Hotel de Sal Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Salar de Uyuni is a place already well represented here on TE, today I'd like to present you the "Hotel de Sal" that has been built on it. Everything except the roof is made of salt, you sit on a salt chair, eat on a salt table, sleep on a salt bed...
On the way to the lagunas, I spent a fine evening with three Bolivians there, drinking unreasonable amounts of Singani (at 4000 m alcohol hurts !) to celebrate the french-bolivian friendship !
To the right you can see remaining building materials, as the hotel had just been completed before my trip.

Enjoy and breathe (if you can, oxygen is rare here !)

danyy, ChrisJ, mitternacht, Georges, bantonbuju, Xalkida, CrissX, marcb, singuanti, nwoehnl, kent_s, ChristianS, anakin, rabani, hugolef, trip, efimoore, bibiweb, estuardogon, alejandroguzman, elihesamian has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

danyy (70659) 2005-01-29 5:53

très belle composition, bien contrastée, bien exposée, et aux couleurs généreuses, surtout les bleus du ciel.

mitternacht (1836) 2005-01-29 6:09

Sounds a little creepy, sleeping and sitting on salt. I guess it's basically the same concept as ice hotels. I really like this picture, it gives a feeling of how odd this place and how this building is in the middle of nowhere.

Maybe some more sharpening would be useful here?

dkeus31 (26865) 2005-01-29 6:19

Belle composition centrée.
J'aime bien la lumière et les détails dans le sel.

naret (826) 2005-01-29 6:37

Hi Jean,
Thank you for sharing. May I ask you you keep an empty space on the left?
Naret

Georges (11185) 2005-01-29 6:45

Voyage en Bilivie en 96 ce qui fait le notre en 05 au travers votre prise.
Le cadrage a été bien pensée en version panoramique.
Superbe qualité d'image pour cette presentation trés joliment soignée.
Bravo J-Yves

bantonbuju (49014) 2005-01-29 7:50

what the hell - is that real, or is it a dream? jean yves, its an amazing place and you have managed to photograph it in a marvellous way; amazing colours (no polarizer used? unbelievable) and lovely pov; enviable shot!

Xalkida (11740) 2005-01-29 8:32

Wow! Great place with many... empty space! Must be very cold! Excellent blue sky and very fine POV and depth! Excellent shot!

jemaflor (40669) 2005-01-29 10:21

Etrange paysage que ce salar avec cette batisse isolée dans cette immensité. Bien vu de l'avoir placé au centre. Un paysage qui m'évoque la banquise ... décidément je la vois partout !
Belle présentation Jean-Yves.

Zepi (22848) 2005-01-29 10:32

Superbe image !
Des couleurs parfaites ,un cadrage impeccable,j’aime ces petites vagues qui ondulent et qui guident notre regard vers l’hôtel !
Composition magnifique!
Beau travail
Amicalement
Sébastien

CrissX (1093) 2005-01-29 11:07

Excelent panorama view, also very relaxing.Very interesting "the salt house", first time i think is snow, but after i read notes , i know is about salt.
""You sit on a salt chair, eat on a salt table, sleep on a salt bed""
Did you eat salt on dinner? :)

marcb (589) 2005-01-29 11:38

Très belle photo. J'aime beaucoup le cadrage avec cette ligne d'horizon magnifiquement droite. La maison d'un étage est parfaitement intégrée à l'image. La texture du sol au premier plan est fabuleuse. Joli coup d'eil!
Meilleures salutations et à bientôt,
Marc

singuanti (15240) 2005-01-29 11:52

nice shot. the centering of all elements works well here. the sky is great too. the note really adds some life to an otherwise sparce place. nicely done!

clodreno (0) 2005-01-29 11:56

belle image, Jean Yves, mj'ai adoré cet endroit, mais plus d'images,

Alors merci.

nwoehnl (120) 2005-01-29 13:54

Great salty photo you have here, Jean-Yves. The light shed on the hotel is very nice, the materials in the foreground right are essential for the framing to work, and the textured salty surface gives a good graphical element. Very nice one, classical TE fare.

kent_s (1911) 2005-01-29 14:28

What a stunning shot. All that white salt including the hotel against that lovely blue sky on an altitude where the air has no "photoresistance".

My theory is that you took this before you sacrificed yourself the bilateral understandings between the people from different continents. If it's taken afterwards it's even more impressive.

Extremely well done Jean Yves

ChristianS (2997) 2005-01-29 15:54

Hi Jean Yves, beautiful scenery, impressive vastness and some nice salt patterns on the ground. Beautiful colours, particularly the sky and nice contrast. Well done!

ChrisJ (71614) 2005-01-30 3:33

Salut Jean Yves

All you need now are some peanuts to go with the salt! An interesting post, & perfectly suited to TE. I like the textured, hexagonal like patterns in the salt. C'est tres bon!

wilche (415) 2005-01-30 3:34

A very stunning place and beautiful. But I think you will have to see it for yourself, so that I will do in juli.

jpdeloof (2546) 2005-01-30 7:16

bonjour jean yves.
Belle étendue de sel et les matériaux ne coûtent pas chers dans ce pays.
Belle composition et le petit mur de sel fait bon effet.
belle photo
jp
***
hello Jean Yves.
Beautiful extent of salt and the materials do not cost expensive in this country.
Beautiful composition and the small wall of salt makes good effect beautiful photo
jp

anakin (2775) 2005-01-30 17:20

Lovely composition and view, colours and ligth good
well done

rabani (9463) 2005-01-31 4:27

Very beautifully composed Jean Yves. The light fall off around the Hotel guides and maintain our attention to the Hotel and then, introduces its surrounding. Very simple but effective and documenting. This is one place where you don't need a salt shaker. Just touch the wall for a little bit of salt :)

jrzufferey (7249) 2005-01-31 16:30

Hello Jean-Yves, je flippe en voyant ton image, j'y était mais après 4 semaines entre Peru et Bolivie, j'ai du faire une croix sur les salars pour cause de temps. Ton image est superbe et nous laisse imaginer l'enfer des lieux. La composition est magnifique. Amitié/jr

hugolef (4909) 2005-02-01 8:58

Hello Jean Yves,
on m'a toujours dit "ne centre pas ton sujet principal !" ... pourquoi depuis que je suis sur TE je vois des photos qui violent ouvertement les bases élémentaires et qui obtiennent des resultats superbes ! Va comprendre !
Superbe composition, j'en ai le souffle coupé !
As tu réalisé un post traitement? j'ai l'impression qu'il y a degradé dans le ciel, qui donne une espece d'aura à l'hotel .
Amicalement.

efimoore (2126) 2005-02-02 22:59

This seams like a magical place! I have seen so many nice shots in TE from this place. So… its going to be added to my togo list

karina (1084) 2005-02-07 6:30

Hi Jean, I thought I'd check out your photo of this amazing hotel. Your colours are so different than mine....these are really beautiful. Wonderful detail in the salt foreground.
It sounds like you had a good night there!

dolin (15647) 2005-02-08 7:12

Superbe photo.
Impressionnant cette batisse posée là au milieu de nulpart.
beau cadrage et jolies couleurs

bibiweb (8) 2005-02-10 14:36

Salut Jean-Yves,
Le Salar de Uyuni est pour moi un des coins les plus spectaculaires de cette planète, mais je n'ai pas eu la chance de connaître cet hôtel. De quel côté du Salar se trouve t-il?
La photo est belle est le cadrage en plein centre est une bonne idée pour montrer à quel point les alentours sont... vides!
Amicalement, Brigitte

early_doors (207) 2005-05-26 21:55

Wonderful! A real sense of loneliness imparted by the good use of wide angle.

The sky has quite a lot of vignetting in both the top corners - a problem that I sometimes have when using a wide angle lens. Does anyone know how to avoid this? Is there a forum already covering this on the Trekearth site? Any help much appreciated.

Jean - a great photo!

alejandroguzman (4672) 2005-10-08 11:27

Pues asi parece que la pasaste bien !!!!

El trago que tomaste se llama CHUFLAY, te acordas ahora ?.. la mezcla de Sprite o Seven up con SINGANI... es rico, y que mejor para calentar el cuerpo en ese frio !!!

abrazos
alejandro

tontonjc (6617) 2006-01-29 12:21

Hello,
Waouh ... le coin à l'air sympa. Cette cabane et ce paysage sont superbes.
Ces lignes de sel et ce dégradé de blanc sont splendides.

Bravo

elihesamian (26091) 2006-05-29 7:46

Oh!
full of sult,a nice sulty friendship celebration you had with friends in the place and hotel,but let me say about the hotel in your shot that it must be unique !...amazing that all made by the sult segments except the roof,...wonderful ambient and I like the mosaik shape of the sult lake here and the horizon,too,I saw the place like it as you visit my shot,a wonderful world indeed,and ou show us the place in a great way,Jean Yves,very well captured and very well composed and a nice note,Thanks my dear French Friend :)

Best Regards
M

jbweasle (9307) 2006-08-19 10:25

Hello Jean Yves, this part of Bolivia is one of my favourite places in the world. It is so wild and open and just strange. You've captured the feeling well with white expanse and deep blue sky. I didn't stay at the hotel but did pass by on my way across the salar.