It's So Wrong It Must be Right?

Finding new ways to make images in a world famous, but over photographed location.

Cornelius Muller

Apr 27, 2025

So there we were at day break, in a unique location, with thousands of years of desert evolution around us.

And not a unique image to be made.

Or at least that’s what it felt like.

You see, Deadvlei in Namibia is one of the most famous locations for landscape photographers.

Worldwide.

Which is why I was there co-leading a photography workshop.

So you can imagine that just about every angle and trying to find a unique perspective trick has been tried.

But sometimes, just sometimes, you have to take a step back in order to move forward.

Bear with me here.

Remember it was early morning?

Meaning light was still low.

And for some - fortuitous - reason my photography mind thought about playing with slow shutter speeds.

But, I hear you say, these trees have been dead for thousands of years and are certainly not moving any time soon.

Yes, yes, indeed.

But I can move.

So that’s what I did.

I started to play around with handheld slow exposures, only moving the camera a tiny bit so that the main scene is blurred just enough, but the subject is still recognisable.

And just like that, it felt like a world of new image making opportunities opened up in one of the most photographed locations on earth.

Magic?

Not at all.

It was simply being creative.

Thinking out of the box, as they say.

Was it a success?

I like to think so.

Will the images be to everyone’s liking?

I don’t really care, I had a great time making them rather then the stock standard Deadvlei composition (see below).

And I thought about it this week as I am trying to approach current life challenges from a different, out of the box, perspective - maybe we can all give it a try?