The Otter Trail is a hiking trail along the Garden Route coast of South Africa and is named for the Cape Clawless Otter which occurs in this region. This trail is widely regarded as one of the finest in the world and stretches from Storms River Mouth in the east to Nature's Valley in the west, is 26 km long as the crow flies and 41 km as the hiker walks. Walking the trail takes 5 days, and the 4 nights are spent in comfortable huts with superb views. The trail traverses a very scenic landscape, never straying far from the shoreline, but often climbing steeply and then descending to the beach or a river crossing. Vegetation along the way is either fynbos, dense gallery forest or open, rocky sections near the sea with an abundance of wildflowers.
The Otter Trail is arguably South Africa's most famous multi-day hike. Stretching between the Storms River Mouth and Nature's Valley, it takes hikers along a 41km long route that follows the rugged coast of the Tsitsikamma National Park. I braved the extra 3.5kg added to my pack by my camera and tripod to shoot these long exposures.
-Dillon Marsh
I was recently invited by a friend to hike the Otter Trail, a famous multi-day hike in South Africa. I knew that the coastline along this hike was was quite rugged and unspoilt, so I decided to take my camera and tripod along to capture some long exposures of this scenery.
-Dillon Marsh
What is your inspiration behind the project?
I wasn’t really inspired by any particular thing, my aim was just to play around and try to capture some of the unusual beauty of this stretch of coast.
-Dillon Marsh
How would you describe your style and who are your inspirations? :)
I generally work on series of photographs that deal with the relationship between humans and the environment. Unlike my other work, Time and Tide doesn’t really have a particular concept behind it, I just wanted to make some beautiful pictures. I’m inspired by photographers like Edward Burtynsky and Richard Misrach.
-Dillon Marsh
What advice can you give to your fellow artist / aspiring artist?
Explore the world around you, there is so much inspiration to be gathered from what exists and happens around you. For this photos, I used a Nikon D800 digital camera with 28mm prime lens and a light tripod.
-Dillon Marsh
About Dillon Marsh
Dillon Marsh was born in Cape Town in 1981 and continue to live there today. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from the University of Stellenbosch. During the course of his studies, he was drawn to photography and have remained passionate about it ever since. See more of his work on Behance or his website.