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holes in things
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
beauty walks a razor’s edge
I suppose that normal people think about White Sands and think about, you know, the white sand.
But these picnic shelters always come to mind: I can remember these exact shapes from my childhood visits to the dunes and I’ve seen vintage photos of them fairly often. Their shapes remind me of the gentle slopes of the dunes, which are of course constantly shifting, but still keep their sinuous shapes.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.13.2025
bones
There will be more White Sands photos later…but I’ll start with this one.
I thought the dunes themselves would be so interesting to photograph, but (and this wasn’t really a surprise because I am familiar with my work) what I liked the best was the separate life of things in the alkali flats between the dunes. The plants take on otherworldly shapes, there are tiny tracks made by invisible creatures, and there are elaborate patterns on the surface made by the elements (wind mostly, sometimes rain). Ancient ancient dune movement is revealed and it feels as if no human has seen this – this exact thing – ever before.
For me, the experience became one of seeing the tiny landscapes that populated the one that was too huge to understand.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
photographed 12.21.2025
…and His face was turned toward the sun
Jesus had lost his hands (I don’t know what happened), but at least he could face into the sun and watch the dying of the day.
Immaculate Conception Cemetery
Alamogordo, New Mexico
photographed 12.11.2025
information
I’ve just gotten back from a week of photography in New Mexico and El Paso.
I went primarily for a photo workshop at White Sands National Park; the night before it started, I went out to a nearby cemetery to re-learn how to use a camera that’s not my everyday one. A couple of local cemeteries seemed like good locations for my self-guided lessons.
Anyway, I sure did like the lower-case r that was hanging out with a whole line of upper-case ones.
Monte Vista Cemetery
Alamogordo, New Mexico
photographed 12.11.2025
One Day | One Image 