Sand Dunes Engagement

Last month we had the pleasure of returning to one of our favorite places in the entire world, White Sands National Park, for the first time in seven years, to photograph Anysia and Akhil’s super fun sand dunes engagement.

We live in southern Colorado, where we have a very similar place called Great Sand Dunes National Park. It’s the park we visit most frequently, both for photo sessions and to hike for fun. GSDNP is home to North America’s tallest dunes, the highest of which rises 750 feet above the valley floor. The dune field is also surrounded by the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which makes for a really cool and ethereal experience.

What makes White Sands unique, however, is that it’s the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. This is what gives it its iconic, brilliant white color. One of the benefits of this is that the sand is cool to the touch, even on super hot days, which allows visitors to walk around barefoot comfortably. The benefit for photographers specifically is that the ground essentially becomes a giant reflector, similar to how snow functions lighting-wise during the winter shoots.

The only tricky bit is that unlike most national parks, White Sands closes its gates just after sunset each night, which means no astrophotography. Unless you want to spend the night in the park, that is. As a result, we stopped by the Carrizozo Volcanic Field the night before Anysia and Akhil’s sand dunes engagement to capture the couple under the night sky.

Anysia and Akhil, thank you both again for braving the cold and the wind, and then the heat with us for not one, but two days!