I left Las Vegas at 3:00 AM to catch sunrise at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park. I arrived slightly before sunrise and scrambled a bit trying to find dunes that had not been disturbed by footprints. After finding some OK compositions while covering a couple miles in the dunes, the really nice light in the area I was photographing started to fade, so I decided to work my way back toward Las Vegas. As I was driving, I spotted an area that looked undisturbed and set up with long lenses to compose a panorama from the main road. As I was shooting the panorama, a hiker made his way up the pristine dune face, contrasting nicely with the low angle light and crenulated surfaces of the undisturbed dunes.
