Join me at Xposure 2023

I am honoured and delighted to be a part of the Xposure Photography Festival in Sharjah. Xposure is a distinguished platform that invites 50 internationally acclaimed photographers to exhibit their outstanding creations. This year, I will showcase my solo exhibit, 'The Contrast’, a series of landscape photographs from Namibia. My exhibit is an ode to Namibia’s largely untouched natural wonders, including enormous dunes in vivid colour contrasts that are unique to the country’s topography. The images in the exhibit capture the tranquil atmosphere of serene spots with gentle light and stunning night skies, giving them the artistic flair of a painting. The exhibition runs from 9 to 15 February 2023, and I would love to see you there.

Furthermore, I will also be conducting a workshop, ‘Introduction to Landscape Photography,’ as part of the Xposure Photography Festival. Open to all photography enthusiasts, this workshop is a practical course where I take you through the process of capturing stunning landscape photographs from gear and location to my favourite techniques and complete post-production. If this is something that appeals to you, kindly sign up here.

I look forward to seeing you at Xposure!

Dany Eid

Zeiss Infinity Tour - South Africa

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Cape Town - The Mother City

Located in the Western Cape province in South Africa, the city's name is derived from the world famous and steep Cape of Good Hope cliffs. Cape Town’s history and natural beauty attracts more foreign visitors than ever before. With over 3700 hours of sun, rich cultural diversity and a breathtaking natural landscape, it offers unique locations for landscape and portrait photography.

For my third stop on the ZEISS Infinity Tour, I’m going to introduce you to an African city rather than a country. 
I was invited to conduct a workshop in Cape Town, the primate city of the Western Cape province in South Africa. It was a quite short trip, and I only had four days to explore this fantastic location situated on the shore of Table Bay.

I was fascinated by how modern Cape Town is: this pulsating, vibrant city has a vivid urban flair surrounded by beautiful ocean scenery. Of course, as a landscape photographer, I was quite keen to capture with my lens the many memorable perspectives this city offers. Any landscape photographer who has visited Cape Town will mention the world-famous Table Mountain and Signal Hill as unique highlights. 

Table Mountain, the natural landmark overlooking the city, offers an epic view of the metropolis below and was chosen as one of the new 7 wonders of nature in 2012. 
As for Signal Hill, when you look at it together with the Lion’s Head, people claim that it looks like a sphinx.

For the practical part of our workshop, we decided to shoot Table Mountain and Lion’s Head from Signal Hill. I decided to use the ZEISS Milvus 15mm lens, which is generally my go-to lens for most of my landscape images. And I must admit that we were quite lucky in terms of timing.

Just one day earlier, there had been a thunderstorm. For a photographer, there is nothing better than the time before, after and sometimes even during the storm. I had a good view from my balcony the night of the storm and was able to capture the lightning as it spread like roots through the clouds

The second morning, we witnessed the sun piercing through the vanishing storm clouds, creating amazing sunset scenery. It is worth mentioning that in South Africa there’s a huge community of photographers. Some of the participants who attended my workshop traveled from neighboring countries, but the majority came from South Africa. I asked Leslie for her view of infinity, and she brought yet another perspective to my attention. For her, timelessness best encapsulates her understanding of infinity. I suspect this comes from the rich and moving history of Cape Town where she’s a resident.

There is a huge art scene and a lot of galleries, and I guess this has a lot to do with the diverse cultures found in South Africa in general. You should definitely plan to visit the various boutiques and galleries for inspiration when you visit!

I will definitely visit Cape Town again and will certainly stay for longer next time. But before I end this blog, I would like to add something I just learned: I didn’t know that there are penguins in South Africa! A visit to Boulder’s Beach might be interesting to see these little creatures and take some nice shots - not only of the penguins, but also of the beautiful scenery during a sunrise.

During the workshop in Cape Town, we had an awesome support from Singer Photography at all level, they provided all type of Zeiss lenses to the participants for testing. I was using all the time my favorite Zeiss Milvus ultra wide angle, 15mm on Nikon mount.

Zeiss Infinity Tour - Prague

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Prague – The City of a Hundred Spires

The magical, historic capital of the Czech Republic is located at the foot of a beautiful castle and is nestled along the Vltava River with its numerous historic bridges. Ancient chapels, hidden gardens and cobbled lanes turn every walk through the city into an urban adventure.

Another amazing stop on the ZEISS Infinity Tour was the historic city of Prague, which is one of the most beautiful and charming cities in the world for me. What I like most about Prague are its two faces. On the one hand, you have the wonderful historic core with its world-famous Charles Bridge and the Vyšehrad fortress, surrounded by the baroque buildings in the embassy quarter.

You can stride alongside the Vltava River, roam through parks or visit different museums. On the other hand, you can find a wide variety of trendy boutiques and modern art on almost every corner – Or you can simply immerse yourself in the vivid nightlife. What initially seems like opposing forces is actually a fascinating mélange and a dream for either a portraitist or photographer whose focus is architecture. You should know that the center of Prague features many buildings that date back to the 13th century – incredible! The city's beauty and long history draws a lot of tourists from around the world, many of whom pour in on the weekends especially.

In Prague, there is always something new to discover, and that turns a walk through the city into an adventure in its own right. You wander through cobbled lanes, along numerous gold-tipped church and cathedral towers and over numerous bridges. The famous Charles Bridge is a must-see and is only accessible by foot. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes!

I have been fascinated by architecture for a long time, both as someone who studied interior design and as a professional photographer. I really wanted to capture the wonderfully restored baroque buildings in Prague. This is why I was so pleased to give a cityscape workshop when I was in the city this past spring. My wonderful participants and I were always searching for the best spot to take photos of the ancient bridges and buildings mirrored in the Vltava River.

So we decided to walk up one of the hills near the riverside. Here we found an amazing view looking out over the city as the sunset bathed the scenery in a warm glow – a beautiful memory. During the workshop, I had the chance to have an inspiring chat with Nina, a cheerful young photographer from Croatia. I really liked her idea of infinity as a never-ending circle of life – a wonderful thought reflected in the water flowing down the Vltava River, the very substance of our own lives.

During my visit to Prague, i was using Zeiss Milvus 15mm and Zeiss Milvus 135mm