Should have come here first

[John Berry]

While looking at my weston dunes book, I decided, to finally shoot them. Got everything together. The only camera gear was the new fuji XT-1 and the V-8. I decided to limit my lenses to 2. Since I got it not too long ago, the Kern dagor was for sure going to be one. The other was a 240 Calter ll N in a prontor shutter. I took this optimized lens out of the arial camera mount that it was in when I bought it at boing surplus. Man I miss that place. Left Seattle and was on my way. Spent a day working my way down the hum-bolt area coast. Got to Oceano in time for sunrise. WTF, where's the #$^*( dunes. They're all back dunes now. I then went next south to Guadalupe that had a small patch you could shoot with a telephoto. If I drove this far to get skunked, I'm not going to make the other half of the plan for white sands. Another time. worked my way across calif towards the grand canyon. Went across Death valley at night. shot an afternoon, sunset, and sunrise at the canyon. Drove over to Bryce canyon.Sunrise and worked my way back home. I took a tent and a sleeping bag that were up to the task, but here it is 7pm dark and 37 degrees. Time to set up the tent. When I get it up there is nothing to do but go to sleep as you are not going to visit with anyone when you are the only one there. Now going to bed that early means I'll be done about 1am. What am I going to do? Get up and pack it up or lay in a bag for the next 5 hours till light. I chose option 3, turn on the heater, lay back the heated seat and sleep in the car. When I saw the snow in the campground, that was the one night I used the plan for one night in a motel. 5 days and 3920 miles. Great trip had a great time, but I should have come hear first, announced my plan so someone here would have given me a heads up. Who would have ever thought nature would change in 75 years.
P.S. The wind was such that the canyon was as clear as it was a century ago.

[Will S]

I was at White Sands, NM in August. Plenty of sand, but it was so hot I couldn't even think, much less setup an 8x10. And that was working 20 feet from the car with ac!

[DrTang]

there's plenty of dunes at oceano

you can drive on the beach out of Oceano and head down the coast


there is also several entry points to the dunes on the hwy 1 between Oceano and Guadalupe.. and past Guada

they are kinda secret and look like a farm or field road if I remember..it's been a couple years

Guadalupe beach is okay down farther when it's not closed for the plover

[Leszek Vogt]

John, what's wrong with shooting at night ? If you are lucky the moon will be strong and light things up for ye (dunes!), or you can do milky way. If you insist on camping (like me) a pickup with a shell (tall enough) will allow you to sit with some space & read, check out various sites/weather if you have access to wifi or cabled net, etc etc. One can eat in there too. OK, it may not be wilderness camping (in those low temps), but KOA or some such RV places can provide an electrical outlet connection. I have a real nice (and small) 12V heater and I don't need to be ultra toasty....just to take the edge of the cold temps during the night. It's unfortunate, but using the 12V heater would deplete quickly my veh battery.

White Sands can be wonderful in Oct.


Les

[John Berry]

I agree there are plenty of dunes, it's just they are all grown over now compared to the westons dune book.

[John Berry]

John, what's wrong with shooting at night ? If you are lucky the moon will be strong and light things up for ye (dunes!), or you can do milky way. If you insist on camping (like me) a pickup with a shell (tall enough) will allow you to sit with some space & read, check out various sites/weather if you have access to wifi or cabled net, etc etc. One can eat in there too. OK, it may not be wilderness camping (in those low temps), but KOA or some such RV places can provide an electrical outlet connection. I have a real nice (and small) 12V heater and I don't need to be ultra toasty....just to take the edge of the cold temps during the night. It's unfortunate, but using the 12V heater would deplete quickly my veh battery.

White Sands can be wonderful in Oct.


Les
I used to have a pickup and did just what you did. With the price of gas it was a subaru legacy that got the nod this round. I did some night shots in arizona because there was no moon to be had.