Red

Photography by Sam Dobson

A lake in Camargue in southern France has been the source of recent amazement, its once blue waters suddenly turning a shocking shade of blood red. This incredible natural phenomenon, as breathtakingly strange and beautiful as the effects of the aurora borealis, is the result of the lake’s high salt content – it is one of many salt flats in France’s delta region where the Rhône meets the sea. Not only has the lake taken on the hue of a strawberry slushie, but an abundance of salt crystal formations (icicle-like in appearance) have also emerged across its surface, attaching themselves to surrounding plants and rocks. The occurrence has been documented in a set of extraordinary images by Russian photgrapher Sam Dobson, who happened to be passing the lake in his car and described its appearance as “something extra-terrestrial.”