Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
Do you feel like you were there?
Other Information
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Image Description
This was captured one afternoon in January 2022 during an intense windstorm at the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley Park. Winds were gusting upwards of 50 mph and strong enough to knock you or your camera and tripod over.
Technical Details
Captured with a Fuji X-T4 with XF100-400mm lens at approximately 100mm. ISO 400, 1/300 sec at f/8.0. Converted to black & white and processed using Lightroom Classic.
I feel like I wouldn’t want to be any closer to this storm than I am in this scene! The curve defined by the varying mid-tones and shadows has a truly refined look. An amazing photo packed with strong intent. Really well done all around!
Hi Randall, yes at this scale I do feel immersed in the image emotionally. The windstorm like an internal storm, the sand course and grating. It’s a beautiful image.
I can almost feel the tempest. I love the tonality and the processing is excellent. Wonderful image and nicely done! I like how the curves in the sand are somewhat mirrored in the blowing sand above the dune.
-P
Excellent! Very powerful and mysterious. I don’t actually feel like I’m there and the reason is that I get a great sense of nostalgia… ie. of a time past - and of course I woudn’t have been there… But seriously, this does have a look of a vintage photograph, perhaps a tin-type from back in the day. Quite literally, the “grain” really adds to that look. Very cool. Beautifully captured and processed
A moody image. No, actually a brooding image. This image has a lot of emotional impact and that’s a good thing. I’ve seen sand swirling around on those dunes but never thought to darken the exposure. Good work. I can’t think of any modifications without changing your intended mood.
As Igor said, it’s a wonderfully brooding image. I love the palpable energy in the blowing sand, and the way the dunes still feel solid nonetheless. It’s a strange contrast (particles of the subject moving and yet the subject feeling indomitable).
I especially like the reversal of dark sky over light dunes. I’m not quite sure how you did that, but I know the sand is a kind of salmon color, and so I’m guessing the sky was pretty washed out but nicely textured. Very nice, original image from this location.
Dear Randall Dunn, I do not feel like I am there, and I must admit that images never make me feel that way, unless I have actually been on the location captured and the image evokes personal memories about it. I tend to experience all other images as autonomous objects with an agency of their own, some of which are capable of evoking emotions, as this one. However, with this particular image I do feel transported back in time to another era with a different technique and style, perhaps to the 1910s to 1920s, because of the dark tones, the gains and the soft focus. Thanks for sharing.
For me too, the answer to your question is no. My initial impression is one of being taken away, not too. I’ll also echo that I think that is a good thing, because it does give the moody/broody impact the photo has.
I enjoy that the light and dark bands in the sand have an echo in the blowing sand in the sky.
But seriously, this does have a look of a vintage photograph, perhaps a tin-type from back in the day. Quite literally, the “grain” really adds to that look. Very cool. Beautifully captured and processed