always laugh my ass off when I see all the exhausted tourists up there on the crest of the dunes and imagine them desperately trying to get a decent photo - against the sun!!! – to do what is of course impossible. An hour later they usually arrive in the lowlands of the Vlei and lumber around in the picture, which forces me to calm down and of course to smile friendly, when I would really like to use my tripod.

By 8:30 a.m. at the latest, the sun is already so high in the firmament that everyone has packed their stuff and starts the long way back to the lodge. This also brings me to the next cautiously worded point of criticism. If you're going to build a state lodge like Sossus Dune Lodge inside the national park, why not right next to the 4x4 parking lot? It can hardly be due to the meeting of the two dry rivers, because the Sossus Dune Lodge also stands on stilts. So you could do the same thing there and everyone would be safe from any rain that might set in. Is it environmental protection that drives hundreds of tourists to drive the 60 km twice a day in their "economical" four-wheel drive Toyotas, or is it the idiocy of those responsible? I hate spending hours every day in a hot car and putting my life in danger at 120 km/h just to be back at the lodge in time for sunrise or in the evening.

Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch

Located on the edge of the southern Kalahari in the mixed tree and shrub savannah, the lodge is crisscrossed by huge red sand dunes. We attach great importance to the preservation of nature and its living beings, so you can experience numerous species of animals and plants up close with us. Watch antelopes, springboks, zebras, ostriches, meerkats or cheetahs up close. Or let the authentic Bushmen introduce you to their ancient traditions.

Nikon D7100, 10-24mm at 10mm (15mm in 35mm) 33 caputers at 600 sec each (18.900 seconds in total)

Klein Aus Vista

There is something extraordinarily special about the landscape around Klein-Aus Vista.
It is where streaks of Namib sand merge with the bleached grasses of the Pro-Namib in
a sensuous slow dance of splendour.

The lodge, nestled in the rocky Aus Mountains, is famed for its extensive and lovely vistas, best seen from one of the mountain bike or hiking trails, a viewpoint above the Klein-Aus Vista campsite or from the secluded Eagle’s Nest Chalets. Contributing to the scenery, the Wild Horses of the Namib remind us of untethered freedom and appeal to our soul to embrace the wonderful adventure of life in its entirety.

Desert Horse Inn is imbued with the energy of the horses, adding a spirited component to the warmth of the family-owned lodge. As the pastel landscape transforms into desert en route to Lüderitz and the coast, there is the abandoned diamond mining town of Kolmanskop to visit where disintegrating houses are a photographer’s playground, a desert town to discover and fascinating promontories to explore. For the more adventurous we recommend our rustic  Geisterschlucht Cabin. 

33.000 sec exposure time (more then 9 hours!)

The only problem with such a multiple exposure is that you have to leave your camera somewhere unattended for a whole night and not know if you will find it again in the morning. In this case it was exactly 110 shots of 300 seconds each with an aperture of f/5.6 ISO 100 and a 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 mm DX lens at 10mm, which corresponds to a 15mm in 35mm. Camera was my Nikon D7100, which I would have gotten over somehow if it had been gone.

Although Klein Aus Vista has very nice comfortable rooms and the reception as well as the restaurant were very good, the place itself somehow has no charm for me. While you can clearly see the light pollution caused by Klein Aus Vista on the far left of the picture, you can see three houses that are also lit up on the right of the picture. These are the very secluded Eagles Nest Chalets which are part of Klein Aus Vista but are a good 15 minute offroad drive away.

Simply building a hotel/resort in the middle of nowhere is just not enough. That the kolmanskop and the wild horses happen to be nearby is good, but still not worth a visit. Personally, Klein Aus Vista seemed more like an unplanned stop at one of the thousands of gas stations during my last trip to the USA. You stay because you're tired and have to refuel anyway, but there's nothing else to see..

Okaukuejo Camp - Etosha NP - Namibia

Famous for its floodlit waterhole Okaukuejo Rest Camp is also the administrative centre of Etosha. Most visitors travel though this camp with its characteristic stone tower and Etosha Ecological Institute is also situated within the camp.

The rest camp was formerly a military outpost founded in 1901 and the tower was added in 1963. Located in the south of Etosha National Park, Okaukuejo is only 17 km from Anderson Gate. Okaukuejo offers a wide range of accommodation as well as all the necessities such as a petrol station and a shop. The restaurant and bar offer refreshments and delicious meals, while the swimming pool offers relief on hot days. The waterhole is a hub of animal activity starting in the early hours of the morning. Especially during winter diversity of game congregate in close proximity to the camp to quench their thirst.

After sunset floodlights illuminate the waterhole. This is the best time and place to see the endangered black rhino. This archaic mammal can often be seen drinking alongside lion and elephant. The number and interaction of the animals is the major drawcard of Okaukuejo Rest Camp in Namibia.

Gitzo G 1549 MK II Tripod, Nikon D810, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports at 450mm, 1/500 sec at f/6.3 with ISO 2.000

The waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp is truly amazing in terms of wildlife sightings. At no other place in Namibia have I ever seen so many different animals together at a waterhole. However, you are a good distance away from the waterhole, which makes a good telephoto lens useful if you want to portray the animals.

Gitzo G 1549 MK II Tripod, Nikon D810 with Nikon MC-36, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports at 150mm, 1/13 sec at f/6.3 with ISO 12.800

Gitzo G 1549 MK II Tripod, Nikon D810 with Nikon MC-36, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports at 600mm, 1/15 sec at f/6.3 with ISO 12.800

The adult elephant gives a good impression of why it is difficlut to photography animals at the Okaukuejo waterhole at night (without a flash for sure). The animals are pretty far away, and the 2500 Kelvin floodlight makes it even harder to correct the photos with Photoshop afterwards. You need a 5-600mm supertele lens and a very sturdy tripod.

Gitzo G 1549 MK II Tripod, Nikon D810 with Nikon MC-36, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports at 600mm, 1/13 sec at f/6.3 with ISO 12.800

Hermi Strauss's Kanaan Farm

Actually, I didn't know Hermi when we first met on May 4th, 2012. I didn't even have the door of my Toyota fully open when Hermi greeted me enthusiastically and welcomed me to his land. At this point I deliberately say country and not farm, because with an area of ​​no less than 330 km², his farm is almost as big as the total area of ​​the Maldives and they consist of 1196 islands!

However, I didn't know this at the time.

Hermi was on the verge of tears and told me about the haters on the internet who gave his farm negative reviews because they didn't have fresh strawberries for dessert. At the time I was a bit exhausted after the long and very strenuous journey and didn't really know how to deal with this host who was obviously on the verge of a nervous breakdown. After a drink, however, Hermi calmed down and we were able to discuss my plans since I was the only guest.

The fact that it is a large farm will become clear to the completely inexperienced at the latest when Hermi starts his Land Rover and takes his guests on a photo safari, because the journey to one of the hot spots is a whole hour and believe me Hermi drives like that a madman.

Unfortunately, I was somewhat handicapped in terms of photography due to my grass pollen allergy, but with Hermi as a guide, even a mediocre photographer will find everything their heart desires and that is exactly what makes this place so extraordinary.

I realize that almost all tourists are also keen amateur photographers and would like to take good photos of these breathtakingly beautiful landscapes home with them. Very few know how to compose motifs correctly and where to look for them. And this is exactly where Hermi comes into play.

He is a good photographer himself and not only brings each of his guests close to a good spot, no, he practically nudges you with his nose.

For me, for example, I am a passionate extreme wide-angle photographer and rarely compose landscapes with the telephoto. I don't really like that. I love my 14-24mm and the fisheye, actually especially the fisheye, because only a few can handle it really well. Hermi, however, has only trained his eye for focal lengths between 100 and 400mm and therefore sees things that are just too far away for me to be interesting.

To make it short…. If you want to bring home unforgettable shots of the red dunes, drive on the D707, take at least 2 days and don't forget your telephoto. Incidentally, I would like to mention that Hermi is a very good cook and equally good host. The fact that there is no electricity in the rooms in the evening is just as clear due to the distance to his farm as he has to drive 400 km to go shopping.

Those are just the impasses of life on another planet, the beautiful Canaan Farm.

And here I am not even mentioning the crazy drives in the middle of the night that Hermi willingly took me to photograph the stars, or the actions when we hunted the various animals with his Land Rover, springbok, oryx and ostrich to the full to photograph a gallop. Of course that's not woke anymore these days... which I don't give a shit.

Walzing Mathilda with Milky Way in Background

Walzing Mathilda with the Moon

I can't tell much about Hermi himself, since we only had a few days together during which he told me a little about himself, but these were the most impressive stories I had heard on all my Namibia trips to date.

As the son of a family that came partly from Austria and partly from England, his grandfather or great-grandfather had already bought the land on which he now lived, the Kanaan Farm and completely fenced it in, which is tantamount to a life's work when you see the sheer size of the farm on.

33,000 hectares not only sounds impressive for a single person, they are too. If you are standing on the crest of a dune and Hermi points to the horizon and says... do you see that group of trees on the horizon there..? That's where my property ends, and on the other side, you see the mountain range near the horizon... there's the other perimeter fence.

Quiver Tree

Chasing a herd of Common Ostrich (Struthio Camelus)

So these two days with Hermi flew by and I found myself back on the dusty pad towards Sesriem. But since I'm a particularly smart guy, I noticed right after my departure - so 2 hours later - that I had forgotten my two tripods in his Land Rover. Man was I mad at myself.

A single person can't be that stupid, I thought to myself, grabbed my satellite phone and desperately called Hermi. He was very relaxed and suggested that I meet in the middle. So I “only” had to drive an hour back and found Hermi standing sideways on the sand track waiting. He smiled at me, handed me a cold can of Coke and handed me my tripods.

I thought he was a really nice guy and drove the shitty route towards Sesriem for the third time.

Climbing Big Mama on 12. June 2007 was one of my dumbest ideas ever

The other tourists always tell you how breathtaking the view is when you stand at the top of the dune crest at sunrise and look at the landscape 300m below... bullshit. You look into a glistening bright star, you can't take pictures against the sun anyway and you have to wait until the heart attack is over. And you can't get any good photos from up there, I know that because I've been up there. With tripod and 20kg photo luggage.

My flight over the Namib

Before my first Namibia adventure I had prepared well and knew that the Namib Desert is not only the oldest desert on earth but also the one with the highest dunes. And I found out that you could rent a single-engine Cessna without a door at Arandis, a small airfield near Swakopmund. That was something unusual in that normally no plane is allowed to fly without a door. And certainly not with tourists on board.

Unfortunately I had a bit of bad luck the day before and stayed in the desert with my rented Toyota for a whole day without a satellite phone, which had confused me a bit emotionally. Above all, my schedule had gotten really mixed up and the flight, which was scheduled for June 15th, 2007, could therefore only take place on June 16th. Luckily, the young pilot had nothing better to do on the 16th either, so I was able to start the sightseeing flight despite the breakdown and stress.

Then, on June 16, I had to learn that single-engine airplanes without a door generate a noise level during flight that causes pain in the ears after just a few minutes. I don't know how many decibels it is, but it was certainly enough. For my hangover from the day before, that was exactly the mix you don't want when trying to take nice photos with a Kenyon Labs gyro stabilizer under the camera with the door open and wind speeds of 200-300 km/h.

If you are asking yourself now what the fuck is a Kenyon Gyro….

Flight of the Phoenix was filmed here. You still can see the traces of the plane from the takeoff at the end of the movie.

In this picture you can clearly see that there are river valleys, even next to the red dunes of the Namib Desert, where the vegetation manages to survive despite the drought. Also nice how the red sand of the dune is blown over the black stone by the wind.

After a while you arrive at the gate and see Sossusvlei Lodge from above.

Then it goes towards Dune 45 and finally to the famous Deadvlei.

Dune 45

A somewhat unusual self-portrait

Parking lot from the Deadvlei

In this latest aerial view of Deadvlei you can see all the important trees that have already been photographed millions of times. My personal favorite tree is at the bottom left and the tree lying at the top right.

Next stop - where the Dunes of the Namib meet the Atlantic Ocean…

Dune Planet

Strong wind on the Dune ridges

Genuine non-stacked single night shots from the Deadvlei are extremely rare

And when you think nothing can surprise you anymore, a fake photo of Deadvlei at night comes from somewhere. I don't google for Deadvlei night shots as the results are manageable and a good 30% are mine, but when you look at some reputable photographers' fake pics that are popping up around the internet today, you have to wonder what's in in their minds these guys do.

And although I'm well aware of how the community reacts, I would like to post a blog entry about Deadvlei at night here on my homepage. Lately it's no longer woke to post forbidden things in Namibia forums, although every Namibia tourist in his rented four-wheel drive car speeds down all sorts of forbidden slopes much too quickly.

genuine non-stacked single capture from the famous Deadvlei at night

But when it comes to spending the night in the expensive Sossus Dune Lodge and agreeing with the hotel management what amount is called for to make a pilgrimage to Deadvlei at night together with a guide, then it becomes too expensive for the scrounger. And quickly the right photographer, who takes on all these troubles and costs, is publicly pilloried and denigrated. You can all kiss my ass with your double standards. I was there three times in the night and never had a problem.

When it comes to photographing the Milky Way on moonless nights, there is no hotter place on this planet and period.

Nikon D4 AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm at 14mm f/3.5 ISO 3200 with 15 sec - Genuine Night shot from the Deadvlei - captured on 9. Mai 2012 at 19:14

However, I freely admit that visiting Deadvlei is only 10% of the price when it comes to taking good star photos home. Because if you look at the recordings by Art Wolfe, for example, which were still made on Fujichrome Velvia at the time, you'll be horrified by the lousy quality.

A lot more is possible these days....

However, it should not be concealed that it is anything but easy to get good recordings on a moonless night in a place like Deadvlei, because when it's really dark there you can't even see your own hand in front of your face. And that also means that you can't select a subject when looking through the eyepiece of your camera. You can not see anything. And anyone who has ever tried to illuminate a landscape with a flashlight and at the same time find a camera setting for a great subject knows that this is almost impossible. Which means nothing other than that you have to prepare the motifs for the night during the day and then only have to look for the right tree when it is dark.

Which, as I can tell you from my own experience, is not always easy either, as there are around a hundred trees in an area that is 1 kilometer long and almost 500 meters wide. Finding the right one here in total darkness is a challenge. Then you have to position your tripod at knee height because the stars are high up in the sky. Which inevitably leads to lying in the dirt behind the camera without the help of an angle viewfinder and trying to get the focus manually with the flashlight.

But only after the end of the long exposure at home on the computer does it become apparent whether you screwed up or were lucky, because the self-illuminated display is of no real help in absolute darkness. It displays every subject far too brightly. If you let yourself be deceived here, you will bring nothing but underexposed motifs home. If you want to photograph line traces as shown in the next photo, it becomes even more difficult, because not only the main subject is fixed, no, the exposure time of several hours also makes the whole thing an extremely tedious task, since the camera has to be released absolutely without blurring.

And if anyone notices that my line traces are absolutely circular... yes, that too is only possible with the appropriate software and an excellent Nikkor lens. Exposure time was 6600 seconds in total. Captured with my Nikon D810 and the incredible AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm at 14mm and f/2.8 at ISO 400 (yes only 400).

Generative Fill with the new Photoshop Beta

What Adobe has achieved with its new Photoshop Beta AI is almost mystical when you look at the results….

Image taken with a Nikkor 16mm fisheye lens corrected with Photoshop

After the automatic generative fill command - please note the course of the shadow

Again a fisheye photo

After the automatic generative fill command - replacing the tiles is one thing, but also noticing the irregularity there is incredible!

Rainbow over VIC Falls

You can see a rainbow anywhere on earth, but to capture a truly sensational one you need a lot of luck and a waterfall in the background.

But I understand too, that only the rainbow isn’t enough….. LOL

I haven’t seen many waterfalls, but the Victoria Falls are pretty impressive when you are there.

Traditional Denoising from High-ISO Photos vs. Adobe Beta v24.7 AI

Ever since photography was invented more than 190 years ago, all photographers have always had a problem. If there is not enough light for a correct exposure, a more sensitive film or, in the case of a digital camera, a higher ISO number must be set on the camera. This results in image noise, which is very unsightly in the recordings. A practically unsolvable problem for 200 years, since even the most expensive man-made denoising software programs were only very poorly able to remove the image noise. I still remember my first visit to Japan in 1994, when I happily searched the Yodobashi Camera store in Shinjuku for the Fujichrome Provia 1600 that was not available in my country at that time.

Of course the results were a far cry from what you'd expect from a Velvia, but you'd gained 5 full stops with the same exposure time and it was amazing. Let's say that 1/30sec is the shortest exposure time that you don't shake from your own hand and you go looking for a motif without a flash in the twilight, the Provia 1600 allows you to virtually reduce the exposure time to a whole second. However, this issue of high-speed films was quickly resolved when digital cameras conquered the world market around 2000. A blue sky suddenly no longer had millions of colors when enlarged on the monitor, but was uniformly blue. What a difference to scanned images. But the digital cameras also had to increase their signal internally in order to simulate high ISO numbers when there was less light.

This was a real problem for a long time, up to the Nikon D3(s), because image noise is one of those phenomena that you don't want when you look at your beloved snapshots on the monitor afterwards. And even with the introduction of the legendary Nikon D3s, there was still the problem that ISO 6400 could be used, but extreme applications such as exposure times of several minutes were impossible. Because the sensors were red hot and also produced very high levels of noise in such unusual applications. Until 2023 there was no other choice but to trust expensive human-written software like Topaz Labs and try to remove the image interference to some extent, which, between us, never succeeded.

The results always ended up looking awful and weren't for sale at Getty Images because they didn't even pass quality control. Only with the integration of artificial intelligence in programs like Adobe Photoshop Beta v24.7 did a quantum leap in noise reduction from photos succeed in 2023. Okay, it should not be concealed at this point that this AI almost needs a "Nasa computer" to be able to send the incredible flood of data back and forth at an acceptable speed, but it's really worth it. For example, in 2016 I had the crazy idea of using a Nikon D7100 to take long-term exposures in the UVA spectrum at night of temple complexes that I had illuminated myself in various ultraviolet spectra.

Original D7100 NEF file - 345sec f/3.5 ISO6400

The 300sec exposure time required for this not only caused the camera sensor to glow but also caused such strong image noise in the files that practically all the photos were unusable. Thanks to the incredibly good AI from Adobe, however, irredeemably bad recordings suddenly become attractive and presentable photos again. An incredible step into the future. I really don't have the words for how artificial intelligence is superior to humans here

100% Crop

And this is what the result looks like with the new AI…..

after Adobe Beta v24.7 denoising

100% Crop

Even completely wrongly exposed shots taken with ISO 6400 f2.8 and 300sec exposure time in the Upper Antelope Canyon with my Nikon D3 can suddenly be saved, which is absolutely unbelievable for me…

after Adobe Beta v24.7 denoising

The original file:

Original Nikon D3 NEF File - Upper Antelope Canyon at midnight - 2009 - 300sec f/2.8 ISO 6400

How it all started....

Back in 1988 on Maayafushi Island (Maldives) I not only knew nothing about photography in general but even less how to get known or even famous with it. I had borrowed a Minolta 7000 (the first DSLR film camera with autofocus at the time) and a 50mm lens from my father and only had two rolls 35mm film with me. But since this resulted in a few really good shots, I wanted to pursue this further.

View from the Bar in Maayafushi 1988

After my first holiday in the Maldives, the technology of photography developed so rapidly that, looking back, I cannot believe how innocently naive we all were back then. At the same time as I was learning to take photos with my first film camera, professional photographers in Japan were already using the very first digital cameras. A technique that I strictly rejected until 2004 Now, of course, one could argue that the period between 1988 and 2004 was not a long one. However, 16 years is an eternity for a young adult. And in these 16 years I learned to take analogue photos.

I certainly never was the great professional photographer I thought I was, but I still sell my photos on Getty Images New York, which I'm a little proud of. But my real adventure started in late 2005. One day I was sitting with friends in a well-known beer brewery in Vienna and pondering what would be necessary to invite myself into the wide world as a photographer. Inviting because I wanted to photograph them all over the world and make a name for myself as a professional. That was the demand I had on myself at that time. I looked up to the likes of Ansel Adams, and I sure could publish landscape photography books like Art Wolfe.

At that time I had only met one really famous photographer personally in real life and that was Herwarth Voigtmann, who became world famous with his underwater photos from mirrored Uvex sunglasses and the shocking photos were big sharks eat bloody fishes from his mouth. The fact that this was photographed by Leni Riefenstahl may have helped, but that's a completely different story. Since my English was very poor at the time, I asked my friends to help me set up a professional-looking email in which I would later apply to various 5-star game lodges in Africa to become a professional photographer for commercials. The e-mail was written quickly and so I sent the e-mail to various game lodges. Unexpectedly, I got an immediate response and was also invited by several of the most well-known.

I only had to pay for the flight myself, the rest was free. And that in hotels like a Mala Mala, where even back then in 2007 a room cost more than $1000 per night. As a colleague of mine used to say: you can't buy courage, you either have it or you don't. I had courage and not fear. However, it wasn't easy to convince my employer to allow me the 8 weeks vacation I needed for my adventure. If Nikon Austria hadn't sponsored me at the time and equipped me with all the necessary equipment, the trip would never have been possible, because the 50kg of photo equipment alone required a business class flight ticket. But having never been to Africa and certainly not being a professional at photographing wild animals from an open-top Land Rover, it took a fair amount of determination on site to convince my employers that I was the right man.

Photos taken with a 1000mm Supertele lens (in 35mm)

Wildlife from Africa…

Hartmann Zebras

Vogi

Oryx with the red Dunes from Sossusvlei in Background

Bush Squirrel Botswana

Mashatu Game Reserve

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
Groucho Marx

Elephants at the waterhole

Instagram

In case anyone is wondering why I'm not on Instagram anymore...

Anton Chekhov: In this world, I find two occupations particularly useless: fretwork and photography.

No, but seriously.....when poor people with disabilities have thousands of followers and as a photographer I can't even get 10 followers with 1000+ posts of my best photos, which mind you make enough money from and have been on Getty Images for 15 years selling New York well, something is wrong with this platform, right? Fuck off with Insta.

Fujifilm Clip-IT DS-10 (DX-5) digital camera from 1997

There are dozens of camera sites on the internet that claim to know everything about the individual digital cameras of the early era of this relatively young medium. And there are many old collectors who have smiled at me for my small collection for the past 10 years. But I have learned one thing ... about Japanese products, often not even the manufacturers themselves know exactly, because the Japanese are not interested in the past. This is not only visible in their cities and the way they deal with old properties, no, one can also observe this, for example, in the extremely late installation of the Nikon Museum in Tokyo. In truth, most of the photos in any publications are not from Nikon, but from Christhope SAP, a Belgian collector and friend.

For me it was never important to be the first to share what I knew about an old camera with the world on my own website. Because most of the information that is published takes place without proof and without any indication of the source, and is therefore completely worthless. I don't have a huge collection either, so my experience is limited to observations that I could make on my models in real life. In this photo you can see something for yourself that, in my opinion, has never been described. The Fuji DS-10 is widely known but has reportedly sold millions of pieces. So maybe ... LOL.

The very first batch of DS-10 had Serialnumbers starting with 720** in silver colour and were made in Japan

As you can see, the DS-10 is slightly brownish, as is well known. I wouldn't classify the color as gold because it appears too dark and colorless for that. When I held the silver version in my hands today I was amazed and took all my DS-10 models to hand. What I found out after studying the serial numbers is this. There was obviously a first batch in silver that started with the serial number 720 **. These very first Fujifilm Clip-IT DS-10 were made in Japan and were silver.

It is interesting that afterwards there was apparently a second batch in this well-known "golden" shade of brown with serial numbers starting with 730 **. This batch was still made in Japan. After that, however, the production was outsourced to China and all subsequent Chinese serial numbers first have a digit, then a Latin letter and then again 5 digits. And all of the DS-10 made in China were brown.

It is also exciting that it is claimed on the Internet that the transparent blue DS-10S was sold as a limited edition with only 3000 pieces. I can't find any evidence of this. Neither in the serial number, because this starts just like the second batch of the brown DS-10 with 730 **, although this skeleton model is also available with serial numbers starting with 740 **. And on the packaging there is only the indication that it is a "Special Edition" but not a limited edition!