Over the several years I lived in New Mexico I traveled to White Sands National Monument about eight times.  It’s a photographers haven!  We (my wife and I) first arrived in early June, the peak of the Yucca bloom!  On the day we arrived the monument was experiencing a pretty fierce wind event.  We drove through the monument and could barely see 20 feet in front of our car!.  At the completion of the wind event, we discovered it was a tremendous blessing.  You see, one of the favorite things for families with kids (and big kids) to do is to bring or rent a sled or sliding device and “take to the slopes” so to speak.  The sliding on the gypsum hills is amazing!

The Portfolio

So, here’s what makes this project unique.  This was a project that happened after the fact.  I decided that I could use the portfolio project approach to help me narrow and sort through the thousands of images I had taken to get down to a manageable, representative number (hopefully between 12-18).  Before I started sorting through images, I wrote an artist statement as a guiding light!

White Sands Portfolio Artist Statement

Project: White Sands Portfolio Project
Artist Statement: I have chosen to exhibit photographs which convey these amazing qualities of the White Sands National Monument.  First, it is HUGE, I have to show HUGE and IMMENSE!  Second, I have to show texture.  Third I have to show human/animal interaction.  Fourth I have to show interaction with the elements.  My goal is to have my viewer understand these four qualities of White Sands National Monument and not only want to go visit to see for themselves, but to come back here to view the images again and again.  To me, that is a tremendous compliment as a photographer.

Ok, so how do you take 2238 photos and narrow them down to the best dozen or 18?  First, install Lightroom!  Lightroom is one of the best tools for cataloguing, archiving and rating your photos.  I was already an avid LR user so I just started the rating process at 1 star and went from there for every shoot session I had, weighing each and every shot against the artist statement.  My shot series included shots during all seasons and all types of weather.

Here’s the portfolio, 13 shots in all.  You can click on the image to view it larger.  Also, see if you can find a person in image #6.

Artist Statement

I have chosen to exhibit photographs which convey these amazing qualities of the White Sands National Monument.  First, it is HUGE, I have to show HUGE and IMMENSE!  Second, I have to show texture.  Third I have to show human/animal interaction.  Fourth I have to show interaction with the elements.  My goal is to have my viewer understand these four qualities of White Sands National Monument and not only want to go visit to see for themselves, but to come back here to view the images again and again.  To me, that is a tremendous compliment as a photographer.