Late for Golden Hour
Packed up the car and got ready for a trip out to the desert. Seeing all the gear in the trunk makes me realize how committed I’ve become to these little excursions. It’s good to have a hobby that doesn’t involve logging in to something (granted post processing requires software but the overall process still gets me out there).
The drive out ate up two and a half hours, plus time spent in my favorite watering hole in Alamosa for a late lunch before making it to my sandy destination. Great Sand Dunes National Park is home of the tallest sand dunes in North America, the result of a complex geological process that I’d need a chalkboard to explain it (and fully understand it myself). Essentially what happens is that the surrounding mountain ranges funnel converging winds together into this one pocket, where they deposit leftover sand from receding lakes that they had picked up, causing the dunes to grow vertically. It makes for an astounding dunefield at the foot of these mountains that one wouldn’t expect if they were just passing through. While gawking at the fields, I followed a primitive trail to the end of where 2-wheel vehicles are allowed and got out and stretched. Suddenly the ground was saturated in pink hues and I looked up to see that the cloud systems had caused golden hour to start ahead of schedule. All my gear is all in the trunk, I’m out of position, and my settings aren’t dialed in. Wait, WAIT!
Noooooooo!
I grabbed the camera and sprinted down the hill to try to make it past the trees, shooting frenzied pictures like a mad man as I descended. But it was too late. By the time I made it past the trees the light was gone.
I’ll forever be haunted by this picture and the knowledge of what could have been achieved.
I simply cannot believe how stellar this sunset was with its crimson and periwinkle and peach and golden hues, all coexisting at once over the gorgeous dunes. It was a hard lesson to learn about showing up early and scouting out an area for composition. I put so much time and effort into being here for it and I wasted it all.
Damn.
Well, life goes on. After sunset I went down to the creek and took long exposures and got a cool shot of people with flashlights hopping over the water and sand. I played around with the camera settings and while some effects were intentional, others I’m not sure what the hell I did. But I like ‘em, and I learned a bit about night photography. If at the end of the day I’ve emerged a better person than I was at the start of it, then I can say the day wasn’t wasted.