Here are a few more early morning and late day photos from this park.
In this early morning scene, I like the curved shadow cast by this twig and the way the sand ripples give it a corrugated look. The animal tracks passing by also adds some interest.
Late days in the park were always cloudy, during my visit, which muted the sunset light, but at least added some interest to the sky. In the above photo one can see the evidence of human activity in footprints in the dunes. Those on the left side were softened by the wind, while those in the distance are more recent. I rather liked this wide open view with the late day shadows encroaching from the left. There are also a number of people and some human infrastructure in this photo, but these are only visible, when the image is enlarged.
While being a bit subtle, this little distorted bush and its long shadow caught my eye as I wondered around the sandhills just before sunset.
The light on this dune went from none to fairly good as I composed this image. I was able to exclude most of the human disturbance within the nearby sand, but one can still see the muted footprints in the right side portion of this image. I like the soft, swirly look in the blue sky above the dunes here.
A trio of almost buried desert plants with their long, late day shadows, below the softly, windblown clouds in the blue sky makes this one of my favorite images here.
Another small, subtle bush casting a long shadow in the late day sunlight.
The remnants of a windblown bush, highlighted by late day sunlight, and the disturbance it caused in the sand ripples caught my eye here.
Thinking that the most interesting portion of the previous photo is that little broken bush, with the sand ripple perturbations it caused and the highlights on those and the bush, I cropped out this portion of that image. The larger image offers context to the photo, but I think the cropped portion is more interesting and offers a bit of mystery. What do you think?
The sky here is the most interesting portion of this photo, but the three people along the sand dune ridge add a bit of scale to the image.
I spotted this fallen tree with the last rays of the day highlighting it and I knew I had to capture it. I made this shot, fearing that I was going to lose the light at any time, then I moved in closer, hoping to get another composition before the light went away.
The clouds made the light intermittent, but I managed to get this shot before it was entirely gone from the fallen tree.
This is my final sunset shot before calling it a day in the dunes. I had planned to come back out the next morning for one final shoot, prior to heading to my next destination, but the extensive human disturbance of the sand over the weekend, made me think that I had captured all the best for this trip, so I decided to sleep in the next morning and get an earlier start on the road.
I have a few abstract images from the dunes that I will share in the final post for this park before continuing to my next destination.
Ken
Your photos highlight the importance of taking the time to observe and capture the magic of light and shadows! Had these been taken at mid-day, the drama would have been lost. Also love the beautiful skies!
Fay, Thanks for the comments. I find the early mornings best for being mostly alone and not hindered by crowds of tourists, as most typical tourists do not like getting out as early as we photographers have to. The downside to early morning is the getting up early, which is always difficult, but especially so when it is cold and the bed is so warm. The cold, also, tends to numb my finger tips, even with hand warmers and gloves, making it difficult to operate the camera controls. And the coldest part of the morning, when my fingers are most numb, is always just as the sun is coming over the horizon! The long shadows, when the sun is low in the sky, always add depth and interest to photos and can even be used as leading lines.