What you’re actually seeing is salt. Yes, plain old table salt. In fact, it’s sent all over the world from here. This enormous lagoon has salt flats in it’s shallows. The salt hardens and forms these shapes. A bacteria must grow on it’s surface because below the surface they are bright red. This image was taken during the last moments of sunlight with only the surface salt exposed to the sun. However, I shot this image not to show what salt crystals look like but what they suggest to the user. By suggest, I mean emotions.
GFX50R, 45-100mm
I am mostly interested in your reaction to this image. How do you feel when you see it? Any and all improvement suggestions are welcome. I know the composition isn’t perfect but I’m counting on other aspects of the image to carry the day.
Very cool image Igor. It looks like an alien world which always creates a mysterious mood for me. I love the textures and how the reds slowly transition to blues. I think I would personally clone stamp out that rock in the URC that is cut off by the frame.
Totally cool! I would have thought a tide pool. It does look like alien life, or maybe alien death. But it’s not gory or unpleasant, just fascinating. I love the blue-red gradient as a canvas for the objects. I’m pulled in by the wonderful perspective. Maybe I feel like I’m floating above it. Whatever it is, it’s a good feeling.
I have to say, Igor, I don’t find this a “pleasant” image in the least. The reddish colour is slightly nauseating. It kind of feels like the feeding ground of some alien life form. The image is certainly compelling and has a sense of depth that draws me in. I feel a tension - there is a part of me that wants to look away but another part wants to keep looking.
Igor, I would never have guessed what this was. I really like the gradient of the water. I think the abstract nature of the salt keeps my eye engaged. You asked for emotions. I bounce between two sets. First, as a purely abstract, I feel peace and a bit of serenity. I also see a terrible battlefield, which feels horrific and ghastly fantastic.
It’s an interesting experiment, Igor. I like that you asked for the emotional impact. I hope you don’t mind my second one.
Hi Igor,
Great experiment and good photograph. My emotional reaction when I first opened it was a bit of curiosity mixed with slightly unsettled due to the shapes and colors. Not a bad thing, afterall we want people to stop and look at our images. I did notice that my eyes were jumping all over the place, trying to figure out what to look at, while my brain was trying to process what I was seeing.
Mixed reactions is the best way to sum up my reaction. Overall positive!
Your composition is compelling as is the gradation of color from warm to cool. The only problem for me is the rock forms remind me of snakes or crocodiles.
Thank you, Eva. Yes, it does take you to ‘unpleasant’ places. I just posted another one from same area that may not have the same disquieting effect. Perhaps that’s more your cup of tea.
Like the other salt flat, this is an otherworldly image to me. It has a more sinister feeling to it, but to me that evocative emotion is an indication that the photograph has more content than a picture of a pretty place. I wonder if a vertical comp would have increased the eerie feeling. Good eye.
