White Sands Panorama

While exploring and photographing the dune fields of White Sands National Park a few weeks ago, I found that the landscape lends itself well to panoramic compositions. One of the features of my Fujifilm GFX 100S that I have come to appreciate is its ability to take photographs with a 65:24 aspect ratio. At first, this aspect ratio sounds odd, but it has some history in the Fujifilm company. If you place two 35mm film frames side by side, you end up with the same ratio. This is exactly what Fujifilm did in its partnership with Hasselblad to produce the XPan camera in 1998. That camera enabled photographers to shoot panoramic photographs on 35mm film, which resulted in a negative measuring 65x24mm. Being able to exclude large portions or all of the sky and foreground is nice in certain situations and can result in unique photographs. On top of that, I just find it a fun format to shoot!

During one of my days in White Sands, I was hiking the Alkali Flat Trail and noticed a dune in the distance that was higher than those immediately surrounding it. That was intriguing enough on its own, but as I was considering it, I looked to the San Andreas Mountains in the distance and noticed some compelling symmetry between the shape of the dunes and that of the mountain range. After walking around for a little while, I found a vantage point that best emphasized this symmetry. I set up my tripod and camera in that spot and then waited for a much longer time until the passing clouds lit the scene in a way I found appealing.

For more photos from the park, please visit my White Sands gallery.

Image Information

Camera: Fujifilm GFX 100S

Lens: Fujinon GF 110mm f/2 R LM WR

Exposure: 1/220 second at f/11