The dunes are breathtaking. The landscapes are otherworldly. The sky’s enormous and very, very blue above the expanse of white.

But also: the tiny landscapes embedded within the vast dunes are also breathtaking. I spent quite a bit of my time lying in the sand to get low-enough vantage points to get the images I thought I wanted. I sort of had a crush on this tiny sand tunnel and made a lot of photos of it. And to add to the fun, I was shooting a camera that’s not my everyday-use one, so I was re-learning it. And the lens I was using that day wasn’t one I’m particularly familiar with. And (and!) the camera’s a manual focus. So there was a lot going on.

But I got the photo I wanted.

White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.13.2025