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De Lende Collection KL logoDE LENDE COLLECTION

Solitary Survivor

A welwitschia near the Brandberg in the pink and purple light of evening

The welwitschia, alone in the Namib

Koos van der Lende

If you get something, whether it's a rock or a plant or a very special tree, it becomes the main object of the photograph.

— Koos van der Lende, on the welwitschia

The welwitschia is a living fossil. It grows only two leaves in its whole life, which split and fray over the centuries, and some plants are more than a thousand years old. It survives on the west coast of Namibia by catching the fog that drifts in from the Atlantic.

For Koos van der Lende it is the perfect solitary subject. On plains where there is nothing for kilometres, a single plant becomes the whole picture, and the harsh land around it tells the story of its survival. He returned to it over many years, near the Brandberg, in the Namib Naukluft Park and close to Swakopmund, from his very first panoramic years to one of the most celebrated pictures he has made.

Often he works against the light, with the sun low behind the plant and reflector boards bringing that light back into the leaves, for the glowing, intimate mood that runs through the series.

The Works

  1. A welwitschia close up against the setting sun, its leaves lit goldSolitary Survivor No.4Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia
  2. A welwitschia near the Brandberg in the pink and purple light of eveningAncient Survivor No.3Near the Brandberg, Namibia
  3. A welwitschia glowing in the setting sun on the bare plains near SwakopmundSolitary Survivor No.1Near Swakopmund, Namibia
  4. A welwitschia alone on a vast desert plain in the hard light of middaySolitary Survivor No.2Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia
  5. The same welwitschia in warm evening light on the red earth of the NamibSolitary Survivor No.3Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia
A welwitschia close up against the setting sun, its leaves lit gold
No. 606

Solitary Survivor No.4

Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia

A healthy, thriving plant, and a different approach. Koos went in close, against the setting sun, with twelve reflector boards to show every detail of bark, seed and leaf. The picture was commended at the BBC Wildlife awards in London, where a judge said she had never seen a welwitschia so well photographed or so creative. It is one of a handful of pictures Koos holds as truly special.

There are a handful of images that are truly special, and this is one of them.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
A welwitschia near the Brandberg in the pink and purple light of evening
No. 127

Ancient Survivor No.3

Near the Brandberg, Namibia

The first picture in the series, made on a windy, harsh evening at the very start of Koos's panoramic career, when he wasn't looking for anything more to photograph. He went down low so the plant fills the picture, with the Brandberg behind and grass blowing in the wind, as the evening washed the sky in soft pinks and purples. The reddish leaves show a plant thirsty for water, struggling to survive.

The reddish colour shows that it is struggling to survive.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
A welwitschia glowing in the setting sun on the bare plains near Swakopmund
No. 602

Solitary Survivor No.1

Near Swakopmund, Namibia

Near Swakopmund, close to the coast, the land is drier and barer than anywhere else in the series. Koos took his bearings with a compass to know exactly where the sun would set, composed the picture in the afternoon, and as the sun went down kept turning his reflector boards, one after another, to hold the light in the leaves.

The window of opportunity is very small, and it is always quite a tense time.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
A welwitschia alone on a vast desert plain in the hard light of midday
No. 604

Solitary Survivor No.2

Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia

In the hard light of the middle of the day, Koos placed the welwitschia right in the centre, small against the mountains and the endless plain, to show the starkness of the place it survives in.

It's not just about the welwitschia, it's about the landscape.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
The same welwitschia in warm evening light on the red earth of the Namib
No. 605

Solitary Survivor No.3

Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia

The same plant as the sun goes down. The light softens, the reflector boards bring a glow back into the leaves, and the picture becomes almost abstract, the green of the plant against the warm reds of the land.

Almost like an abstract image.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980

Koos van der Lende

For close to two decades Koos van der Lende has travelled Southern Africa with a panoramic film camera, planning each picture days ahead, where the sun will fall, at what time, at what angle. He still works on traditional slide film, which is processed and scanned to make prints of rare quality.

His archive runs from the Namib to the Indian Ocean. Solitary Survivor is drawn from it for this site, alongside the Classic Collection, Sacred Forests, Evidence of Mankind, the Water Pear Tree Collection, the Baobab Collection and the Latest Release.

Moments of Grace, the linen covered panoramic book by Koos van der Lende
The book

Moments of Grace, eighteen years of his panoramas from Angola to the Seychelles, a linen cloth covered, hand assembled book in a handmade leather pouch, opening to a full metre wide.

See the book
See all of Koos's prints