By now you’ve hopefully seen some of my posts of these dunes out in the Mojave (here, here, and here), but hopefully you’re not tired of hearing about them! After having gone there for the first time back in April of last year, I just had to go back and try my luck again out there. Upon returning in September, my buddy Mark and I went out there for one of the nights I was there, and yet again had a blast. It’s just such an impressive area. I’m told there are similar dunes in Death Valley, which I’m not committed to going to see – so with any luck, these won’t be the last dunes you see posted here.
As I was there in September, the night sky was different than in the spring, so we had some new things to photograph. Armed with some lessons I felt like I had properly learned the first time (one of which was getting lost on the way out there, which we solved the second time around!) we set out, and to be quite candid, I found myself battling the same elements. Those dunes are just REALLY hard to photograph at night. It’s like the sand just sucks the light right out of the sky, and they become featureless. Even still, I think I accomplished what I was after to some degree anyway, and this image is one such example. For this image I captured Orion as it rose above the distant mountains and sand dunes, having lit the foreground with a small light.
More next week!
–Dan Thompson