It’s amazing what a little change in light can do to a landscape. Blue skies can turn red, orange sand can turn purple. In this photo series, Milanese photographer Luca Tombolini shows the sun’s extraordinarily ability to render a landscape almost unrecognizable and soften even the most harshest and blandest of environments such as a desert.

These images were taken during the summer of 2015 in Merzouga and Ouzina in Morocco. Tombolini would roam the desert looking for a place with just the right aesthetic. When he finds one, he would set up his camera and then wait for the light to change. Tombolini says he doesn’t have to wait for more than four hours.