Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
Dwarfed by the dunes.

The landscape of White Sands is relatively new. Humans were already here when an evaporating Lake Otero exposed immense beds of gypsum and the wind did the rest, creating the largest expanse of gypsum dunes in the world.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 12.2018
Date Uploaded: 11.2020
Photo Location: New Mexico, United States of America
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Copyright: © Gordon Illg