I was bored and wandering around the Internet a couple nights ago when I stumbled across a cool photo contest that Wired magazine is hosting. They do these weekly photo contests with a different theme each week, and even though there isn’t really much of a big prize or anything, I still wanted to play along. If you win, you end up getting your photo featured on the site and in the magazine, which I think is pretty cool!

    The theme for this week’s contest is ‘Water’; as soon as I saw it, I knew exactly which photos I wanted to enter. I’ve picked out two different photos from when I went to the Spiral Jetty in Utah. My initial thought was, when most people think of water, they don’t usually expect water to be pink. Cause really, who would? And being unexpected and unique is always good, right?

    But more importantly, I think out of all the photos I’ve ever taken, the ones I got of the Jetty are by far the ones I’m most proud of. Which is kinda funny, since I essentially took them blind. The sun was so bright and it was reflecting so strongly off the salt crystals that all I could see was a field of bright burning white with only the faint traces of outlines. I couldn’t even see anything through the camera or on its LCD screen, so I couldn’t figure out which settings to use on the camera. Instead, I’d guess the framing for each shot based on the outlines I could see, then take three of each shot using three different combinations of settings that I thought might work. The fact that any of them turned out at all is a miracle. But the fact that I didn’t even have to crop any of the photos at all (not even a teeny tiny bit!) and that I don’t really need to adjust any of the coloring, contrast, or anything, that’s just even cooler. Granted, it’s fun to play with the contrast and saturation just for fun, but I think the photos still work without having to do any of that. And because of that, I’m really proud of them.

    The contest is judged based on popular vote, so I was wondering if maybe you all would be kind enough to vote for me please? If you like the photos of course! I don’t want you to just vote blindly. So without further ado, here are the two photos I’ll be submitting to the contest!

Title: Curvaceous Pink Description: A curve along the edge of Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, an isolationist sculpture reaching out into the Great Salt Lake. The water in this secluded corner is bright pink due to a rare species of algae that only grows in that one small patch on Earth. Over the years the sculpture has become encased in salt crystal, creating an ethereal vision of a blinding white spiral enveloped in brilliant pink water. It leaves one with the impression of having walked out onto a beautiful alien landscape.

Title: Pink Water Description: The Spiral Jetty, created by Robert Smithson, is considered a masterpiece of isolationist art. The spiral, built from black basalt rocks, was submerged by the swollen Great Salt Lake soon after its creation in 1970. It emerged nearly three decades later, completely encased in pure white salt crystals. The jetty is enveloped in the most unusual water, rendered pink from a form of algae that grows only in this corner of the world. It is an ethereal alien landscape unlike anything else on Earth.

    If you like the photos I’d love for you to vote for them in the contest! To vote for them, go to this site (or this one and look for the “next” button at the bottom of the page) and please scroll through the list of submissions until you see mine. Then click the green arrow to vote! Please do vote if you like them; it’d be great fun to have my photos featured in a magazine. 🙂

    Thanks very much!