Afrika Burn 2016 with the Fujifilm XT1

Afrika Burn 2016 with the Fujifilm XT1

Afrika Burn is a yearly festival which is held in the Karoo desert in South Africa and could be likened to a giant playground for adults. It is a space to dance under the stars, ride around on bikes, dress as your inner diva, give gifts to strangers, look at art and have a ride in a mutant vehicle. It is also a place where the values of every day life are left at the door and people are encouraged to serve those around them for the sake of it. There is nothing that can be bought or sold at Afrika Burn other than ice. There are no adverts or expectations … Just a safe space to find yourself, loose yourself and be yourself.

At Afrika Burn I am constantly torn between feeling the need to shoot absolutely every single last thing that passes before my eyes and feeling the need to put my camera down and be truly immersed in the moment. I think that most photographers feel this internal struggle. Riaan and I weren’t going to go this year but the FOMO got to me in the end and we decided to fly down at the last minute for the weekend. Because we had such a short time this year Fujifilm kindly loaned me their XT1 mirrorless camera to play with. Thank you so much to Hein for being so incredibly generous. I will tell you more about this in another blog post. Also huge thanks to my sister Lisa and her husband Ty for lending us all the camping gear! We couldn’t have done it without you!

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Afrika Burn 2014 – Tankwa

Afrika Burn 2014 – Tankwa

I have always wanted to go to Afrika Burn, and this year I did!! What is Afrika Burn you ask? It is an arts festival which is held in the desert in Tankwa National Park some 18 hours away from the green lush beaches of Natal where I live. Why would I want to head all the way down there? Who wouldn’t want to go to a giant dress up party where people ride unicorns and dance under a blanket of Karoo stars? I cannot think of any reason to not want to experience a place where random acts of kindness are encouraged, and whimsical self adornment is a dress code! Afrika Burn is a festival where anything goes and the reality of typical life is left behind in the dust. Nothing can be bought or sold during the festival, gifting is a core value and the act of leaving no trace is a rule.

They say that you will never be the same after experiencing an Afrika Burn … the truth is that my life had changed so much before arriving in that dusty pan that I couldn’t understand what that actually meant. Now I do!

Will I be back next year? Damn straight!!!!

Huge thanks to all my camping compadres! My time at Afrika Burn could have never been the same without this very special chosen family. I feel so hugely lucky to have experienced all that we did with all of you! Love you all!!!!

Also huge thanks to Patrick from Outex South Africa for getting my Outex system to me in time. Looking forward to working more with you. Keep an eye out for my product review to follow shortly along with pics from the dust storm we found ourselves in!

All pics are were shot with my Nikon D4, Nikon 24-70mm 2.8 housed with an Outex!!

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