90 Minutes

After years of longing to explore and photograph White Sands National Park, I finally was able to make a pilgrimage to this otherworldly location in New Mexico, which I decided would make a fitting destination to cap off a month-long winter road trip through the American Southwest. Although I had originally carved out three days to give myself time to fully explore and get to know the sand dunes and mountains of White Sands, Mother Nature had other plans. With an unusually strong winter storm bearing down on the southern states - many of which I would need to drive through to get back home to New York - I made the difficult decision to spend only a brief layover at White Sands before motoring on to hopefully beat the storm home. Although I was disappointed to miss out on witnessing and photographing the dramatic light of sunrise, sunset, and the blue hour on the gypsum sand dunes, I made the most of the 90 minutes that I had by seeking out abstract compositions, largely centered around the yucca plants that dot the sand dunes. In the photograph pictured here, I captured the shadow of a yucca plant cast on the pure white sand of the dunes. Hitting the road back home earlier than anticipated proved to be a wise move as snow and ice ground much of the South to a halt during the days that I originally was supposed to be driving back home. The pull to more comprehensively photograph White Sands has only grown stronger since getting a brief taste of its splendor, and I certainly will be back! Photo © copyright by Joey Priola.

View Fullscreen