Photonews Celebrating the Postal Photographic Club and its Members
The Lockdown Diaries - Vol 6
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Lockdown Diaries - Volume 6 Welcome to the sixth extra edition of Photonews to commemorate what PPC members have been doing in Lockdown. On page 2, opposite, are Harry and Zac, two live-in Grandsons who have kept me relatively sane during the Lockdown whilst I’ve been shielding. As I write this I’ve not left the house for over 90 days but I’m hoping that by the time you read these words I will have managed at least a brief walk beyond my garden gate. Our member in the hot-seat for this issue is Jon Allanson with a few of his “holiday snaps”, or to be more accurate some beautiful images from his recent trip to Namibia including some stunning black & white images from the Dead Viel. Finally, these specials are only made possible by the support of members so as always my grateful thanks to all those who’ve allowed us a peek inside their Lockdown World. There’s another 80-plus members out there however so surely a few more of you have been making photographs during Lockdown? I have templates ready for the next issue … they just need some content … yours? All the best - stay safe!
Dave Whenham Editor email: davewhenham@aol.com
ON THE COVER: “Damara Stall Holder” Jon Allanson 3
A Namibian Adventure Jon Allanson I was part way through a twoand-a-half-week trip in Namibia, when the Covid-19 emergency arose and I arrived back in the UK after the lockdown started. We were travelling down to the south and the Fish River Canyon, then making the way back northwards to the Etosha National Park. Having been to Namibia previously and knowing that in the south there were interesting landscapes and relatively little wildlife, and in the north plentiful wildlife and less interesting landscapes, I had planned to undertake a small number of photographic projects rather than making a traditional type travelogue. This meant that I was very selective in what I photographed, ignoring taking shots of towns and the lodges used. Since returning I have been using lockdown time to process the images and make combbound books of my projects.
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We travelled south along the edge of the red dunes of the Kalahari Desert seeing the sparse wildlife and visiting the Quiver Tree Forest and its collection of scrap material sculptures. Then on to the arid landscape around the Fish River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world. 5
A Namibian Adventure
Jon Allanson
Dawn Light
Prevous page Top: Fish River Canyon Bottom left: Quiver Tree Bottom right: Scrap Art
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A Namibian Adventure
Jon Allanson
We moved on to Sossusvlei, on my previous trips I had been unable to visit the Dead Vlei with its 350-year-old dead trees. My intension was to make a collection of images which would later be produced in mono, as there are so many possible tonal combinations rather than just the red sand and blue sky in colour images. The panoramic image of the vlei (bottom left and pages 10/11) was made from 10 vertical shots, stitched together. The man in the image walked in as I was shooting the sequence. I immediately thought about waiting and retaking the last frame, but decided against it as he would be easy to clone out. Having later looked at the wide angle shot I had taken earlier, I decided that leaving the man gave a sense of scale to the panorama.
Above and overleaf: Soss Left: Dead Vlei panorama - see double spread pages 10/11
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A Namibian Adventure
Jon Allanson
Dead Viel
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Pages 12 - 17: Dead Viel (mono)
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A Namibian Adventure
Jon Allanson We continued northwards to Swakopmund and took a cruise round the nearby Walvis Bay to see the seals and birds. Then went out into the Namid desert to find some of the wildlife including a sidewinder snake, which was only about 10 inches long.
Clockwise from top: Great White Pelican, Tractrac and chicks, Peringuey’s Adder Opposite: Namaqua Chameleon
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A Namibian Adventure Jon Allanson We travelled on into Damaraland to see the desert adapted elephants; they were difficult to find as the herd was split up as they had had no rain for the last 3 years. We also met some of the Hereos ladies with their colourful dresses. The story is that in the 19th century the missionary’s wives gave them their old dresses because they were concerned about their husbands seeing so many bare-breasted women. The ladies are now very skilful at sewing and create many items for sale.
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A Namibian Adventure
Jon Allanson
Desert adapted elephant with young calf
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Etosha National Park
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Female Kudus
Etosha National Park Etosha National Park had had very good rains in January and February, so the animals were no longer needing to use the water holes. This meant they were well hidden in the bush which had grown up again, so we saw very few and none of the big cats.
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Black-chested Snake Eagle
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Lilac Breasted Roller
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A Namibian Adventure
Jon Allanson
Clockwise from top: Male Springbok, Ground Squirrel, Jackall
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Top: Zabras Bottom: Black Rhino
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The last stop was at the private Okonjima Reserve, home of the Africat Foundation, with its resident leopards and cheetahs.
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This page: Cheetah Opposite: Leopard Cub 29
To view more of our images, learn about the club and for membership information, please visit postalphotoclub.org.uk
Photonews Celebrating the Postal Photographic Club and its Members
Photonews is published four times per year. All rights reserved. All materials copyright The Postal Photographic Club and/or their respective authors. Any opinion or statement expressed by the author of any article published in this magazine does not necessarily reflect the views of The Postal Photographic Club, the editor or its members.