I was very close to give up after a long drive from Arizona to Las Cruces, New Mexico the day before
I didn't really feel like getting up early and drive another hour in the dark
it didn't help that the location was going to be closed until well after sunrise and
that I would only have 3 hours over there before having to come back. I was expecting very harsh light anyway
it was very very close
but I finally got out and decided that I wasn't going to pass on which could be my only chance
To visit a place as beautiful as the White Sands National Monument
What I didn't know at the time is that I was about to make some of my favorite images ever
Just made it to White Sands National Monument it's closed as expected
it says it opens at 7:00 that's in half an hour and
there's already a big line of RVs here as you can see there are like at least 6 or 7
I'm here in line, just waiting, it's a beautiful landscape
I'm gonna try to enjoy my 3 to 4 hours that I might have here
No, actually 3 hours and make as many good images as I can. This is a little show out here
Anyway, they are opening the gate now
What I'm going to be doing here - since we are in sand dunes is try to avoid switching lenses
that's what I'm gonna be using the a6000 with the 16-70 and then the
a6500 with the telephoto lens. I'm
probably gonna be using that telephoto a lot to get different
Angles and different
compositions more than the wide-angle
If I want to use the wide-angle lens I will have to switch lenses
But I will try to avoid that as much as I can so sand doesn't get in the sensor of the cameras and that's why
It's useful I guess to have 2 cameras sometimes
so yeah, we are getting in now. Let's do this
So this one is the composition that I like the most so far
This might change once I look at them on the computer
But using the telephoto lens I'm able to compress that background, make it look bigger than it really is compared to the foreground
this is an abstract photo like many I'm taking here
I'm just trying to capture 2 or 3 dunes, different layers of dunes and
Also because I'm using the telephoto lens and I'm using
a long focal length
that allows me to
To make the very close foreground look out of focus
I mean, it's out of focus because I'm using the telephoto lens
I'm focusing on infinity and that makes it even more abstract because you don't get all the details from those
curves and all those formations on the sand
I was a little bit disappointed this morning when I got here because this place is crowded and there is loud music
there are children running and screaming, that's totally fine, this is public land so that's really fine
But it's not what I look for when I photograph, I try to photograph
nature and wilderness and this is not a very wild place, but the good thing about this place is that is very
big and I've been walking for just five minutes and
I just got away from all the crowds and there is no one here. You can see there is only one set of
footprints on the dunes and this is an official trail
So there are not many people out here all of them just stay on the road and the campsites
To spend the day or whatever
luckily, it turned out to be a very cool place where you can find some solitude, that inspires me a lot on my photography and
It's a real bummer, but I only have 20 minutes left here, I have to head back because we have to check out
from our hotel
So I'm gonna try to make the most out of those 20 minutes and try to capture more of those
Amazing lines and curves that these amazing dunes are creating here
I wish I had more time here, but it is what it is, let's do it