Oregon's Dunes at Sundown

After two visits to the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area (see yesterday’s entry), I mentioned that there was still something missing.

I had made two visits in the early afternoon on two different days, and on those occasions, the photos showed the expanse of the dunes but did not capture the subtleties of the dunes.

This missing quality, to my mind anyway, has to do with sunlight and its conjoined partner, shadows. It’s the partnership which appears during the fading sunlight of the late afternoon. So my third hike covered much the same route at the first, but this time it was made about 30 minutes before sundown.

The combination of the time of day and the angle of the shot in relation to the sun produced scenes that were not visible at the time of the noonday sun.

The pictures ranged from views that appeared to be winter scenes

to those that showed sculptured landscapes far removed from a simple hill of sand. All due to sunlight and shadows. And...

maybe, I should also acknowledge the role of another of Mother Nature’s artists, the wind, in the artistry of the sand dunes. But once again, it is the late afternoon sunlight that highlights the wind's role in creating these masterpieces.