The Salt Series III, Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States, 2021.
The extraction of sea salt is one of the oldest forms of human landscaping, and it is the oldest method of salt production. Salt is a raw material that is now part of our everyday lives, but we rarely ask where it comes from and how it is produced. The Salt Series III explores these manufactured landscapes, their abstract and painterly quality.
Sea salt production sites are found all over the world, usually located around shallow shorelines. The artificially-created ponds shown in The Salt Series III are one of the core elements in sea salt production: the sun and wind then evaporate most of the seawater from the ponds, leaving behind water with a high salt concentration known as brine. Each salt pond has a unique salt density, and the colour of the water indicates the salinity of each pond.
This microscopic alga, also known as the Dunaliella Salina, is eaten by tiny shrimp. As the water becomes too salty, the shrimps disappear, causing the algae to increase and the colour of the ponds to intensify. As a result, the colours can vary from lighter shades of green to vibrant red. Once the ponds have dried out, a crust of salt is left behind. Workers then harvest the salt by delicately lifting the salt crust from the floor.
The strong contrasts and geometric shapes of the salt ponds resemble abstract paintings. Our need to arrange everything in geometric order, regulate, and have control makes us all - in a sense - to designers of our environment. I see myself as a curator, framing the artworks that the presence of humans has created.
Some iconic images from The Quarry Series.
It’s hard to believe that it has already been 10 years since I worked on this project — one of my very first aerial series.
Salt Production, Senegal, 2022.
In Senegal, on the western coast of Africa, one of the most ancient and manually ways of producing sea salt is still practised. The base source for the regional salt workers is the Saloum river in southern Senegal which flows into the Senegalese Atlantic coast. Its delta is rich in mangrove forests and is part of the Saloum Delta National Park and Unesco Biosphere Reserve world heritage site.
Because the water in the Saloum river flows so slowly, the delta allows saltwater to travel deep inland. The farmers understood the advantage of the salty water and developed a way to harvest sea salt. With very primitive tools, they dig hundreds of small ponds into the shores of the river bed. Narrow canals connect the ponds with the river. Seasonal high tides flood the shallow ponds with seawater.
Solar evaporation turns the water into a salty brine. Due to variable algal concentrations, vivid colours, from pale green to bright orange, are created. The colour indicates the salinity of the ponds. Microorganisms in the water change their hues as the salinity of the pond increases. In the summer months, the brine turns dense enough to crystallize, and the salt crystals fall to the bottom of the pond, where they can be scooped out.
The Greenhouse Series II, Spain, 2021.
The landscape of the Almeria peninsula in southern Spain has been irrevocably altered with plastic greenhouses. This area takes up to 360 km2 or about 50.000 football pitches and represents the most extensive greenhouse area in the world. The structures adapt to the landscape's topography like cells in a microscope.
Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, or watermelons are cultivated beneath a sea of plastic. Around 80% of the grown products are exported to northern Europe. A third to Germany, then France, the United Kingdom, and The Netherlands.
But while these greenhouses provide fruits and vegetables for Europe year-round efficiently, they come with their own set of issues: the area is known for its sunny but very dry climate, crops are grown almost exclusively in greenhouses and irrigated artificially. Its productivity still is 30 times higher than average European farmland. Groundwater is being polluted with fertilisers and pesticides. Some 30.000 tons of plastic waste are created each year. Some of the plastic waste is reported to run off into the Mediterranean Sea.
This series illustrates the extensive impact of human presence on earth. Our demand for products that don't grow in our proximity and the need to have them available throughout the year puts pressure on landscapes we believe we have no connection to.
Sulawesi is among the most biodiverse regions on Earth, home to pristine rainforests and countless endangered species. Yet beneath its lush treetops lies another kind of treasure: some of the world’s largest nickel reserves. Nickel has become the oil of the 21st century — a key ingredient in the batteries that power electric vehicles. It increases the energy density of battery cells, allowing cars to drive farther on a single charge. Alongside lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earths, nickel is essential for producing wind turbines, solar panels, battery storage systems, and electric vehicles. As a result, Indonesia now finds itself at the center of a global rush for this metal.
Over the past decade, Sulawesi and other Indonesian islands have been transformed into vast mining and processing hubs, reshaping tropical landscapes into lunar landscapes. The nickel lies in the red soil beneath the rainforest. To access it, forests are cleared, and the exposed earth is hauled away on trucks and rusty cargo ships to smelters, where the ore is heated to extreme temperatures to extract the valuable metal.
At the heart of Sulawesi stands the Morowali Industrial Park, the world’s largest nickel processing complex. Well secured from outside view, more than 100,000 people work there in a maze of smelters, factories, two seaports, and a private airport. The facility is powered by two decommissioned coal-fired power plants from China, producing enough electricity to supply roughly five million U.S. homes. The site has frequently been criticised for its poor safety conditions and lack of environmental oversight. Nearby residents report polluted water, health problems, and destroyed land.
Nickel extraction and processing in Sulawesi are leaving deep scars on both the environment and the lives of the people who inhabit it. Still, the ambition of the Western world remains clear: to reduce our dependence on coal, oil, and gas. The transition away from fossil fuels marks one of the greatest industrial shifts in modern history. Yet the minerals driving this green revolution are often mined far from where they are ultimately used. Meeting this unprecedented demand — without destroyi
The Magnesium Series, Utah, United States, 2021.
Magnesium is an essential element used in metal production, as well as in the food and agriculture industries. Along the shores of the Great Salt Lake, the largest magnesium producer in North America extracts this mineral directly from the lake. Using a vast system of evaporation ponds, magnesium is concentrated from brine and later processed in a nearby refinery.
During this process, mining waste is disposed of in landfill sites situated between the factory and the lake. In recent years, the operation has faced criticism for inadequate waste management practices, which have led to soil, air and water pollution, posing risks to the lake’s ecosystem and to public health.
This photographic series documents the entire production site, including the evaporation ponds, processing facilities, and waste deposits. Captured from an altitude of approximately 800 meters (2,600 feet), the images reveal the immense scale of the operation, with artificial ponds stretching to the horizon. They serve as a reminder of the changing landscapes that extractive industries have created.
As magnesium is a key component in many products we use every day — from aluminium and cement to fertilisers — it is crucial that its extraction is carried out responsibly, with minimal environmental impact.
Lithium Mining in the Atacama Desert, Chile, 2021.
Lithium is one of the key to build batteries that store electric energy and the world will need 25 times the amount of lithium that is mined today.
Chile is amongst the top three producers of lithium worldwide.
These photographs are part of my ongoing book project, THE MINERAL AGE, in which I explore the landscapes of resource extraction and the foundations of the global energy transition.
The Geothermal Energy Series, Mexico 2021.
This is the world's largest complex of geothermal power stations, the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, which is located at the northern tip of Baja California, Mexico. This area edges tectonic plates where hot water and steam are coming close to the earth’s surface. Electricity is generated by pumping hot water off the ground into geothermal power plants that process thermal energy into electric energy.
Excess steam from hydrothermal power production is condensed. The brine is then released into channels that form the Cerro Prieto Lake, an 18 km long solar evaporation pond. The water contains chemicals like methane and ammonia, impacting the surrounding soil that is salinised. Other concerns include sinking ground, loud noise at night, and the release of hydrogen sulfide into the air, a gas that smells like rotten eggs.
The Cerro Prieto geothermal field is an example of how interconnected things are and that solutions that may seem environmentally friendly may have side effects elsewhere.
The Alpine River Series
These alpine river landscapes in the Swiss Alps are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Tectonic Arena Sardona". This high valley was formed by mountain streams that accumulated rocks and sands. The streams are milky coloured from the washed-out sediments and create a strong contrast to the mossy landscape. This moor landscape is one of the few protected areas in Switzerland that shows no human traces at all.
Shooting this project almost killed my back! In autumn last year, I did a hiked up on mountain plateau to 2300 meters, equipped with a huge box that included my drone, camera, remote controller and 18 spare batteries for the drone (the one I'm using needs six batteries at a time and can only fly up to 20 minutes.) The net weight of this box was about 32 kilograms and you could easly fit a child in there. Every other person that I met on that day looked at me as I would have not been aware in which terrain I'm walking.
Anyway, I had three trials to get the photos I was after. Just before sunset when I arrived back at the Valley, I was super happy with the results and for taking the extra mile!
The Palouse Series, Washington, United States, 2021.
These are the rolling hills in the Palouse region in the northern United States. The Palouse is renowned for its agriculture, particularly wheat farming. The fertile soil is a result of ancient volcanic activity and erosion over thousands of years.
This rich soil and a semi-arid climate make it ideal for growing wheat and other crops. In addition to wheat, other crops grown in the Palouse region include barley, lentils, peas, canola, and various legumes. These crops help diversify the agricultural landscape and provide economic stability to the region.
Flying over the scenic beauty of the Palouse in the golden setting sun evokes meditative feelings.
