Malcolm MacGregor
Namibia is one of the great destinations for photography – a place where art and nature meet.
The country contains some of the last true wilderness areas of the world. Oman is another, whose signature landscapes are the high dunes of the Empty Quarter and the rugged cliffs of the Jabal Al Akhdar. I have photographed extensively in Oman and have been looking for a similar country for photography, finding it, at last, in Namibia.
The country is twice the size of Germany, with a population of 2.5 million compared with Germany’s 80 million. Its expansive natural landscape contains a variety of desert, mountains and coastline. Whilst there are endless opportunities for the grand vista photograph, in Namibia I soon discovered its breadth and depth for compelling abstracts, which I had not found elsewhere. So this article is really about abstract photography – what makes it so alluring and why parts of Namibia excel for this genre of photography.
In my early days of photography I was inspired by the dramatic view type of photograph, perfected by Ansel Adams. Influenced by his approach, I was always out at dawn and beyond sunset, whether it be Oman, Scotland or elsewhere. I developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time, producing technically good photographs of glorious scenes. Much of my travel photography encompassed these, as they were required by the stock agency I had signed up to. But I wonder how much depth of feeling they really had.
As my photography matured, with the help of the focused workshops at the Open Studio Workshop centre, my views and inner feelings towards landscape photography changed. Gradually I became more intrigued by intricate details – the way water flowed over rocks or snow falling on Caledonian Pines. There was no eureka moment, but an understanding that there are relationships between these elements. More and more I began paying attention to these slow moving, intimate observations, sometimes known as ‘abstractions’.
In Namibia earlier this year I found myself absorbing shapes, lines and form in a mix of desert, mountains, dried river-beds and coastline. Omitting the horizon creates a sense of mystery for the viewer, as the photograph becomes one of essential elements only, with no sense of infinity. Seen through the frame of a viewfinder, textures, colours and patterns accentuate these relationships.
Abstraction has been a significant aspect of photography for many years, fuelled by the great American photographers of the last century such as Minor White, who wrote: “… When we cannot identify the subject, we forget that the image before us may be a document of some part of the world that we have never seen. Sometimes art and nature meet in such photographs. We call them ‘abstractions’ frequently because they remind us of similar paintings.”
Parts of the desert and coastline of Namibia remind me of a world that is pristine and raw. Off-road, one seldom sees other people or vehicles. A trip earlier this year reminded me of the ‘edginess’ of such landscapes, where you have to be alert to the surroundings. The mind becomes more sensitive to the environment and you become attuned. It was in that frame of mind that I really began to understand Minor White’s message about ‘abstractions’.
With this in mind, the photographer is forced to look into this strange and enthralling land rather than at it. The timelessness of texture, colours and patterns, and their conjunction, resonate strongly. Zebra striped dunes merging with granite rocks, distinct in their colour and shape. Intersecting orange dunes, glowing under a setting sun in the South-Namib desert. 600 year-old scorched camel-thorns with their craggy detail within the desert amphitheatre of Deadvlei.
Namibia is not just about the photography. It is about getting off the grid, visiting parts of the 400 mile Skeleton Coast, or venturing deep into Kaokoland and the Hartmann Valley in the far north. A world away from standard photographic safaris and game parks. Road signs depicting a skull and crossbones confirm that you are approaching The Skeleton Coast. No more tarmac and the driving conditions change. This extraordinary Atlantic coastline is veiled in sea mist for over half the year. Within the mix of whale-bones and shipwrecks, you can find those ‘abstractions’.
Proceeding to the Hartmann Valley, with established guide Pierre Jaunet, panoramas of dunes and dried river valleys gradually unfold as each ridge line reveals another coloured escarpment or shimmering horizon. This part of Namibia is sometimes called ‘the land god made in anger’. It is deserted, apart from a few Himba villages, within a rugged hypnotic landscape.
After a short walk from the campsite into the desert at night, where there is no light and yet the sky is so bright, I look forward to lying down and identifying the stars of the southern cross. Thoughts of photographs past and yet to come will flow with the sounds of Africa.
Zebra dune and granite rock, Skeleton Coast
Malcolm MacGregor has been a landscape photographer for nearly 20 years, working originally in medium and large format and now digital. In 2000 he began photographing for his book Wilderness Oman’made over a two year period concentrating on the eclectic mix of desert, mountain and coastal landscapes.
His genre is wilderness landscape photography, searching out aspects of nature that are off the beaten track. When not overseas he photographs extensively in Scotland and has produced two books, Outer Hebrides and Mull Iona and Staffa.
Documentary photography with the HALO Trust, a humanitarian mine-clearance charity, has taken him to Africa, SE Asia, the Balkans and Afghanistan. He carried out a second assignment to Afghanistan documenting the Military in Helmand. He is currently working on a landscape project in Namibia and photographs of Dumfries and Galloway for the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh.
Malcolm is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and an Associate of the British Institute of Photographers.
IG: Malcolm_macgregor.photo
Email: mm@malcolmmacgregor.photo
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