Crawling for a Drink

It's been hard to find motivation to photograph the Bay Area these days when most of the places I've explored a number of times. Willie and I have been trying to find new scenes to photograph, especially as our interests have shifted. When we both purchased drones in November, it opened new doors. We've been flying the drones over the Salt Ponds for almost 2 months now and it's been exciting to see how the salt ponds change over time. As the water drains from the ponds everything changes. These particular ponds are started to get new colors as the water dries up and only certain algae can survive. This particular night was supposed to have a nice sunset and I wanted something a little different -- particularly I was hoping for a red sky that would reflect back on the ponds and in the remaining streams. Although we only got a sliver of nice light, the hexagonal salt formations that now exist, thanks to the ponds having more time to dry, made for some nice compositions. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/4.5, 1/240 sec, ISO 100

Birthday Balloons

Willie and I have spent the last month and a half exploring the salt ponds in the Bay Area. These man-made ponds are used by sea-salt companies where they harvest the salt and then sell it. As the water drains, amazing shapes and formations are exposed and we've loved flying the drones above it to capture the various patterns that come out. We came back to this particular spot because sunset was supposed to be colorful and had hoped we could reflect the red sky back down int other streams and on the surface of the salt formations. As these ponds have dried up, there's also been more hexagonal salt formations created. When we first flew here I saw these circular patterns at the edge of the water and was intrigued if I could make a good photo out of it. It's been tough but on this particular evening I couldn't get "birthday balloons" out of my head when I saw these. It just looked like a string attached to a balloon with lots of confetti pouring out as it popped. Can you see it, even though it's kinda upside-down? DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/4.5, 1/50 sec, ISO 100

Kel Loves Orange Soda

Willie and I had been flying our drones here for quite a while and had really hoped to get a red sky that would reflect back down in the streams. When we first started visiting, the streams were mostly clear, as the water levels were higher and the salinity less. But as the water evaporated only certain algae could survive, giving off an orange glow to the water. I couldn't help but think of the Nickelodeon show "Keenan & Kell" when I saw this. The line "Who loves Orange soda?! Ka-ka-ka-Kell loves orange soda!" kept popping into my head. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/4.5, 1/30 sec, ISO 100

Salt Licker

I've written way too much about these salt flats. If you don't know the story by now, hop on over to my site and look over at my Salt Ponds gallery and you'll see lots of boring stories about why I took these photos. Interestingly, I learned that "salt flats" are natural creations while "Salt Ponds" are man-made. These particular ones are salt-ponds because they're made by a sea-salt company controlling the water flow. The salt is then harvested for sale. This particular night we had hoped would have a colorful sunset. We got a little color but it was quite isolated and mostly just a thin band. I'll have to go back again at some point! DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/4.5, 1/30 sec, ISO 100