Nambung National Park is about two hours drive north of Perth - not far from the small coastal town of Cervantes. I recently made my second photography oriented trip to the region. It is host to the famous Pinnacles Desert with its unique rock formations but also to large stretches of pristine white sand dunes. Unlike the Pinnacles which are easily accessible by car and is set up for tourists, the dunes are a little harder to get to. You can see them from the highway as you drive past, drifting glacially over the scrubby vegetation like advancing fog-banks. All you have to do is park the car in a lay-by and walk to them through the scrub.
Sand dunes are a fabulous place to create minimalist landscape photography as you can pare down the elements to nice textural, sandy foregrounds and interesting skies with some beautiful sweeping shapes and leading lines. The character and colour of the dunes depends on the time of day you take the image. The dunes themselves, being white, tend to take on some of the colour of the prevailing light.
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 28, f11, 1/6 sec, ISO 100
My time in the dunes on my morning visit progressed rapidly from pastel dawn colors to thunderous rain clouds. As they rolled in, the rising sun set an ominous flame to them and the show became quite spectacular. Then the the rain hit hard and I had to pack up and trudge back to the car, wet but happy with the beautiful pixels on my memory card.
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 28, f11, 0.3 sec, ISO 100
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 28, f11, 1/6 sec, ISO 100
The following image was taken very early on shooting directly towards the rising sun. I named it Dunes Of Mordor for the ominous feel it imparts.
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 45, f11, 2.5 sec, ISO 200
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 29, f11, 15 sec, ISO 100
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 32, f11, 4 sec, ISO 100
Pentax 645z, 28-45 @ 32, f14, 10 sec, ISO 100