Sydney photographer Peter Franc has long been drawn to desolate and abstract landscapes. For his entry into the photo series Down Under From Above he flew over the salt flats in Western Australia's Useless Loop.
Far from what the area's name suggests, the Useless Loop salt mines produce some of the purest grade salt in the world. Franc said he wanted to capture the colour rendition of the delicate tones in the drying salt.
"I chose to fly in the mid-morning, as the sun was high, to reduce shadows and flatten the landscape," Franc told BuzzFeed. "After the flight, my wife and I had to process the whole experience and remind ourselves that what we experienced was actually real."
Being far signs of life intensified the otherworldly feel of the landscape. The locations remained mostly undisturbed. And the photos only varied in look depending on the position of the sun and the weather.
Useless Loop is a six-hour drive from the nearest town of Denham (pop. 607). But the isolation did nothing to quell Franc's enthusiasm.
"Looking down at this completely surreal landscape, my first impression is always the artist’s palette," he said. "These ever-so-slightly different tones, separated by the orange earth roads."
"There is a subtlety in the grandness of the scene, which you can only appreciate from above."
