African Skies

African Skies is a film I made from the most beautiful sequences Diana and I shot on our trip to Botswana and Simbabwe. The film features a combination of time lapse, slow motion and real-time sequences.

Background

To be able to make this film, we traveled nearly a month in a 4×4 and slept every night in the roof-tent under the amazing African skies. Elephants, Hippos and Hyenas passed by, and they were only a couple of meters away from us while we were trying to sleep. This was an overwhelming experience. Not everything always ran smooth: once we nearly drowned the car, Baboons tried to pee on us and one night a Hyena stole Diana’s shoe – Fortunately nothing was damaged since our cameras were mounted outside, capturing the extraordinary Milky Way.

We travelled ~6.000 Kilometers, shot ~30.000 Photos and several hours of video. We used Nikon cameras and lenses such as a D7000 and two D5100, but also a GoPro HD Hero 2.

The Film

This is a web version of African Skies. Please read below, to learn how to get your own full-HD, Blue-Ray-Quality copy of African Skies for download!

The Problems

Albeit enjoying all the beautiful landscapes, skies and animals we got very sad learning about the increasing danger, that animals in Africa face from day to day.

For example poaching of the Rhino has increased dramatically in the last few years due to the huge, stupid demand for its horn by some people in Asian countries.

“Medical purposes” is what they say. “Bullshit” is what we say. Rhino horn consists of keratin. It’s 100% the same material our finger- and toenails are made of.
Eat your toe-nails – that’s what we’d like to say to those people demanding Rhino horn.

Today, only few Rhinos are left in highly guarded parks. Rangers and conservationists have to risk their lives to protect them.
You have to see the cruelty that is going on there to truly believe it (← explicit images, be warned.)

Update on 2013, August

We just donated another 350US$ to the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization. Thank you for your support!

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Update on 2012, Dec. 20

Due to this date we already raised 330€ and rounded them up to 500 US$ that we donated to Anthony Lawrence’s Earth Organization to support the Rhino conservation.

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Thank you very much for your support!

BTW: If you’d like to learn more about the character of African animals and the danger they are facing, I’d highly recommend the book The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Some Stills from African Skies

You can enjoy more photos from our trip on my blog.

 

African Skies

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