Before I visited Imperial Sand Dunes in California I always thought of dunes as being peaceful places where only the footprints of the people before you can be seen. That was the case on one side of the dunes where I made the images you can see here and here.
But on the other side of the dunes it was a different story. I guess my notions of dunes being peaceful was due to visiting dunes that were protected from ATV’s, dune buggies and motorcycles!
When we first arrived at the campground in Glamis there were only a few other RVs and we set up a little ways away from everyone else. (Those are RVs in a storage yard in the background.)
But it wasn’t long before the weekend crowd started to arrive and unload their toys.
Soon the place was roaring and it was anything but peaceful! I took the opportunity to practice making some action shots as the buggies raced by only a few feet away from our RV. It certainly was exciting!
These images are very different than the type of images I usually make so it took a little practice. Below are some of the more successful shots. Please click any of the images to view larger versions.
As the sun set I did manage to combine both buggies and the peaceful setting in a few images and I’ll have those to show you on the blog next time.
I feel gritty just looking at these! I love the 4th shot with the blue sky in the background but they are all great.
I’m glad you mentioned that fourth shot Sherri because I tried much harder for that image than the others. The fellow who was riding saw me photographing and so he very kindly kept driving over the same dune again and again and I kept changing my position until I got the shot I wanted. Thanks for your comments Sherri.
Great action shots Anne. I will have to check this place out next time I get to Cali.
You should check it out Len. But be warned the campsite is very loud!! We were camped in Glamis, but there are other campsites as well and perhaps they are not as loud but I suspect the ATVers are everywhere on the weekends.
Wonderful action shots Anne.
Thank you very much Edith!
Nice shots, I like last one!
Thank you very much Mike! Someone on G+ said that last photo reminded them of Star Wars 😉 hehe.
Great series here Anne! This looks like a whole lot of fun to me! Love your action shots, freezing the fun in time like that for everyone to enjoy here!
I bet you would like that kind of action Toad! I can see you in there on your frog-mobile now… 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the images and thanks for the comments!
Image #2 is my favorite. The shadow of the bike, rider, and flags along with the subject making a diagonal across the image — Awesome composition!
I’m noticing the position of the shadows/sun in your images. A lesson to be learned from that.
Thanks for sharing. Charlotte
Thank you very much Charlotte! I’m so glad that you can learn from my images, that means a lot to me.