sand | Laura Lecce's art and photography

The Pinnacles - Photograph by Laura Lecce — The Pinnacles – Photograph by Laura Lecce

The Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park, Western Australia is a unique and bizarre landscape marked by incredibly yellow sand. The Pinnacles themselves (in the top photograph, and seen in the distance of the bottom photograph) are ancient limestone formations, which range in height from only an inch to 16 feet tall (5 meters). They formed millions of years ago from broken down shells, but exactly how these limestone towers came about is still debated. A three hour drive north of Perth along a picturesque coastline of stunning beaches is a wonderful journey to this alien landscape. In the early mornings or late afternoons you even have the chance to see emus and kangaroos amongst the shrubs. Different times of day can completely transform this landscape, with the sun and pinnacles creating large, interesting shadows all around them. Most definitely a landscape photographers dream. It might have been a very different photograph to the middle of the day in summer when I went, dripping with sweat in a dessert with no hope of shade! Perhaps the feeling of being on another planet was just a delusion from heat exhaustion, but either way, a very cool place to visit.

Pinnacles Desert - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Pinnacles Desert – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Day Job Photograph by Laura Lecce — Day Job – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Imagine your day job consisted of rebuilding your home from scratch every single day. That’s exactly what this crab, along with millions of other crabs are repetitively doing. They empty out their homes of the destruction the tide brings in with it each and every day. Some of these tiny little crabs get quite creative with their designs of rolled up little balls of sand. For this particular crab, he always exited his home on the right, and placed all the little balls on the left, and walked all the way around to place them on the outside, getting progressively further away from the entrance. Every single pattern of sand balls around the homes of these crabs looked different, as was each of their methods. Maybe they each have a plan that I cannot possibly understand. Has any individual crab ever tried to do it differently? Or each day, every individual repeats their own distinct pattern? I guess I will never know, but it always interesting to wonder.