Maspalomas dunes

A genuine dune field on the southern tip of the island — not a beach with sand hills behind it, but a protected reserve of moving dunes that runs down to the sea. Walk five minutes in and the resorts disappear behind a ridge; what is left is sand, sky and the line where they meet.

It is the simplest location in this catalogue and one of the strongest. There is nothing in the frame except you and the shape of the land, which means the photographs depend entirely on light and on where you stand. Low sun rakes across the ridges and turns every crest into a line.

Midday flattens it completely — the dunes lose their shape when the light comes from overhead, and the sand throws heat and glare. This is a sunrise and last-hour location and nothing else.