Selma Shiwaya
The sheer beauty of the Namibian landscapes, architecture and its people is undeniably the most unique and stunning scenery to behold. While many may nod to the incredible natural beauty of Namibia and perhaps go down memory lane to some of their travels, the next best thing to touring Namibia in person is admiring its epic beauty as captured on camera by talented photographer Hentie Burger.
Hentie has presented Namibia in stunning photographic splendour of a 250-page hardcover coffee table book, titled Unique Namibia. Dubbed as a praise song for all things uniquely Namibian the book is a retrospective portfolio showcasing 42 years of his work from 1978 until 2019.
The book is designed into six distinctive chapters, featuring landscapes and people from across Namibia. Photography in the book is both digital and analogue, with most of them taken by plane.
According to Tanya Stroh of the Turipamwe Design, as designers of the book, they took a collaborative approach in designing Unique Namibia, including Hentie – two writers, two illustrators, the curator and the designer. “It’s a really remarkable creative expression of Namibian photography,” she said.
Speaking on the curation of the order and final selection of images for Unique Namibia, Lead Designer on the project Leschandre Coetzee says Hentie Burger’s incredible body of work is a treasure trove of images; thus, choosing a single image for the cover almost seemed like favouritism.
“The book’s square format and the positioning of the typography also played a big role. Ultimately, we decided on the enigmatic photograph showing spring draining onto the Etosha pan. It just quietly ticked every box from the beginning of the design process,” she said.
Unique Namibia is available in bookstores across Namibia.