White Sands, 1945
Photograph by Edward Weston
Copyright 1981, Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents
El Paso to White Sands,[New Mexico], June 25, 1941
"As we climb the last ridge going towards White Sands, the sky is black with heavy clouds, thunder is crackling off the peaks, and long chains of lightning leap around us. The tail end of the storm is just clearing off as we drive into the Monument so that all the air around us is mottled purple, orange, and grey above the dazzling white of the sands which are really gypsum. E[dward] leaps out for a rainbow and then another over the white ridges and against the dark storm clouds. At sunset and orange gold light rises over the blue black clouds and mountain silhouettes. As the light goes the dunes become lavender and finally almost blue. The nearest auto camp is far up the road, and on examination proves a trifle crude, but E[dward] insists on more White Sands tomorrow, so we make the best of it."
