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There aren't many sand dunes where I live in North Wales, so I was very pleased to discover the Dunas de Maspalomas nature reserve during Liz's and my week long stay on the Seychelle island of Gran Canaria.
An opportunity for some photography of a landscape I don't usually have access to is always to be grabbed with both hands.
Liz and I actually made four trips to the dunes during our holiday, covering all times of the day from pre-sunrise to post-sunset, with this particular image being shot in the early afternoon as we walked along the promenade with dozens of other tourists.
But you would never know that just a few metres from where this photo was taken there was a line of resort hotels, with all the associated tourist paraphenalia cluttering up the scene.
And for me, this illustrates one of the joys of photography, the ability to totally transform the mood of a scene through leaving things out.
If there was even just one footprint or discarded bottle top in this view, the air of exotic mystery would have been lost, but as it stands, you could imagine yourself in the Sahara or Kalahari (other deserts are available!) as you gaze at this image.
Filename - gran canaria maspalomas dunes 05.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 50mm
Exposure - 1/100 sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Dunas de Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
This image - 600x800px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Polarising filter used to remove glare
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