TITLE: The sand dunes of the Namib desert at Sossusvlei

An unbelievable spectacle! An ocean of shifting sand catching the first rays at sunrise. Shadows and light playing hide and seek along the sand dunes. The landscape changes colours and shades as the sun climbs, edges in sharp relief. Try to take it all in from your vantage point, as it takes your breath away. And that is before you reach the dead trees of Deadvlei...

AUTHOR: Vakis Papanastassiou (Cyprus)

I am a medical professional, a neurosurgeon, and an amateur photographer. For me photography is a release, a relaxation and a challenge. It gives me the opportunity to travel, observe, watch and capture moments. It takes me to places I wouldn't have thought to go otherwise. It taught me to see the world in a different way, to find beauty even in the ugliest of circumstances. It poses the often impossible task of trying to realise in an image what I see in my mind's eye. On the few occasions that I manage that, the sense of achievement is indescribable. I have had a camera since a young age, which accompanied me in my travels around the world, but started being more serious about photography fifteen years ago initially by documenting nature (wildlife and landscapes) and gradually adding street photography and architecture. I hope that when I hang up my scalpel in a few years, I will be able to devote more time to what is increasingly not a hobby but a passion.