Lake Frome, Outback South Australia
Interesting backstory to this image. I was working over outback salt lakes that had recent rains.
We’d been shooting at high altitudes but were finished and descending as we headed for base.
Sitting in the back with the door open I was watching the waves in the water below.
I would pick a wave and watch if for some time when almost instantly it would stop moving. The pilot saw this too so we turned and it soon became obvious all the waves were doing the same thing.
Frozen Waves in a salt lake. It didn’t seem real
We took many photos. There were beautiful shapes and colours all over the lake.
How come?
The water in the lake was super saline, it was summer and the temperatures were 50C plus with a strong wind blowing.
The evaporation was so great that while the wind was blowing the waves it was also sucking it dry.
The purple/mauve colour in the frozen wave was algae that just accentuated what was happening.