The far corner of southeast California is for the most part barren desert, extremely hot for much of the year and largely devoid of any plant life. There are few roads and very little settlement, but one substance that is abundant is sand, which collects in the wide valleys between isolated mountain ranges.

The largest accumulation is an area of 8 by 40 miles called the Algodones Dunes, a vast pile of pure, golden sand, center of which has absolutely no vegetation and presents a stark, elemental scene of just two components - big skies above and unbroken sandy mounds beneath. The shifting sands and bright sun impart an unusual soft, bluish tint to the dune surface.

During the winter months the dunes are filled with hoards of off road vehicles making a clean landscape photo impossible. But during the summer months it is too hot for most of the dune buggies making it ideal for landscape photography.

The last three classes worked perfectly.

We will only shoot the early morning and the sunset which is more than manageable. During the day we will hunker down in our air conditioned rooms and go over Lightroom processing techniques if desired. 

We will shoot three sunsets and three sunrises. 

DETAILS:

We meet in Brawley CA at the Brawley Inn.  http://www.brawleyinn.com . Palm Springs is your best option if you are flying in. Brawley is 95 miles from Palm Springs.

We will meet for dinner and ready ourselves for a shoot at the Algodones/Imperial Dunes. The dunes are about about 25 miles from the motel.

In the mornings we will be done shooting as soon as the sun gets too high and return to Brawley for breakfast. Rest a few hours then meet for some Lightroom and image discussions making improvements on what we did earlier. Bring your laptop or iPad if you’ve got them.

Note that this is not a Salton Sea class. You are welcome to explore that on your own.

Note that it will be HOT. Temperatures can be between 107 and 79F. 

The primary location is an off road dune buggy area. Most likely there will NOT be riders and tracks because of the heat. The high season the the winter months. Check my portfolio. 

The Imperial Dunes Wilderness area across the highway from the off road vehicle area. It is know as the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness. We will walk there if needed.

WHAT TO BRING:

-sunscreen

-sun hats

-sun glasses

-long sleeve clothing

-water bottles (buy there if needed)

-small fanny pack or backpack for walking. You wont want a big one!

-lightweight hiking shoes. -No slippers please.

-solid tripod -telephoto lens to compress space. I found between 200-500mm worked well. -Normal zoom or primes in the 20mm-100mm range.

-memory cards, card readers, batteries, chargers.  

Super discount price of $750. LIMIITED TO 6 PEOPLE 

https://paypal.me/keithskeltonphoto

The fun begins! :-)