For more than a decade, Dutch professional photographer Marsel van Oosten has been venturing to Namibia, where he has been creating an extensive night photography portfolio. Oosten, who specializes in nature and wildlife photography and has won awards from National Geographic and Photo District, used his photography expertise to create the time-lapse video above, which is an excellent example of how to artfully use lighting, composition, color and perspective.

According to the write up on Vimeo, each second of video consists of 30 photographs. To create the video, Oosten shot more than 16,000 images over a period of two years. According to the photographer, the idea was to create a night photography time-lapse video featuring his most popular subjects in Namibia: the fairytale-like quiver trees, which are a huge tourist draw in Namibia, and the eerie giraffe thorn trees, which can grow up to 55 feet high. What is most remarkable to me, however, is the mesmerizing way in which the stars appear to move across the sky.

Oosten's efforts for this video and his accompanying photographic work paid off when he won first place in the Wild Planet category at the 2012 Travel Photographer Of The Year Awards. Here's to hoping he continues to capture amazing scenes in Namibia and beyond.

Filed under: Africa, Namibia