CraigBILL

Sand dunes have always captivated me. Dynamic and changing - they are never the same. These environments can be blazing hot during the day and then cool as mountain air that night.

I wanted to capture this dynamic landscape in another way, again allowing the viewer to experience in a single image, that incorporates and reveals this sweeping period of time that otherwise the eye can not directly proof.

“Odyssey” is the name I gave this image as I thought about the journey of light and time around these quiet West Texas dunes. At night, I setup my camera to take a series of many pictures (after the moon set) to capture the southern star trails over several hours. Early in the morning, just as the sun was breaking the horizon, I exposed the last frame showing the long early shadows.

To arrive at the final image, I had to fuse more than eighty exposures into one. Thanks to the cooperation of no clouds, low or mild wind, mostly no moon, and extra batteries, “Odyssey” was born.