Reveal the Light, Color and Texture of White Sands National Monument in your Digital Photography

It’s not empty, but at first glance, White Sands National Monument in south-central New Mexico, looks like an enormous white canvas. As the largest gypsum dune field in the world, the 115 square miles of this national park presents every digital photographer with a challenge and an opportunity. Amazing, wondrous images do exist here for you to create and capture, if you know where and when to look.

White Sands National Monument is a landscape both basic and complex. It is dominated by the pure whiteness of the dunes, which constantly grow, evolve and move, driven by strong southwest winds. The gypsum dunes seem to take on a life of their own, displaying an unseen beauty that is only visible with a creative, photographic eye for light, color and texture. Dawn and dusk is when White Sands fully preens. The subtle light strike each grain of sand at a low angle, transforming the surface to pure pastels of pink, blue and colors unnamed.

During dawn and dusk, the few plants with any vertical growth, predominately Yucca, suddenly assume a commanding persona, as silent sentinels of the desert. They become the complementary form in your digital photography compositions that help to define the grandeur of this stark environment.

White Sands National Monument is a geological treasure. It sits within an “internally drained valley” called the Tularosa Basin, which is located at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. Originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea 250 million years ago, the giant gypsum rock dome that was formed then dissolved and eroded during tens of millions of years. The San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that surround the basin are what remain of the dome.

Despite the inhospitable climate, White Sands National Monument is filled with life that has adapted to the conditions. The plant life may be sparse, but it survives in six distinctly diverse ecological zones. Like the Yucca, evening primrose, Indian ricegrass, Rio Grand cottonwood, hedgehog cactus and many other species become excellent creative elements for your digital photography during dawn and dusk. They can act as that critical foreground object to balance your landscape images; they create shadows and contrasts in the low light; and some may paint the desert with their color when in bloom.

Abundant animal life is also present in White Sands National Monument. With the heat and conditions, most are nocturnal. If you find the right location for your camera and wait patiently, then you may capture a desert creature scampering across a dune in the moonlight, leaving a trail of footprints. As many as 210 species of birds have been seen in the park; however, many of them are rare sightings. More common species are Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Greater Roadrunners, Eastern and Western Meadowlarks and Cactus Wrens. Many predatory birds are attracted to the area, such as the Northern Harrier, American Kestrel and Swainson’s Hawk. On occasion, you may spy a Red-tailed Hawk and a rare Golden Eagle or Prairie Falcon.

To succeed as a digital photographer of the landscapes and wildlife of White Sands National Monument, you need a guide: Someone who knows the location of scenes and subject matter that will challenge you to elevate your creativity and skills to the level to which you aspire. He is Jack Dykinga, recognized throughout the world as one of the masters of landscape photography, and a master instructor. Few professionals know the American Southwest as well as Jack, or have photographed it so thoroughly.

If you accept this photography challenge of a lifetime, then you could be one of just 12 photographers who accompany Jack and assistant instructor Justin Black on Visionary Wild’s White Sands Workshop, January 14–18, 2013.

Jack and Justin will lead you to eight diverse environments within White Sands and conduct in-depth and personalized photography sessions to help you see the beauty of this place and then learn how to capture it with your camera. Your middays will be filled with specialized lectures on light, composition, digital exposure and dynamic range, plus many other topics.

For complete information about Visionary Wild’s White Sands Workshop, please visit http://visionarywild.com/workshops/white-sands

Photo copyright Jack Dykinga

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Photo copyright Jack Dykinga

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