Annette and I visited White Sands National Park this month. It’s an interesting place just full of great pictures, if you can find them. Here are some of my attempts at finding great pictures.
When I am shooting, I like to look for textures, light & shadows, shapes and scenes that elicit a response. Hopefully you will see all of that in this series of images.
When you enter the park, the dune field starts on your left and has some vegetation. It is sparse and consists of plants that have adapted to the arid climate. Many of the plants are of lighter shades than their cousins that live in less harsh environs.
These first two pictures were at sunset. I was rushing around trying to find something that was lit with the warm glow.
From the long shadows, you can tell that this next image was also close to sunset. This image was just as we were leaving the area for the day and was the last dune before the parking lot. But the long shadows and the quality of the light caught my eye.
The next several images are examples of vegetation in the park.
Sometimes the sand is the hero. Sometimes the sky is the hero.
Annette and I took the 5 mile Alkali Flat Trail early one morning. It was a bit of a struggle to climb the dunes. Sometimes we found a way to follow the adjacent dunes so that we would not have to go up and down so much. I took over 300 pictures and Annette took over 3 times that many, so photography was the main goal of the morning for us. It’s a good thing, because it took us 5 hours to complete the loop even though the signs at the trailhead recommended that hikers allow 3 hours!
As I walked (I would like to say, “as I hiked”, but it was more of a stroll!) through the dunes, I tried to imagine what the pioneers encountered with their wagon trains.
-Was it beautiful to them?
-Was it a disheartening obstacle to circumvent?
-How did they figure out the best way through or around the dunes?
I hope you enjoyed this visit to White Sands National Park!