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gold is immortality
I met a gentleman from Louisiana in the hotel in Alamogordo.
Wait a minute. That doesn’t sound right.
What I mean is that I crossed paths with a gentleman from Louisiana and we had a chat in the hotel lobby. He’d come all the way from Monroe to see the dunes (and what he called the “yucca trees”) and was interested in what our group was finding. He said he hoped I got a photo of the sunset.
I did. And this is it.
(Probably to your great relief, this is the end of White Sands. Thanks for sticking with me!)
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.13.2025
my way to be free
The first photo I posted in this series from White Sands was of a picnic shelter, with long early-morning shadows, sun-tipped white dunes, and skinny clouds.
Or rare occasions, symmetry appeals to me, so I’ll close out this run of monochrome White Sands images with another shot of that same picnic shelter – this time, a close look at the shelter’s structure. The rivets caught my attention for reasons that I hope are clear. Or if not clear, then maybe clear-ish.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.13.2025
the center of everywhere
On the drive into the dunes, I was thinking about how much I like to see how wind-whipped grasses carve shallow concentric circles into the sand. And this one came with a scattering of bird tracks for a nice bonus.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.14.2025
in the stones of your mind
Mind games.
Even while I was standing right there making this image, my brain kept trying to believe that this was drifted snow. It was, in fact, quite insistent.
But it was then and still is drifts of gypsum. But you can see the confusion, maybe?
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.14.2025
a lullaby for suffering
Lately I’ve been re-listening to Leonard Cohen…
When I look at this scene, I am unable to decide if the sand is encroaching on the branches and will eventually cover them, or if the branches spend their time escaping the sand and will eventually join their colleagues on the next dune over.
The more I look, the more uncertain I am.
But what does this have to do with Leonard Cohen? Nothing, probably, except that my mind connects photographic confusion and his lyric:
There’s a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it’s written in the scriptures
And it’s not some idle claim
You want it darker, we kill the flame
Paradox. Darker. Flame. Suffering.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.14.2025
One Day | One Image 