Knocking blows

On the way, Dubai - Al Ain Road

Deserts are not most likely places to shoot in the summer, excruciatingly  hot, unbearably humid; virtually, it is the extension of the Sun. Ruthless sun doesn't like anyone stepping into it's domain; it blurs vision, draws out every drop of water from body, burns for the kill. 

It was particularly warm day, sun was bright and sky dull when I plan the shoot. Wind was dominant, wouldn't let sand rest too, knocking blow after blow; taking sand where it intended. Huge dunes were forming, smaller disappearing; wind continued creating, erasing and re-forming contours. 

Once my car was parked safely, I started walking into desert after crossing broken fences; immediately tasted crunchy sand in my mouth. I kept the camera lens covered and eyes shaded when possible. Climbing dunes while composing and capturing; every step was being sucked knee deep into soft sand. 

This very shot was captured at the beginning of 'golden hour'. Sun was at perfect position , or, rather I was. Breeze kept sand unease, flowing through the air; one such moment provided the opportunity to capture this moment.

Canon 5D MkII hand held, was set on Manual Mode, f10 - 1/160 - ISO 100; Canon EF 24-70 f2.8 was zoomed at its longest end. I exposed 250+ images that day, few came right straight out of the camera; whereas, mostly wrongly exposed and immediately deleted. After uploading this image to desktop and process into Camera RAW - tweaked color temperature a bit and convert to Black and White, re-sized, sharpen and framed.

Though this is not a perfect dune shot, the point being, get out and shoot when possible. One thing I have learnt from photography, the biggest opportunities always lies at or behind the door of challenge(s).