The Salt Tree

Willie and I have spent this summer going to the same few salt ponds over and over and over again. It's to the point where Sammi exclaims "you're going *AGAIN*?!" What keeps us going back is how the scene changes, both over time and due to different lighting conditions. Our first trip to the ponds had and beautiful sunset sky, in which the water in the streams reflected the beautiful red light. The next time we went was foggy and the light was flat. Then we went at sunrise on a clear morning and the entire scene glowed orange while the sun was at a low angle. The different salt ponds also have different colors, due to the varying salinity in the water and the algae that can live in it. As time goes the water level drops and the colors of the streams change as different algae is able to survive ... or the stream dries up completely. On this particular evening we found a pond that had beautiful yellow streams and on a clear night, the dry salt pond picked up the colors of the setting sun beautifully. I loved how that golden glow reflecting off the salt crystals matched the orange glow of the algae filled stream. In this photo the top of the stream has completely dried up, leaving behind ... salt, which looks like the leaves of a tree! DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO 100

Bay Bend

One of the reasons why Willie and I keep going back to the salt ponds with our drones is that we keep finding new scenes to explore. As we return with different lighting conditions we'll explore both new and old scenes to see how they've changed. And as the weeks progress, the ponds drain water and new shapes and compositions are created. We found this particular patch of drying stream when we explored a different area of the park. This was right near our new launch-zone and both of us spent some time exploring the different angles that this bend in the river created. I liked this particular spot because it had a combination of so many things: a curving stream, white salt, some vegetation, salt shapes, and different colors of plant-life. Particularly I loved how the red plants popped out and matched the orange glow that the salt flats picked up. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO 100

Tree Branches

If you've read my other captions you're probably sick of reading about the times we went to the salt ponds. If you haven't read the story, just go look at one of the other Salt Pond photos' and you can learn all about them. On this particular sunset, we had clear skies which enabled the ground to pick up the golden glow of the setting sun. I particularly liked this little stretch of the pond because it looked almost like a tree of life. The white salt at the top are the branches and leaves, while the yellow stream (yellow due to the algae that's survived), is the trunk of the tree. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 100

Do YOU see it?

There's a few tricks that Willie and I use when we get inspiration for our photography but the 2 more popular tools are: 1) being inspired by photos other people have taken and 2) exploring Google Earth. Sometimes another photographer will have taken a similar photo that inspires us to want to explore that area and sometimes we find things on our own with the aid of satellite pictures provided by Google. When we go to a place, we'll pull up Google Earth and scroll around to see if there's anything interesting. For drone photography, this is a particular useful tip as you can get a sense of what the place will look like before going. We saw this particular "U" shaped bend in the river from Google Earth and knew we wanted to photograph it. Doing a little further research showed that at least one other photographer had photographed this before -- that was enough inspiration to convince us we should go check it out. We just loved how the shape of the bend here helped guide the eye through the photo, especially with the little fingers. The first time we visited here was on a foggy morning. The flat light allowed us to take photos and explore the area for quite a long time. But it also meant that the light was flat and not that interesting. We returned a few more times under better conditions and that's when the scene began to glow, as you can see the ground is picking up the golden sunset light. We also loved that the river was filled with yellow algae. I came back a few weeks later and the stream was completely clear, as different algae now lived in it due to the salinity of the water changing. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 100

Salt Monster

A coworker asked me the other day how often I go take pictures. Lately I've been out photographing quite a bit, but it hit me that I haven't used my big camera in quite a while. It's been all drone photography lately. Flying the drone has added a new element to photography. Not only is flying fun, but it's so different from what I've been doing before. All of a sudden I have energy to stay up late editing photos again. Something to be excited about! The more we fly the drone, the more we've looked to maximize our flight time. That means trying to find launch zones that are close to what we want to photograph. It minimizes time flying to the scene, and flying home so that we can spend more time taking pictures. This spot we found by accident as we were looking for a closer spot to photograph a giant "U" shaped bend in a salt-river. I loved this area because the salt streams created what looked like a little monster with legs. Perhaps it's a critter? Some kind of salt bug? The first morning we flew here was foggy but I came back again to photograph it on a clear day when the sun caused the ground to glow with warmth. The vegetation, with its different colors, and especially the *reds* excited me because it meant some different colors could be added to this Salt Pond gallery. Hope you enjoy. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 100

Wormy Worm

One great thing about being so close to beautiful landscapes is that I can photograph them as they change over time. These salt ponds are a great example -- as time goes on, more of the pond dries up, leaving new things exposed. The salinity of the water changes and different algae is able to survive, giving off different colors to the streams. When we first started visiting this salt pond, this particular spot of the pond had clear water (it appeared "dark"). But as the weeks progressed and the salinity changed, the stream became yellow. Hexagonal patterns in the salt started to form as the salt water dried up and left salty shores behind. And of course the white salt came out as the water levels dropped and left behind the salt. This particular evening had clear skies, which allowed the edges of the salt streams to glow orange from the setting sun. Just before we lost the sun behind the mountains, there was a nice balance of light and shadow that brought this particular curve in the pond out. I loved how it looked like a little worm, slinking through the mud. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 200