Of Stars and Sand

There are few places I feel more connected to the night sky than Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, an International Dark Sky Place. I wanted to capture the beauty and wonder of being one small part of a greater place, caught between waves of sand below and a sea of stars above. This blended shot depicts me standing on the ridge of a dune, backlit by the core of the Milky Way. Ripples and grasses in the sand are illuminated by my headlamp, and passing clouds catch the glow of Alamosa – over 25 miles away.