Those who go into the desert should walk or ride a horse (or camel). In a jeep you don't experience the desert, you are only shaken and have no contact with the landscape. These photos were taken on two hikes in the Mauritanian Sahara. The two journeys went on foot each about 150 km through the Sahara south of Atar. The luggage was carried by the camels, but since the small camel caravan usually took a different route than us hikers, I carried camera and lenses for most of the way.
What remains most in my memory are the fantastic shapes that sand and rocks take on, the endless vastness, the peace and quiet and the night sky. In the desert the proportions are deceptive. What looks like a few sand hills, which you can just walk over, is often a mountain range of sand and rock, hours away. Our guides were able to orientate themselves by the smallest trail markings, but those who do not live in the desert should be careful. The constant wind blows the tracks away in less than a minute and a small deviation in direction leads further and further off the trail.
Those who have been in the desert once will always come back. There are few landscapes that have left such a lasting impression on me.
After many experiments I convert most desert pictures into black and white. The reduction to the essential, to form and light, fits best to these landscapes.
I have seen these landscapes twice: On a plate-like black surface lenticular white shifting sand dunes formed. The tracks are from our camels that passed by here shortly before.
Ancient graves in the desert