Genesis
I am excited to present my Genesis, which is a selection of images that have a special meaning for me. These images represent the first steps I took after I had discovered my true passion, steps towards living a life centered around nature photography, whose call I could not ignore. Steps that required courage, but were infused with hope and joy, as it meant abruptly changing the path and career I had followed so far, that I had invested so much in.
My Genesis consists of limited editions of three images. Two of these are linked through a burn/redeem mechanism, and one image is a stand alone edition. Mints are via the Manifold Claim Page and Burn/Redeems via the Manifold Burn/Redeem App.
In addition, I am excited to offer my book “The Art of Nature Photography” as an open edition, and copies of the book are redeemable through a token gate mechanism, provided by Manifold. All collectors of my images receive a complimentary, token gated copy of the book.
For the story behind these images, and why they are important to me, please feel free to read the descriptions that follow the overview.
Niagara Revealed
10 editions – 0.25 Eth
Awarded in the 2012 International Conservation Photography Awards
Burn 1 to Redeem 1
Gold Coast100 Editions – 0.025 Eth
Awarded in the 2013 Epson International Pano Awards
Burn 1 Gold Coast to Redeem 1 Ordered Chaos
Ordered Chaos – Maximum 50 Redeems
If you mint/claim two “Gold Coast” and redeem one “Ordered Chaos”, the value of these two editions will be at least 30% higher than if you had bought a stand alone edition of each of these images.
Book: The Art of Nature Photography
Open Edition – 0.007 Eth. Redeemable through a Token Gate
Please feel free to read a free excerpt from the book at this link.
The Images
Ordered Chaos
They say “When you find your passion, you will know.” And I knew. I had found a home in nature and photography, this was where life made sense, where I felt happy and fulfilled. It meant I would have to make a U-turn in my life that baffled my friends and family, as I had the makings for “success”. I had a physics graduate degree, worked as a university research scientist in the United States, and then in a commercial research laboratory in Canada. A promising career lay ahead.
There was no turning back, it was a call I could not ignore. And so I spent every free minute after, and before work, photographing my natural surroundings, learning about photography and improving my craft. I lived in Kingston, Ontario which is right next to Lake Ontario. In the winter it would freeze over and turn into a wonderland. In the mornings, before work, I ventured out on the frozen surface, at temperatures as low as -30 C, with a warm coffee waiting in my car to warm me up, although by the time I returned it was at best lukewarm! It may be white, flat, virtually featureless and, oh yes, really cold, but this frozen landscape is one of my favourite locations worldwide to photograph and explore. The possibilities are endless, and the beauty of the interplay between ice, snow and light exquisite and unique.
This image counts as one of my favourites from the three years I spent photographing Lake Ontario: An embankment of ice, built from ice fragments that washed ashore after storms had shattered the lake’s frozen surface, glitters in the warm light of the rising sun. I loved how the textures of the cloudy sky complemented those of the frozen surface, touched by the first light of day. A combination of elements that could have turned out to be somewhat random and chaotic, but surprisingly forms an ordered whole.
Gold Coast
South Africa’s Cape Peninsula is home to one of our planet’s most spectacular coastlines, a world of towering coastal mountains, wild oceans, rocky shorelines, crashing waves and endless beaches. It is an area I have had the fortune of photographing several times, and it has gifted me with many unforgettable moments of exceptional beauty and splendour.
It was late afternoon at Chapman’s peak, a world famous location along the Cape Peninsula, and the sun was partially hidden behind a low lying bank of clouds. The sun would filter through, painting the mountainside in beautiful dappled light, until the moment when it all stopped, and the sun was hidden entirely. I thought it would set behind the clouds, but then, for a brief moment found a large opening, and wonderful warm, golden light streamed across the ocean and mountains. I quickly captured the beautiful, fleeting moment before it was gone, by taking a series of portrait format images, which I later combined into a panorama in editing.
South Africa was the first country I visited and photographed after I had acquired my first serious camera half a year earlier, and had started on a journey to center my life around my passion, nature photography. It was the first of many countries where my love for photography would take me. I feel very fortunate that I have been able to make my passion my profession, thanks to which I have been able to visit some of our planet’s most spectacular wildernesses. This is one of the many photographs I took during this visit, and it is one of two images from this visit that were awarded in the prestigious Epson International Pano awards.
Niagara Revealed
The feeling of power so close to these huge, thundering falls was mesmerizing. I had crawled right up to the edge, lying on my stomach to make sure there was no way I could fall into the cauldron of wild, churning waters far below. The spray from as much as 3 million litres (800,000 gallons) of water per second dropping off the rim rose far above the falls and obscured the rising sun. Belying the enormous power of this natural wonder, gentle wafts of spray touched my face. My wild 4 hour drive from my home at 2 am in the morning to make sure I would be there at sunrise had been so worth it!
Niagara falls’ majesty is beautifully embodied by Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. The rim extends about 670 metres (2,200 feet) in a huge semicircle from the foreground all the way across the horizon. Even my ultrawide angle lens could not include it all in one frame!
All I needed was for the sun to rise over the distant horizon, painting it all in beautiful light, but low lying clouds on the horizon seemed to think otherwise. I waited patiently, in the hope that the sun would find an opening in the clouds. And so it did! I gasped in wonder as the light broke through the spray, dressing this astonishingly powerful scene in glorious light, gently dancing on the water flowing over the edge in front of me.
It was the first of many crazy adventures I would embark on, in the pursuit of a life centered on my passion for nature photography, a call I could not ignore. I am so glad I listened, that I took the risk. My life has been enriched immeasurably.
The Story Behind it All
Since I was a child, I had a love for beautiful light, it would draw me in, mesmerize me, a transient source of great joy. My parents had a deep appreciation for nature, and many of our vacations would involve visiting the numerous stunning, pristine natural locations that South Africa, the country where I was born and raised, is home to. Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city, I viewed nature as something you visit every now and then during your vacations, and the rest of the year is spent in the city, going to school or pursuing a career.
There were two instances in my life when I discovered a passion. The first was in the second last year of high school, when our teacher built a tower of books on his table, one for each student, which we should read to improve our language skills. He let us choose, so that we would read what actually interested us. The second last book was on astronomy, and when it came up, I was the first to raise my hand. I was carried away by an unimaginably vast world of gigantic scales, planets, stars, galaxies, millions of them! I decided I wanted to become an astrophysicist. I enrolled at university and studied physics, all the way to a PhD. During my studies the passion began to wane, realizing that finding a position in academics is exceedingly difficult, too much would need to be sacrificed. Nevertheless, I carried on, following the tracks I had set out on, as we often do in life. After my PhD I travelled to the United States to work as a research scientist at Washington State University, located right in the middle of the beautiful Palouse, America’s own Tuscany!
I was transported from a metropolis in South Africa, where it took at least an hour to reach some amount of untouched nature, to a small college town, surrounded by the most amazing natural scenery. It would take me 20 minutes to drive to neighbouring Idaho and to find myself in the middle of endless forests, mountains, rivers and waterfalls. I quickly began to realize how much nature meant to me. I could no longer ignore it, compartmentalize it. Nature was my spiritual home, this was where I found happiness, peace, meaning. My time in these forests slowly lifted the veil that covered my lingering doubts about the passion I thought I was pursuing. There was no turning back.
And this is where I discovered my second passion, my true passion, nature photography. From the time my father gave me my first camera, I always felt a need to capture any beautiful scene I had the privilege to witness. Surrounded by an abundance of pristine, beautiful nature, I began taking images, and a seed was sown. Soon it blossomed into a realization of how much I loved the combination of photography and my experience of natural spaces. I had found a home, this was where life made sense, where I felt happy and fulfilled. As they say, you will know when you have found your passion, and I knew!
