Great Sand Dunes Sunrise

After not taking a single shot for a month and a half I decided to go to Great Sand Dunes NP to hike/shoot the sunrise with my friend (Josh). At 10 PM, we found ourselves stuck behind a slow moving van on La Veta pass. Josh changed lanes and began to pass...seconds later we hit a large dead deer while going 70mph in a VW Passat turbo (about 4in of ground clearance). I was reading a book in the passenger seat and thought that we must have slammed into the car in front of us. As you might expect, the car started to make horrible noises and smelled of burning/rotting deer. 2 hours later... we had fixed most of the carnage (save the smell) to the point that the car was drivable. We arrived at Pinon Flats campground at 12:30 and saw that it was full. We slept in the car until 4:10am and hiked to the top of high dune. We hiked in complete darkness to the sound of coyotes howling. We reached the top of high dune at 5:10 and found ourselves above a thick layer of clouds/fog. At 5:20 the sky lit up with pink clouds and the fog burned away. At 6:40 the sun finally came over the Sangres and gave us about 20 seconds of good light before getting blocked by clounds for the rest of the day.

great photo! and even better story! that is some sweet color in those clouds.

Scott, this is a truly spectacular shot! And well-deserved after what you went through to get it. Is this image a blended exposure? The dynamic range is excellent.

Scott - I love the clouds and magenta glow of the foreground, but I think the lead-in of the foreground dune ridge is too long. It minimizes the view of the dunefield beyond.

wow

Wow is right!! Very sweet image Scott. And wow on the story too. way to persevere!!!! Well worth the effort!

No, this is not a blended image. I used a 3-stop ND grad filter. Brent: it was worth the effort (and it wasn't my car)

Cool story, awesome photo. Thanks for sharing.

Saaaweeeet! Put this in the Sand Dunes challenge immediately. This is the last day for submission.

Sorry about the trouble you had getting there, but this was worth the effort.

Craig

Craig, I felt that I had other images that were better. Thanks for the compliments.

Nice composition! I like the line leading the eye into the shot. Wonderful light. I went out there a few months ago and was skunked with both sunrise and sunset.

Craig, I felt that I had other images that were better. Thanks for the compliments.

I don't know, might just be my personal preference, but this shot beats everything submitted thus far.

Craig

Good thing I'm typing and not talking because my jaw is agape after that story. It's a great image, particulalry after learning the level of commitment needed to get the shot. Great lead-in and color in the sky. I love how the sand picks up the warm color from the red cloud.

Cheers!

:toast

It certainly would be one of the best images up so far; if you're images aren't up yet, Scott, then I can't wait to see them!

Stunning shot; it's not often you get that level of color in that region.

Great shot. Sounds like you had quite the adventure!

I'm speechless (rarely happens, you know)!

Ken

Sweet! Very, very nice!

Brian

This is great!!! I can't wait to see some of your other shots, and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's for the contest. Come on, it's been like two days, tell the NPS to hurry up, Adam.

Great photo after a wild ride to get there! Way to go!

Cool image andood story!

Scott