DSC9823

I shot this collection of photographs at White Sands during twilight, some in the early morning hours, but most in the evening. When the sun is below the horizon, the dunes and sky take on a magical presence. The dunes reflect the sky which can range from warm to cool, and there is a magical fifteen minutes when the sky away from the compass point of sunrise or sunset develops a glow of reds and oranges.

In late October, I made a trip to New Mexico to shoot the dunes at White Sands National Park. I hooked up with my close friend and photographer, Sandra Herber. www.flickr.com/photos/sandraherber/ We were at White Sands four days, made eight excursions into the dunes, hiked over 20 miles and shot close to 2,000 photos between us.

We are posting our images at the same time and it will be interesting to see how we handled being in the same locations together. For safety reasons and for the fun of it, we hiked the dunes together, sometimes pointing our lenses in the same direction, other times wandering apart. I am sure we got some similar shots, but it will be interesting to see those that are different as we each have our own way of looking at things, as well as having different focal length coverage. Then there is the processing aspect.

To say White Sands is magical is an understatement. As photographers, we talk about the light, emphasize the light, are critical about the light. The dunes at White Sands react in amazing ways to the change in light, offering different looks, revealing various personalities. It is this diversity of the dunes that I wanted to capture then, and present here now.

Tags:   sand dunes dunes White Sands National Park New Mexico color twilight Frank Loose

© All Rights Reserved

DSC8505

When I think of sand dunes and photography, I think black and white. The natural white environment coupled with shadow areas is just made for B/W interpretation. Here are my attempts to capture the beauty of White Sands National Park in this medium. Most are shot in hard light, but some are early or late in the day, some even approach high key. White Sands looks great in any wardrobe.

In late October, I made a trip to New Mexico to shoot the dunes at White Sands National Park. I hooked up with my close friend and photographer, Sandra Herber. www.flickr.com/photos/sandraherber/ We were at White Sands four days, made eight excursions into the dunes, hiked over 20 miles and shot close to 2,000 photos between us.

We are posting our images at the same time and it will be interesting to see how we handled being in the same locations together. For safety reasons and for the fun of it, we hiked the dunes together, sometimes pointing our lenses in the same direction, other times wandering apart. I am sure we got some similar shots, but it will be interesting to see those that are different as we each have our own way of looking at things, as well as having different focal length coverage. Then there is the processing aspect.

To say White Sands is magical is an understatement. As photographers, we talk about the light, emphasize the light, are critical about the light. The dunes at White Sands react in amazing ways to the change in light, offering different looks, revealing various personalities. It is this diversity of the dunes that I wanted to capture then, and present here now.

Tags:   Black and White B/W sand dunes dunes White Sands National Park New Mexico Frank Loose

© All Rights Reserved

DSC9434

This is a scene that when I shot it, I knew Sandra and I would end up with similar images. It is such a distinctive juxtaposition of dunes and mountains. That said, I think our slightly different compositional approaches plus the difference of her square format and my traditional 2x3, present a different feel.

When I think of sand dunes and photography, I think black and white. The natural white environment coupled with shadow areas is just made for B/W interpretation. Here are my attempts to capture the beauty of White Sands National Park in this medium. Most are shot in hard light, but some are early or late in the day, some even approach high key. White Sands looks great in any wardrobe.

In late October, I made a trip to New Mexico to shoot the dunes at White Sands National Park. I hooked up with my close friend and photographer, Sandra Herber. www.flickr.com/photos/sandraherber/ We were at White Sands four days, made eight excursions into the dunes, hiked over 20 miles and shot close to 2,000 photos between us.

We are posting our images at the same time and it will be interesting to see how we handled being in the same locations together. For safety reasons and for the fun of it, we hiked the dunes together, sometimes pointing our lenses in the same direction, other times wandering apart. I am sure we got some similar shots, but it will be interesting to see those that are different as we each have our own way of looking at things, as well as having different focal length coverage. Then there is the processing aspect.

To say White Sands is magical is an understatement. As photographers, we talk about the light, emphasize the light, are critical about the light. The dunes at White Sands react in amazing ways to the change in light, offering different looks, revealing various personalities. It is this diversity of the dunes that I wanted to capture then, and present here now.

Tags:   sand dunes dunes White Sands National Park New Mexico San Andres Mountains Black and White B/W Frank Loose

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   architecture art blackandwhite building b/w city light man modern mono monochrome panasonic panasonic dc-GH5 people person perspective Reflection street travel urban urbanart vienna wien U1 underground main station reflections

© All Rights Reserved

With the sun long gone and only a tiny bit of light left in the sky, the day is nearly over at White Sands.

White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA.

Back in October, I took a trip to White Sands National Park in New Mexico, USA with my Flickr friend (and real friend!) Frank Loose. You can say all kinds of horrible things about social media - and you'd be right - but it can (and Flickr, in particular, can) be an amazing way to connect you with people with shared interests. Frank and I connected over ten years ago on Flickr and have become fast friends since then. We've been talking for years about doing a photo trip together and we finally did it in October this year when we travelled to New Mexico to photograph White Sands. If you'd like to read about our trip, you're welcome to check out my blog post about it.

White Sands National Park covers about a third of a huge dunefield between the San Andres and Sacramento Mountains in southern New Mexico. White Sands is a bit of a misnomer, as the dunes are actually made of gypsum, not sand, and though they are white in bright sunshine they can take on some amazing colours – from beige to pink to blue – depending on the light conditions. Frank and I photographed the dunes over four days of morning and evening visits and really came to love this magical place. I hope you enjoy this series of images (and do check out Frank’s beautiful work as well!).

If you'd like to see the whole series, in the order they are meant to be seen, take a look at my White Sands Album. If you prefer, you can just look at the colour images or just at the more experimental black and white images.


Website | Blog | Instagram | YouTube

Tags:   White Sands White Sands National Park Gypsum Dunes Dunes New Mexico

© All Rights Reserved