Walking to no where above 4000m, a photo from Jujuy, North

Photographer's Note

This surrealist landscape is from a big salt lake located at an altitude above 4000m, about 40kms west of Purmamarca town and Quebrada de Humahuaca.
The sign of mountains in the distance indicated me that this was still on planet earth but the headaches from altitude was making me dizzy.
I included the person to give some sense of scale.

I couldn't find any useful information about this place that I found by chance while driving through the remote roads of Northern Argentina.

The map of my guide book says that the salt lake is called "Salinas Grandes".

Wikipedia says:

"The Salinas Grandes is a salt desert in the Córdoba and Santiago del Estero provinces of the Sierras de Córdoba in Argentina. It covers an area of 3,200 mi² (8,290 km²).
It is of industrial importance for its sodium and potassium mines."

I don't know if wikipedia refers to the same place because this is not located in those provinces of Córdoba and Santiago del Estero. It's located further north.

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WS1 - close approach to the ground showing the geometric details of the salt surface.

WS2 - view from a distance from the road while approaching this salt lake. I saw very few cars in this road although it's one of the ways to reach Chile.

Longroute, Gerrit, Bluejeans, adores, Urs, jhm, xuaxo, bakes888, JCG, Amaz, Didi, DanielBeghin, josepmarin has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

alin-m (3716) 2009-11-23 3:28

This is a verry intersting place.
Nice picture.Well done.Regards.Alin.

Ola_Kwiatek (0) 2009-11-23 3:39

Amazing desert, wonderful landscape. Superb man. Fantastic scene. Beautiful colors.
Cheers

siamesa (27449) 2009-11-23 4:57

Olá Ricardo

Esplêndida paisagem. Imagino que nunca iria caminhar por aí por causa das tonturas. O lugar é algo indescritível e tua foto está simplesmente espetacular. Parabéns.
Abraços
maria

sevy (13265) 2009-11-23 5:38

Hello Ricardo,

Looking to this photo it seems Chile salar are almost the same than the bolivian ones I visited.
These salars are among the most surprizing landscapes I had visited.
Here I like the shadow effect of the cells. We have the feeling the guy is walking on the water.

Yves.

Gerrit (43723) 2009-11-23 5:47

Impressive such a great salt lake. Wonderful colours and contrasts.
Regards, gerrit

fabianoleite (9014) 2009-11-23 5:49

Wonderful composition, with great details of the sand in the front and far away mountains on the background. Excellent inclusion of subject in the middle. It gives an idea of loneliness and oneness with the universe. Food for thought, congratulations and regards from Brazil!

jmdias (45762) 2009-11-23 5:59

ricardo

conheci o maior destes salares e o terceiro maior na bolívia e no chile, este aqui se parece mais com o da bolívia. linda vista com a silhueta das montanhas ao longe, boa luz e cores. belo trabalho. ainda não conheci este lugar porque estou deixando para ir quando estiver com muitas saudades do altiplano.isto aqui ficas relativamente p´roximo de minha casa, mas as esradas dão voltas por outras partes.

abraços

jorge

marcinos (12) 2009-11-23 6:24

prodigious space !! it's amazing! take one's hat off...

best regard, martin

sayeed_rahman (5985) 2009-11-23 7:14

Love this composition..the geography of this place is intriguing..at such altitude..surreal..you used the right word..the WS deserve a main post..

tc Ricardo

sayeed

kiks (11359) 2009-11-23 9:02

I hae never been in a such a remote place but i can imagine that with such a landschape you get the feeling of beeing at another planet. Good choice to include the human figure. It gives a better scale idea. It suprises me that you handeld so weel the difficult white fg. This you use some kind of filter?
Best regadrs
KIKs

HimalAnda (5610) 2009-11-23 10:01

Hello Ricardo,

This amazing landscape reminds me of the Uyuni salar in Bolivia. It is the same kind of landscape.
It was a good idea to have the man walking on the salar : it shows us how huge the place is.

Stéphane

Longroute (19390) 2009-11-23 10:39

Ciao Ricardo,

ci regali una bellissima foto con un grande senso dello spazio e l'impressione di essere in cima al mondo! Un cielo favoloso e un terreno surreale! Qaanto sale! E che grandezza smisurata questo lago! Quella persona dà molto bene il senso della infinita solitudine e il necessario punto focale.
Una composizione semplice ma molto suggestiva e di grande efficacia.
Bravo,
Donato

Bluejeans (64211) 2009-11-23 11:24

Oi Ricardo
Qualquer uma das fotos estão fantásticas , este lugar é único é lindo o contraste do branco com o azul , magnifica profundidade de foto , parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

krysia (4210) 2009-11-23 12:21

Ola Ricardo,
Impresive landscape, indeed.
It looks like a white desert.One can feel really alone there.
Thanks for sharing.
Krystyna

gilou530 (34) 2009-11-23 12:50

hello ricardo
une immensité de sable blanc qui doit donner une drole d'impression quand on y marche, ce ciel bleu saturé contraste bien le personnage semble bien petit dans ce désert
amitiés
gilbert

bantonbuju (51733) 2009-11-23 13:24

ok, if i'm to see the landscapes - please feed me up with such stuff... the places where i'll probably won't come to...

marvelously presented...

jealous, j.

coco (30433) 2009-11-23 13:38

Hi Ricardo.

Impressive place and shot.
The whole photo is amazing and the wide view works very well.

Well done.

adores (28178) 2009-11-23 14:56

Olá Ricardo!
Essas salinas formam uma paisagem excelente, especialmente com esses desenhos no chão. O céu ficou muito bonito e também gosto da forma como incluiste o turista solitário. Os Ws também dão uma boa ideia do local. Não te sentiste mal a sério a essa altitude? Eu ando há que tempos a pensar ir ao Tibete, mas isso assusta-me um bocado.

chris04stop (6787) 2009-11-23 15:13

Oh, Ricardo! This enormous, incredible, solitude! This terrible and, in the same time, wonderful solitude. So a great, intelligent photo! I love so much the solitude and I hate her...So difficult for me to understand.
Ciao e bravo,
Anna Paola

Urs (11722) 2009-11-23 16:17

Ola Ricardo

A salt lake, that looks like snow. Very interesting place and good that you included a person in your frame, otherwise it is difficult to understand how big this lake is. Also your note is informative despite your problem to gather some useful information. The contrasts of the whitish salt vs the deep blue sky is excellent. Well done

Best regards
Urs

ribeiroantonio (22618) 2009-11-23 20:29

És tu na foto, ou havia mais turistas a percorrer a estrada deserta?
Está bonita e mostra bem o local. Mas, prefiro muito mais a do WS1. Gosto da maneira como nos mostras o pormenor do sal. É muito curioso.
António

jhm (122314) 2009-11-24 4:59

Hello Ricardo,

4000m there you get little bit lack of oxygen!
This is a verry intersting place.
The colours and lights are very nice, good captured and composed.
Very well done, TFS.

Amitiés,
John

xuaxo (6830) 2009-11-24 10:02

Olá Ricardo,
Muito interessante e bonito, incluindo os WS.
Muitas semelhanças com a zona de Badwater Bassin no Death Valley na Califórnia.
Cumprimentos,
Francisco

luciola (2562) 2009-11-27 8:36

Hello Ricardo,
Wonderful minimalism. Loneliness, the power of space. An interesting area and texture of salt.
Regards
Lucja

bakes888 (18499) 2009-11-28 22:46

Hi Ricardo.
Nice catch, I love the intense blue of the sky. Nice patterns and good sharpness and detail. Thanks for sharing.
Have a good Sunday, Paul.

JCG (35129) 2009-11-29 5:29

Hello Ricardo,

This desert landscape is truly impressive, there is no water but the optical effect is disconcerting, one would say a crystalline water surface to far. The light is superb and I like much contrast with this so blue sky. The surface of this salted lake is also impressive. Very beautiful and interesting photograph, like are the complementary images in particular that taken since the road. Thank you Ricardo.

With all my friendships to you and Ana and very good Sunday,

Jean-Charles

John_F_Kennedy (41368) 2009-11-29 23:55

Hello Ricardo
first I thought it is snow, then I realize the salt lake. Very interesting, very impressive.
Best wishes,
Achim

Amaz (11475) 2009-12-01 16:33

Ola Ric!!

Finalmente estou de volta. Minha viagem à Europa Central: Eslováquia, Áustria, República Tcheca e as capitais da Polónia acabou. Infelizmente o meu tempo livre
foi extremamente limitado, mas eu tirei algumas fotos.

Belíssima composição aqui, amigo!!
Bonitas cores e interssante enbquadramento!!

Excelente travalho!!

Meus parabéns,

Um abraço

jmcl (14535) 2009-12-04 17:25

Hi Ricardo,

Great vastness .. unusual scene .. great low point of view .. love the distant cloud and peak .. great blues .. very nice. Hope this note finds you and yours well.

take care, John

manatee (4642) 2009-12-05 23:28

Really AMAZING place, I dont know how do you do to find this places, looks so wonderful, I like the effcet of the salt looks like this place was full with water and the sensation of motion the montans are undescriptible and the guy walking there is wonderful because give the proportion of the sizes and makes this in a huge place, WOw is really breathless

PS Sorry for dont be in touch so often but Im moving too and I have tons of thigs to do, I need stability in my life hehehe.

Have a grate day and amazing weekend

Your friend Elias

Didi (48872) 2009-12-07 6:41

Olà Ricardo
Very great composition lucky man
Salinas looks like snow, very nice deep foreground.
Best regards

paura (47166) 2009-12-09 13:50

Ricardo,
Parece mesmo que você gosta de subir montanhas... Talvez prevendo o derretimento das calotas, sei lá. Quando ocorre, você estará certamente preparado. Brincadeira à parte, a imagem está uma beleza, com um equilibrio muito interessante no quadro.

Abraço

Paulo

josepmarin (55007) 2010-01-28 3:22

Olá Ricardo,
este inmenso lago de sal a 4000 m de altura es impresionante, gracias sobre todo a tu encuadre en el que has incluido una persona con muy buen criterio para darnos una buena referencia de la escala y las dimensiones de este lugar solitario.
La luz y la atmósfera pura de la alta montaña potencian mucho el azul del cielo y su contraste con la blancura de la sal.
Es una bella foto, amigo.
Um abraço,
Josep
PS: la señora que has visto en el WS de la foto que me has comentado, no es mi esposa, es una buena amiga mía y al mismo tiempo esposa de mi mejor amigo, son españoles y residen en Andorra.