Dunes at Sunset

 

Dunes at Sunset

The next day when we visited White Sands National Park, we drove further into the park and stopped at the area where the dunes are higher.  Families will visit this part of the park and bring disc types of sleds, for the kids to “sled” down the dunes.  Whenever we’re there, we always see some kids (of all ages) doing this, so it is obviously great family fun!  That wasn’t what we came for though.  We just wanted to enjoy the beauty…

At times, walking along on top of the dunes, the landscape strikes me as being very stark.  This image represents that.  I processed it in black and white, simply to show off the textures of both the nearby mountains, and the dunes themselves.

This scene also gives you a sense of starkness.  In this one, the mountains have taken a bit of a step back and let the flow of the dunes be the star!  At times, even though my feet are firmly on the ground, I almost feel like I’m at sea, looking at rolling waves.

As the sun sets, the scene warms up quite a bit!! And, we have lines everywhere!  There are what I think of as the larger flow lines of the dunes, and up close, you can see the pattern that the wind makes in the dunes.  Since the wind is never ending, any steps one may leave are quickly erased by the breeze and the dunes.

As the sun sinks further on the horizon, then the scene becomes very soft.  Details in the sand melt into the shadows of the dunes and you just have the feeling of the sands softly moving, with almost absolute silence, except for my breathing.

Again, as we were walking back over the dunes to our car, we faced the opposite direction and got a lovely view of the moon rise over the mountains that had been behind us all this time.  One interesting thing about being on the dunes is that you must always be aware of where you walked.  Since all dunes tend to look alike, it would be very easy to get lost!

Enjoy!