Processing this shot reminded me of the old westerns that were filmed using a technique where the film would be underexposed to create the effect of nighttime. Its particularly useful and works well for b&w images. 'Correctly' exposed would show the scene blown out in the highlights. Form and lighting (including highlights and shadow) are more important in this instance. We don't really want to know what colour the sand is. B&W allows the imagination to work a little more.

The shot above is obviously posed but not for me. The girl was having a photoshoot with someone else and ended up in front of me.