Of sweeping winds and sands

My brother and I went for one of our typical long walks along the Dana Bay beach in the spirit of spending some quality time together (I only see him once a month or less) as well as for the endless photographic opportunities nature always seems to provide.

We went out at dusk during a ferocious wind which created a veritable sandstorm on the beach - an extremely hazardous environment for photography. One could barely keep one's eyes open, and sea sand is of course extremely hazardous to precision mechanical devices such as a cameras.

For the first time, I was afforded an opportunity to try to capture the endless streams of sand swept off into the sunset by the howling winds. The sea was rife with white foam and large waves - the shore devoid of any other people.



"Swept to the horison"

An aerodynamicist could do worse than study these beautiful, through very fleeting, shapes carved out of the sand:



"Natural aerodynamics"

I was fascinated by the combination of the 'deadly' sweeping sand, and small objects found on the beach, such as this little flower:



"Sandswept"

Or, more ironically, this "Savanna dry" (a type of dry cider made here in South Africa) bottle cap. Notice the 'wake' left behind it, and the sand grains sweeping over it at high speed.



"Savanna dry"


Technical comments:

This series of shots was taken with a Canon EOS-1D Mk II N, and two lenses (EF 28-300L and EF 16-35L [1st gen]). The sand was so bad that it would gather ('heap up') inside the lens hood, and my camera (switches, etc) was entirely covered with sand grains. I first took the close-ups (bottle cap, flower) with the 16-35L, found a sheltered place to change lenses to 28-300L, and kept it on for the rest of the outing.

I would never dare do this sort of thing with a non-sealed camera/lens combo, and I must say I am very impressed with the build quality of the kit - not once did I feel the nasty grit of sand in a button press, push/pull zoom operation, or turning a focus ring. I did not change lens or open any compartments until I could get back to thoroughly blow off all the sea sand (with an airbrush and air compressor I have for model building) and everything was as-new after that. The O-rings around the switches of the 1D really do their job well! 16-35L was fitted with a UV filter (because the front element moves inside the barrel, sand would kill it) and the 28-300L used as-is. The 'sandblasting' did not at all scratch the lens front elements, though I would not do this to them regularly!

I used fairly large apertures and high-ish ISO to freeze the motion of the sand grains as far as possible. EXIF is in the images. What a wonderful experience this was!

Thanks so much Dawid.

First the pictures are wonderul, but you telling the story brings us with you and I feel that I better empty my shoes of sand!

I like the 3rd picture especially since it shows life in such a difficult place. I always look at pretty birds and beetles and marvel at the fact they don't get immunized, have antibiotics, filtered water or have a laundry and so forth. They just are beatiful and survive by a miracle in the tough world. When there's life in this sand, that is so impressive.

Back to your last picture. This is the simplest and the most startling. That's a disarmingly simplistic composition that is powerful and works.

Thanks for sharing!

Asher

Thank you as ever for the kind comments Asher - I hadn't seen a series like this around here, so I though it'd be a good idea to share. And the experience certainly provided some valuable insight to me regarding the weather sealing of the Canon gear - everybody knows about the rain resistance, but sand is a different beast altogether, and as long as I don't have to change lenses or open any compartments, I'd think the camera/lens would be happy for a very long time in this sort of environment.

The last (simplest) picture is also, in a way, my favourite. Now, if I could sell it to the marketing department of Savanna, that'd be great

Hi Dawid,

Maybe you would find info on embedded photographers in Iraq as to their experience with camera-lens failure in the desert sand. One grain of sand can grind away and do damage over time. I wonder whether or not people ever use underwater housings?

It certainly makes sense to use cameras with fixed lenses!

Asher