During the early days of my South Bay photography, Cargill’s Newark salt plant and its surrounding crystallizer beds appeared on my map as terra incognita. From the beginning, I wanted to photograph Cargill’s facility, both for its colorful nature and its role as the last truly active salt plant in the Bay Area. The plant, originating as Arden Salt Works #2 in the 1920s, has long provided the distinctive sight of stacked salt on the edge of the former wetlands. In the current day, an annual harvest of around 500,000 tons is added to the twin mounds of salt that are 500 feet long and 75 feet high. It is a striking landmark.

In 2010, after several years of discussion, I was able to secure Cargill’s permission for five sessions to photograph their property under supervision. This session involved a trip out to a recently harvested crystallizer bed, where laser-guided levelling equipment was preparing the bed for the next round of brine and salt precipitation. The crystallizer beds have a floor of unharvested salt that separated the brine from bay mud below and provides a structural surface for the balloon-tired dump trucks using in hauling the harvest to the washhouse. Some of the images in this set show the activity of bed levelling while others convey my intoxication with the colors and textures of the place.

I took these documentary photographs with the permission and supervision of Cargill. Kite flying is prohibited over Cargill-controlled lands without their permission.

Tags:   Newark California United States KAP kite aerial photography Hidden Ecologies SBSPRP South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project salt ponds South San Francisco Bay Bay Trail Cargill Arden Salt Plant #2 crystallizer beds textures

© All Rights Reserved

During the early days of my South Bay photography, Cargill’s Newark salt plant and its surrounding crystallizer beds appeared on my map as terra incognita. From the beginning, I wanted to photograph Cargill’s facility, both for its colorful nature and its role as the last truly active salt plant in the Bay Area. The plant, originating as Arden Salt Works #2 in the 1920s, has long provided the distinctive sight of stacked salt on the edge of the former wetlands. In the current day, an annual harvest of around 500,000 tons is added to the twin mounds of salt that are 500 feet long and 75 feet high. It is a striking landmark.

In 2010, after several years of discussion, I was able to secure Cargill’s permission for five sessions to photograph their property under supervision. This session involved a trip out to a recently harvested crystallizer bed, where laser-guided levelling equipment was preparing the bed for the next round of brine and salt precipitation. The crystallizer beds have a floor of unharvested salt that separated the brine from bay mud below and provides a structural surface for the balloon-tired dump trucks using in hauling the harvest to the washhouse. Some of the images in this set show the activity of bed levelling while others convey my intoxication with the colors and textures of the place.

I took these documentary photographs with the permission and supervision of Cargill. Kite flying is prohibited over Cargill-controlled lands without their permission.

Tags:   Newark California United States KAP kite aerial photography Hidden Ecologies SBSPRP South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project salt ponds South San Francisco Bay Bay Trail Cargill Arden Salt Plant #2 crystallizer beds textures

© All Rights Reserved

During the early days of my South Bay photography, Cargill’s Newark salt plant and its surrounding crystallizer beds appeared on my map as terra incognita. From the beginning, I wanted to photograph Cargill’s facility, both for its colorful nature and its role as the last truly active salt plant in the Bay Area. The plant, originating as Arden Salt Works #2 in the 1920s, has long provided the distinctive sight of stacked salt on the edge of the former wetlands. In the current day, an annual harvest of around 500,000 tons is added to the twin mounds of salt that are 500 feet long and 75 feet high. It is a striking landmark.

In 2010, after several years of discussion, I was able to secure Cargill’s permission for five sessions to photograph their property under supervision. This session involved a trip out to a recently harvested crystallizer bed, where laser-guided levelling equipment was preparing the bed for the next round of brine and salt precipitation. The crystallizer beds have a floor of unharvested salt that separated the brine from bay mud below and provides a structural surface for the balloon-tired dump trucks using in hauling the harvest to the washhouse. Some of the images in this set show the activity of bed levelling while others convey my intoxication with the colors and textures of the place.

I took these documentary photographs with the permission and supervision of Cargill. Kite flying is prohibited over Cargill-controlled lands without their permission.

Tags:   Newark California United States KAP kite aerial photography Hidden Ecologies SBSPRP South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project salt ponds South San Francisco Bay Bay Trail Cargill Arden Salt Plant #2 crystallizer beds textures

© All Rights Reserved

During the early days of my South Bay photography, Cargill’s Newark salt plant and its surrounding crystallizer beds appeared on my map as terra incognita. From the beginning, I wanted to photograph Cargill’s facility, both for its colorful nature and its role as the last truly active salt plant in the Bay Area. The plant, originating as Arden Salt Works #2 in the 1920s, has long provided the distinctive sight of stacked salt on the edge of the former wetlands. In the current day, an annual harvest of around 500,000 tons is added to the twin mounds of salt that are 500 feet long and 75 feet high. It is a striking landmark.

In 2010, after several years of discussion, I was able to secure Cargill’s permission for five sessions to photograph their property under supervision. This session involved a trip out to a recently harvested crystallizer bed, where laser-guided levelling equipment was preparing the bed for the next round of brine and salt precipitation. The crystallizer beds have a floor of unharvested salt that separated the brine from bay mud below and provides a structural surface for the balloon-tired dump trucks using in hauling the harvest to the washhouse. Some of the images in this set show the activity of bed levelling while others convey my intoxication with the colors and textures of the place.

I took these documentary photographs with the permission and supervision of Cargill. Kite flying is prohibited over Cargill-controlled lands without their permission.

Tags:   Newark California United States KAP kite aerial photography Hidden Ecologies SBSPRP South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project salt ponds South San Francisco Bay Bay Trail Cargill Arden Salt Plant #2 crystallizer beds textures

© All Rights Reserved

During the early days of my South Bay photography, Cargill’s Newark salt plant and its surrounding crystallizer beds appeared on my map as terra incognita. From the beginning, I wanted to photograph Cargill’s facility, both for its colorful nature and its role as the last truly active salt plant in the Bay Area. The plant, originating as Arden Salt Works #2 in the 1920s, has long provided the distinctive sight of stacked salt on the edge of the former wetlands. In the current day, an annual harvest of around 500,000 tons is added to the twin mounds of salt that are 500 feet long and 75 feet high. It is a striking landmark.

In 2010, after several years of discussion, I was able to secure Cargill’s permission for five sessions to photograph their property under supervision. This session involved a trip out to a recently harvested crystallizer bed, where laser-guided levelling equipment was preparing the bed for the next round of brine and salt precipitation. The crystallizer beds have a floor of unharvested salt that separated the brine from bay mud below and provides a structural surface for the balloon-tired dump trucks using in hauling the harvest to the washhouse. Some of the images in this set show the activity of bed levelling while others convey my intoxication with the colors and textures of the place.

I took these documentary photographs with the permission and supervision of Cargill. Kite flying is prohibited over Cargill-controlled lands without their permission.

Tags:   portfolio 2011 Newark California United States KAP kite aerial photography Hidden Ecologies SBSPRP South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project salt ponds South San Francisco Bay Bay Trail Cargill Arden Salt Plant #2 crystallizer beds textures

© All Rights Reserved