Morning Dunes

[kalgra]

1.
Morning Dunes by Kristian Algra, on Flickr

2.
Morning Dunes BW by Kristian Algra, on Flickr

 

[Trever1t]

love that color frame, wow. Wonder how it look, if any better from a lower perspective? Awesome as is, just curious!

 

[WesternGuy]

Very nice. The first one is my favourite. Would you care to share the location?

WesternGuy

 

[kalgra]

Thanks! The first is my favorite as well. I kept coming back to the second for some reason though so I thought I'd through it up just to see if anyone had anything to say about it. It's defenitely lacking something though. I've been really struggling with finding good compositions in my landscapes. More practice I suppose.

love that color frame, wow. Wonder how it look, if any better from a lower perspective? Awesome as is, just curious!

I share your same thoughts about the lower perspective. It was pretty windy there most the time with ocassionaly powerful gusts of wind. I was absolutely terrified of getting sand in my camera so I didn't dare go any lower with it. I'm sure it would have been fine though I was using canon weather sealed gear but still am afraid to get so much as a rain drop on it so for me the sand blowing along the the dunes was the stuff of nightmares for me.

Very nice. The first one is my favourite. Would you care to share the location?

WesternGuy

Yes this was taken in the great sand dunes national park in southern Colorado. I had actually gone on the new moon with the intention of doing some Astro but unfortunately there was much more light polution on the souther horizon than I had anticipated based on light polution maps I reviewed before hand and it was cloudy and overcast pretty much the entire time I was there. The light for the most part was very hard to work with. I think that first shot was the best light i had the whole time so I was pleased I got at least one that I liked.

 

[WesternGuy]

kalgra, thanks for the location information. I wondered about whether or not it was Colorado as I have been to Death Valley and your pics didn't look familiar. Looks like a place I need to put on my bucket list. What is access like? Would I need a 4x4, or something comparable?

WesternGuy

 

[kalgra]

kalgra, thanks for the location information. I wondered about whether or not it was Colorado as I have been to Death Valley and your pics didn't look familiar. Looks like a place I need to put on my bucket list. What is access like? Would I need a 4x4, or something comparable?

WesternGuy

It is extremely accessible. There are many first come first serve camp sites on the eastern side of the dunes that you could drive any car straight to on paved roads and a little convenient store right in the main camp area to buy fire wood and other items. From there you can hike deep into the dunes for more remote camping or if you have a decent 4x4 with good clearance you can drive further into the mountains that look down onto the dunes and the valley. Its a really cool place for sure. I read that fall is the best time to visit for mild predictable weather and you get some more color in the mountain areas. The spring and summer can be pretty volatile with extreme wind storms and lighting. I was hoping for some lighting but never got any. There are these very odd streams of water that flow down both sides of the dunes which apparently helped form them. Its definitely one of those natural wonders everyone should see once.

 

[WesternGuy]

edited........
It is extremely accessible. There are many first come first serve camp sites on the eastern side of the dunes that you could drive any car straight to on paved roads and a little convenient store right in the main camp area to buy fire wood and other items. From there you can hike deep into the dunes for more remote camping or if you have a decent 4x4 with good clearance you can drive further into the mountains that look down onto the dunes and the valley. Its a really cool place for sure. I read that fall is the best time to visit for mild predictable weather and you get some more color in the mountain areas. The spring and summer can be pretty volatile with extreme wind storms and lighting. I was hoping for some lighting but never got any. There are these very odd streams of water that flow down both sides of the dunes which apparently helped form them. Its definitely one of those natural wonders everyone should see once.

Thanks, I guess I will have to check my travel schedule for the next couple of years.

WesternGuy

 

[Gary A.]

Both are very very nice, but in very different ways. The first is abstract and reflects a feeling of Mars or somewhere quite foreign. The second is like a scene from Lawarence of Arabia, much lass abstract and filling the viewer with a sense of place.

 

[FITBMX]

Great set!

 

[Ian McGregor]

Love the lines

 

[fmw]

Beautiful. Great Color. Excellent composition.