It's amazing how different lighting can completely change a scene. And it's also amazing how quickly nature changes. The first time Willie and I ventured out to this Salt Pond, the sky lit up with orange and reds and we spent most of our time composing scenes that included salt and sky. Later on, when we had clear skies, we focused our attention straight down, where the last bit of sunlight caused the edges of the salt formations to glow orange. This was our 4th visit to the salt ponds and it was an evening of clear skies. We knew that our cameras would be pointed to look for the glowing edges, but to our surprise, some of the rivers were starting to turn orange as the algae in the stream reacted to increase salinity levels. The orange color of the streams matched the orange flow on their stream banks. What I loved about this scene was how the salt formations created what looked like scorpions on the ground. Every time I look at this I have a slight shudder as I can imagine 3 or 4 scorpions coming out of the ground to hunt for food. Combine the critters with the golden stream and you get this photo. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO 100
From the ground you'd just see a bunch of brush and some salt and mud. When you fly above and look down, though, shapes and patterns come out. It's one of my favorite parts of flying the drone; i can see patterns that didn't exist from on the ground. I gravitated to this particular spot because of the red and yellow brush that was growing after the water levels dropped. The salt formations created ridges that reminded me of a maze, where the treasure is a few green plants popping out of the ground. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 100
At the end of June, Willie and I started flying our drone over some of the Salt Ponds that dot the Bay Area. These man-made ponds are filled with water, then drained to harvest sea-salt. Conservation efforts have restored some of the watershed back to its natural state but the salt farming does make a great excuse for us photographers to explore the area and find some amazing scenes. When the water level drops, amazing patterns, shapes and colors are left behind. This was the 4th time Willie and I had flown the drones over the Salt Flats in under a month and it was clear we needed to start thinking a little differently about the scene. We started photographing big wide scenes with beautiful sunsets in them but by this time we were starting to hunt for more intimate, abstract scenes. This particular spot wasn't far from where we launched and I kept coming back to it because I loved the patterns the edge of the salt flat created. On a clear day, the edges of the salt ponds start to catch golden light just as the sun gets close to the horizon. I waited until the glowing light was its most vibrant and then flew the drone back to this spot to catch that orange glow. I loved how the dried stream criss-crossed through the scene and the little bit of water still left frames the top of the photo. DJI Mavic Pro 2 w/Hasselblad L1D-20c: 10.26mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO 100
