Here’s the interview published:

 

To say that Enrico Pescantini is passionate about photography would be an understatement. He’s visited 62 countries so far, and he’s only just scratched the surface.

Flamingo chatted to him about his travels with a camera…

Tell us about when you first became interested in photography?
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated by photography – one of the first gifts I received from my family was a film camera. But the moment that my interest turned into a love was definitely when I was living in New York City. I was doing an internship at New York City Television and in my free time just walking around and taking pictures, visiting art gallery and photo exhibitions. I had time and curiosity, which I believe are the key ingredients to photography.

Did you study photography, or are you self taught?
I did a photography course, but not a master class or anything like that. I wanted to have some insight into the history of photography, the masters and the principles of it. But I truly believe that most of photography is something that cannot be taught. You need to look at the great photographers, learn from them, and keep practicing.

 

Do you travel extensively for your photography? Where have you travelled to?
I travel because travelling is the true love of my life – I couldn’t live without exploring the world. And photography is my travel companion! To date, I have visited 62 countries, including some pretty remote places like North Korea, Bhutan and Tibet. I try to do two to three longer trips during the year, then small weekend getaways.

Is this your passion as well as your career? What types of photography do you do?
Photography is my passion and my side activity – I also work in marketing and communication. I focus mainly on travel photography, trying to bring different perspectives to it.
Until 2015, it was just ‘traditional’ photography, but since then, I discovered aerial photography with drones, and I was among the first to do a drone reportage of Iceland (2015). I then continued adding drone shots to my travel photography, which I found very intriguing.
In the last year, I’ve been drawn to underwater photography – I do it while I’m snorkelling, and it is definitely my new love! So now I define my travel photography as a perspective from ground, sky and sea, a complete view on this amazing planet in which we live.

Tell us about your trip to Namibia, and the photographs you took?
I just returned from Namibia in August. It was the main destination of a three-week trip: we visited Victoria Falls for four days – at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe – then we began our two week road trip around Namibia. We started at Windhoek, down to Kolmanskop, then the Namib Desert and Etosha. I simply loved the country, from the very different landscapes you can see, to the many species of wildlife you can encounter.
I would say that my top five sightseeing experiences in Namibia as a travel photographer were the ghost town of Kolmanskop, Deadvlei in Namib Desert, seals’ colony of Cape Cross, Spitzkoppen and the AfriCat Foundation at Okonjima.
I can say without any doubt that I’ve taken the best wildlife shots of my entire career here.

Tell me about your shoots for mags like National Geographic?
My reportage is all freelance, so I work mainly with tourism offices, luxury resorts and airlines. Drone photography is a perfect match for airlines, due to the aerial perspective, which in the last three years is becoming very popular in travel photography.

 

Do you regularly enter photography competitions? Any awards?
I’ve started paying attention to photography competitions in the last year; before that, I focused on photography exhibitions.

I think this is because the personal touch of talking and interacting with people looking at your photos, is something that cannot be replaced by social network – it’s just something different. I have always looked at National Geographic as the true inspiration for travel photography, especially for the emphasis on nature and wildlife. I am truly concerned about environmental protection, and one of my goals as a travel photographer is to make people fall in love with our planet, and help each other to save it.

It’s strange, but most of the time I know a winning shot the exact moment I take it. It’s a vibe, an emotion you can feel through the viewfinder of the camera. You just know that that’s the shot!
This year I won 2nd place in the National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year 2018, in the Cities category, and it is definitely the biggest satisfaction I have had in my career so far. The winning shot is an aerial photography of the Pyramid of the Sun, in the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, in Mexico.

The next winning shot I really hope to be among the ones I took in Namibia: my favourite one of all is without any doubts Leopard’s Dinner, which I took at AfriCat Foundation in Okonjima.

How do you see your future?
I hope to keep travelling at the same pace I am doing now, and hopefully one day visit all the countries on Earth! My personal dream is to visit the Arctic or Antarctica – I am fascinated by these eternal glaciers and I hope one day to do a reportage from there!

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Kolmanskop

Namib Ghost Town of Kolmanskop

For Kolmanskop take a look at my full article here.

Namib Desert

This is the oldest desert in the world, with world famous spots such as the dune 45:

Deadvlei, a dead salt lake with fossilized trees.

Tall, impressive dune that you can ride on

In the surrounding area of Soussuvlei there are scenic lodges that will put you in front of endless desert. This one for example is the Desert Homestead Lodge, seen from the drone perspective

This area has also one of the darkest sky in the world, making it the perfect place for astrophotography.

Sandwich Harbour

Namib Desert is connected to the coastal city of Swakopmund with a lonesome road into the wilderness, with the only famous outpost of Solitaire.

Solitaire is a remote settlement in Central Namibia, and is has been a stopover for travelers for more than 60 years.

It is the only place for gas and food in the 5 hours journey that crosses the Namib Desert to the coastal town of Walvis Bay. It features a gas station, a lodge and a bakery, nationwide famous for its apple pie, the best of Namibia.

I didn’t have the pleasure of trying it during our road trip: we were short on time and I got to chose between tasting the cake and taking photos: the hard choices of a travel photographer!

Solitaire

Along the way, you can encounter wildlife such us Oryx just next to the road.

Once in Swakopmund, the main sight is a day trip to Sandwich Harbour, where the desert meets the ocean.

Skeleton Coast

“The Land God Made in Anger”: this is how Bushmen used to call the Skeleton Coast, an unwelcoming stripe of more than 1.500 kilometers in the north of Namibia. Also straightforwardly referred by Portuguese sailors as “The Gates of Hell”.

The scenario is made of arid dunes that end up in the ocean, where violent waves and sudden fogs show up to welcome the few visitors that shows up. Actually, only lions, hyenas and occasionally elephants walk around here, since the whole region is uninhabited.

The only witnesses of human presences are the many shipwrecks on the coast, like the Zeila in this shot, a fishing boat that crashed on the shore only 10 years ago, the last victim of this hostile, end-of-the-worldly land.

Cape Cross Seal Reserve

This massive colony of hundred of thousands of seals will allow you a very, very close encounter with seals. Just beware of the noise and the smell!

Damaraland and Spitkoppe

Spitzkoppe is a rock mountain in the region of Damarland, with some of the most scenic landscapes of Namibia.

Spitzkoppen

A true gem is the Spitzkoppen Lodge, a majestic resort hidden in the rocks of the mountain. You can actually spot it in the bottom right corner of the above picture!

Otjitotongwe Cheetah Guestfarm

This place, between Damaraland and Etosha National Park, lets you get a very close look to some domesticated cheetah.

The struggle between large carnivores and farmers is real in all Africa. While in Kenya it often ends up in a tragedy (for the animals), in Namibia often it is converted in a touristic attraction.

Instead of killing of cheetahs that are threatening the hers, Namibian farmers are domesticating them, letting travelers have a close up encounter with them. Better off dead than domesticated for these majestic animals? Or this could raise awareness on their conditions?

If you are (literally) good, maybe some of them could decide to taste you a little bit. Truly an amazing scene like this one!

Etosha National Park

One of the main attractions of Namibia, this national park is famous for its self-driving safari. Human-build waterholes let you easily spot wildlife that comes to drink, with the opportunity to have a close look to elephants, giraffes, lions, zebras, rhinos and if you are lucky leopards.

Okonjima Nature Reserve

Okonjima is a private reserve home to the AfriCat foundation, and an unmissable place to meet cheetahs and leopards

One evening this majestic male leopard had quite a company during his tasty Oryx dinner: from one side there was me, silently and breathlessly taking photos of this amazing wildlife scene.

On the other side two hungry brown hyenas, that patiently were waiting for the big cat to leave them some leftover.

This temporary wildlife restaurant happened at the AfriCat Foundation, a Namibian non-profit organization. Its goal is to mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflict on commercial farmlands, through the education and research of large cat carnivores.

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Kolmanskop is a ghost town at the edge of Namib Desert, in Namibia. At the beginning of XX century, diamonds were found in area, and a prosperous mining town was build by the Germans, at the time in control of the area.

Buildings were lavish, and built in the german style.

After the world wars, the decline in diamonds lead to the abandonment of the town, and the last families left in 1956, leaving the desert reclaiming back all the houses.

Now it is one of the most popular attraction of Namibia, and a paradise for photographers. Wooden houses are invaded by desert sands, creating impossible landscape.

I would put it among the top 3 highlights of Namibia, and unmissable for any photographer.

How to get there?

Kolmanskop is 1 hour from the nearby town of Luderitz, and literally in front of the Luderitz Airport, which has domestic connections with other town of Namibia.

If you wanna drive straight from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, consider it would take at least 9 hours, driving straight with no stops within. I personally drove from Windhoek to Keetmanshoop, and it took 5 hours on the gravel B1 road, with no stops at all.

From Keetmanshoop to Kolmanskop is another 3 hours and a half, and near the ghost town the gravel road is invaded by desert sands, forcing you to slow down and being extra careful.

You cannot drive at night in Namibia, and I tell you this from a quite experienced driver whom drove all around the world. The reasons are simple:

1. Car rental insurances will not cover you for driving after sunset.
2. There are not street lights at all
3. After dark, there are a lot of careless truck drivers speeding up in the opposite lane of yours, making the drive VERY challenging.
4. You can encounters wildlife, sheeps or cows crossing without any sign the road.
5. it is the the first country in the world for car accidents.

If you are a good driver, you could stretch the driving after sunset maybe for 1 hour or so, but don’t attempt to drive longer than that. I will write more of this!

Where to get tickets?

You can get regular tickets at the gates. If you want a photography permits, that allows you to enter 1 hour before the other guests, you should buy it in Luderitz, in cash, with this agency

How much time does it take to visit Kolmanskop?

We had to visit Kolmanskop in 1 hour, visiting 90% of the houses, but it was in a super hurry, but due to our schedule we had no choice.

I suggest to spend for regular visitor 2 hours there, and for photographers allow 3-4 hours to take the right time to find nice spots in the houses.

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