Horse Stuck in the Mud

In 2019 Willie and I worked on a series of photographs of the Salt Ponds in the southern section of the San Francisco Bay. It was amazing to see the shapes and patterns of the salt ponds when you look down from above using a drone, plane or helicopter. As the water is drained out of the bay, the algae and salt content changes, exposes different colors and shapes. We witnessed the same scenes change from week-to-week as the water levels changed. A nice sunset was forecasted one evening in November and we weren't sure what to go photograph, but we thought maybe the salt ponds would look different, and decided to head back there. At times the salt ponds are completely underwater but on this visit, they were somewhere in between. There was enough water that instead of the browns and whites from the previous year, this time they were completely red. The salt ponds are interesting, as well, because they look completely different when they have direct sunlight on them versus soft diffused light. On this particular evening the potentially nice sunset offered diffused light, which allowed reflections and colors to come out, but blocked and orange glow along the edges of the salt formations. I decided to turn the drone around and face the mountains to catch the last light kissing off the peaks. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/2.8, 1/120 sec, ISO 100

Disappearing Steps

When Willie and I first photographed the salt ponds in 2019, we were on the lookout for the way the river and streams formed interesting shapes as they twisted through the ponds. Over the course of weeks we witnessed the color of the water change as the salt levels changed and therefore different algae grew in the ponds. As the water evaporated from the ponds and the water levels dropped, we altered our plans and spent more time looking for interesting salt shapes. As I wrapped up the gallery of photographs, I felt like 2 things were missing: photos of the salt ponds with a nice sunset or sunrise sky, and more abstract photos of the salt themselves. A nice sunset was forecast for this particular evening and we weren't sure what to photograph, so we had the idea to go back to the salt ponds and see if we could work on the missing photos. We didn't quite get the stunning sunrise that I had hoped for, so I opted to look for interesting abstract scenes instead. I came across this particular area and loved the abstract shapes that the salt had formed into. A small bend in one of the rivers provided an interesting shape and a touch of color, while the salt gave off a blue-black cast. The cloudy skies meant that diffused light prevented the edges of the 'steps' here from lighting up all golden orange. I vowed I'd go back and photograph these again on a clear skied morning. Unfortunately it rained a few days later and although I raced back one morning to photograph the scene again, I couldn't manage to find this same scene. It was here one day and gone the next. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO 100