Sand Avalanche, White Sands National Monument
It looks like a "sand avalanche" in White Sands National Monument.
It looks like a "sand avalanche" in White Sands National Monument.
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Mar, 2019Views
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Awards
Hidden Gem Award
Summer 2020
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Categories
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in White Sands National Monument.Time
I took this photo in the middle of the day. My wife and I had camped in the park's backcountry sites, and spent the day wandering through the dunes in near solitude. I took a lot of photos near sunrise and sunset as well, but this one has always grabbed me.Lighting
I took this photo in broad daylight - typically not my preferred time of day to shoot! But the shaded sand dune, shaded mountain in the background, and pale blue sky created an interesting range of blue/grays that made the image almost monochromatic.Equipment
This was in my slide film days - so I was using a Minolta XG-M and Tokina telephoto to isolate the scene.Inspiration
The sand avalanche really popped out at me as an interesting subject, one that you don't typically see in dune shots. The avalanche was so clean and well-defined. What set it off? I wondered. Why did it stop when it did?Editing
I did very little post processing. Scanned slides sometimes lose a little pop from the original, so I bumped the saturation a tad just to get it back to what the slide looked like - and what I remembered.In my camera bag
These days I've moved to digital, using a Nikon D7000 exclusively. I take wide and telephoto Nikon zooms, a tripod, and a Rokinon 14mm f2.8 for night shots to round out my bag.Feedback
I think this photo speaks to the point that we photographers shouldn't ignore mid-day light. While sunrise and sunset offer pleasing, warm images, high contrast, high light can also provide wonderful images. And, as we all know, you can't get the shot if you're not out there! We did a lot of walking around those dunes, looking for color, lines, form, and contrast. Keep your eyes open to the possibilities!
