Kristina Makeeva (previously featured), renowned for her enchanting compositions, breathes a new life into the realm of natural beauty with her captivating portrayal of Hutt Lagoon. The vibrant pink hue of the lagoon, located in Western Australia, stems from the presence of Dunaliella salina, an algae known for its carotenoid production. This natural phenomenon, which paints the waters in shades worthy of a surreal artist’s palette, is not just a feast for the eyes but also a significant site for microalgae production. The lagoon, with its swirling patterns of pink and its salt-crusted edges glistening like tiny diamonds under the sun, offers an otherworldly vision, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary through Makeeva’s lens.
Makeeva’s imagery elevates Hutt Lagoon beyond a mere natural wonder, portraying it as a landscape of dreams and colors. Each aerial photograph holds a mesmerizing tale of the Earth’s marvels, where every tint and shade narrates the harmonic convergence of artistry and nature. The lagoon’s allure is accentuated by the contrasting hues that dance upon its surface, ranging from gentle reds to vibrant blues, creating a living tapestry that echoes abstract art. Through Makeeva’s work, observers are whisked away to a realm where nature’s artistry is both the creator and the masterpiece, illustrating an exquisite interplay between the world’s raw beauty and the boundless imagination it inspires.
Hutt Lagoon is considered to be a salt lake with a red or pink hue due to the presence of the carotenoid-producing algae Dunaliella salina, a source of ß-carotene, a food-coloring agent and source of vitamin A. The lagoon contains the world’s largest microalgae production plant, a 250-hectare series of artificial ponds used to farm Dunaliella salina. I dreamed about the pink lake for a long time, and it turned out to be better than in my dreams. Pools with different shades of red, pink, and sometimes yellow and blue. Pink salt on the shore, which glitters like snow – it all looks like abstractionist paintings in reality. Nature and its colors, in this case, did the magic.
Kristina Makeeva