So I got to thinking this morning: out of the roughly 8000 images taken in 2013, which one would I have to say is my favorite? (Since this is my blog, I get to have these kinds of conversations with myself).
The answer? This one:
This image was shot at the famous Eureka Dunes in Death Valley National Park on February 21st, 2013. What’s happening in the image is that the last rays of the setting sun are skimming over the dunes at the southern-most edge of the valley in which the dunes are located. The mountains in the background are already in shadow due to the shadows cast by the mountains to the west. The sand is so smooth in this image, many people mistake this for a snow scene.
The reason this is my favorite image from 2013 is this: it has heavily influenced my current move towards minimalism in my work. While I can’t say if minimalism will be a style I work with long-term, I do find myself looking for opportunities when I’m out shooting these days.
One more thing I will say about this image: it is a royal pain in the butt to print! The tones in the print are, shall we say, delicate, and any flaw in the paper will show up if it happens to fall in the lower 2/3rd’s of the image. For every successful print I make of this image, I usually end up destroying 3 flawed prints. The successful prints do look oh so good, though!
