White Sands National Park, February 2024
I love the landscapes of the arid Western and Midwestern states, essentially the prairie, the more minimal and abstract the better. The center of the country is so open, so vast and so sparse in its aesthetic qualities. White Sands National Park epitomizes these qualities as it breaks down its landscape into a few fundamental and wonderful characteristics. Gypsum from the rocks in the surrounding mountains drains down into a flat plane where it forms pure white “dunes”, almost like talcum powder, that shift with seasons and winds. This is an environment that suggests “extra-terrestrial”, a place not normally thought of as “earthen”. Sky, dune, mountain, three things with no complications and nothing else is needed. I found the Park images compelling in both color and black and white.
