Explore the beautiful, minimalist landscape of New Mexico"s White Sands National Park, a dramatic environment of shifting contrasts, lighting, patterns and textures with a backdrop of the rugged San Andres and Sacramento Mountains.
The white gypsum dunes reflect the colors of the sky, from golden yellow, orange, and red of sunrise and sunset to the pastel pinks and blues of twilight, adding to the ethereal mood of this unique place.
115 mi2 of protected dune fields within the park is home to numerous plant, animal, and bird species, though yucca is the predominant and iconic plant of the landscape.
Our base will be in Alamogordo, about 20 minutes away from the sand. We'll be able to enter before sunrise and after sunset on one or two days and capture the best morning light before the regular visitors arrive.
Emphasis during this workshop will be your interpretation of the stark dune environment using your senses and perceptions to search for simple, elegant compositions using elements to give depth, graphical design, and abstract impressions from broad panoramics to up close macros. We'll discuss in a group and individual one-on-one guidance about using light and shadow to create form, improving composition, setting exposure under difficult lighting conditions, abstract impressions, and sensing and perceiving the environment to help find subjects and make meaningful photographs. Each student will also receive my book The Ecology of Photography.
Our accommodation in Alamogordo will be a shared vacation home. We will cook and share most meals and be able to easily meet to discuss various topics and share image processing workflows and tips.
Arrive to Alamagordo by 5pm on the first day. We will have group introductions, orientation, and possibly an evening photo shoot on the first day. The closest airport is El Paso, TX (ELP), about 1.5 hour drive from Alamogordo. It may be possible for you to be picked up in El Paso if you coordinate with me and my arrival. Otherwise you will need to find your own way to Alamogordo. Albuquerque is another fly-in option, and is about a 3.5 hr drive. If you plan to visit other sites in central or northern New Mexico or Arizona, like Chaco Canyon, Shiprock, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Sante Fe, etc., then Albuquerque will be a convenient gateway. Near Alamogordo are Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Roswell, and Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.