A Face in the Dunes

• Prize
  Bronze in Nature/Aerial
• Photographer
  Simon Heather
• Technical Info
  Mavic 3 Pro, Hasselblad L2d-20c 24.0mm F/2.8, Focal Length: 10.3 Mm, Ss: 1/60, A: F / 4.5, Iso: 100
• Photo Date
  Dec 28, 2022

This aerial photo captures the moment my father and I came across a stunning surprise, while we navigated the sand dunes of Las Palomas. As the sun set and the sea winds shaped the sand into whimsical ridges and valleys, playful shadows came together, to form face-like features in the dunes. For an amazing few minutes, a giant face appeared fleetingly in the dunes like an apparition, resembling the soft surrealist portraiture of a Dali painting.

Simon is a British-Japanese photographer and illustrator, specializing in aerial drone capture. Always on the hunt for rare shots, Simon loves to snap slices of life and the world around us, bringing his images to life through storytelling, and illustration techniques - playing with composites, scale, colour and lighting - to create vibrant and colourful scenes that capture our escapist fantasies for travel. Simon grew up between London and Tokyo, but is now based in Brooklyn, New York