We start our incredible Kazakhstan adventure at 10:00 a.m. We offer pickups from both the airport and the city. After a scenic two-hour drive, we’ll stop for lunch in a small town. Following lunch, we’ll continue our journey toward our first sunset location. The drive offers spectacular views and passes by the lowest point in Kazakhstan — 133 meters (433 feet) below sea level. For sunset, we’ll photograph two stunning rock formations overlooking the vast desert landscape. We’ll capture this scene from a small ridgeline, which requires a short uphill hike of around 10 minutes.

The second day begins with another incredible shoot. A white, stand-alone mountain will catch the first light of sunrise. There are several possible compositions — including one with an incredible mountain frame. This multi-shot panorama shows the white mountain surrounded by other peaks. The best time to shoot is about 30 minutes after sunrise, when the entire shadow fits within the frame. After our incredible sunrise at the White Mountain, we’ll continue toward our next location. We’ll drive for around 1.5 hours until we reach an amazing area for abstract photography. Here, we’ll fly our drones and also shoot with our regular cameras — the number of possibilities is endless. During sunset, we’ll focus on a very special feature — the Tiramisu Mountain. Its distinct layers and colors make it stand out from anything else. We’ll photograph this mountain both with our drones and cameras, and there will also be opportunities for other stunning abstract compositions. At night, we’ll stay next to Tiramisu Mountain. The Milky Way will align directly above it, and we’ll have fields of cracked mud all around to use as foregrounds.

After Tiramisu, we’ll continue our adventure toward the salt flats, an area perfect for abstract photography. We’ll explore and shoot from different spots to ensure we capture the best possible compositions. Following our session at the Salt Flats, we’ll return to the same mountains we photographed on days 1 and 2 — but this time from a completely different angle. We’ll be shooting from below the mountains, allowing us to use leading lines in the foreground, both with our cameras and drone.  From day 3 to day 4 we will stay in a hotel in town.

After our hotel stay we will drive to our next location. This location has some incredible mountains, rock formations and foregrounds. We will shoot this location with both our main camera and drone at sunset and sunrise. During the night we will stay in nearby accommodation. This will be a traditional Yak Tent camp.

On day 5, we’ll drive to a different area. While we won’t be doing any major shooting on this day, the journey itself will be nothing short of spectacular. The long drive will be more than worth it, as a very special location awaits us at the end.

The location offers a vast salt flat, with a mountain at its center. While this mountain is the main subject to photograph, it’s well worth the entire journey — a sight unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Although the area is known for its dry climate, it can occasionally rain. When it does, the landscape transforms dramatically, creating a large temporary lake around the mountain — all it takes is about an hour of rainfall. The rain may wash away some of the white salt surrounding the mountain, but in return, it reveals a stunning mirror-like reflection.

On Day 8 we will drive back to Aktau and will check into our hotel. The tour ends on the morning of the 9th.