"Most of California has experienced extreme drought in recent years. As the cities continue to grow bigger and more populated, finding a water supply becomes a big issue. Many of the lakes in eastern California close to the Mojave Desert are drained to feed the mega city of Los Angeles and they, in turn, become sources of dust pollution for the local environment. I made my California drought series while working in San Francisco and my aim was to raise awareness of this critical issue. The locations were chosen carefully to represent drought in different shapes and colours. You are looking here at a lake's surface hidden in the deep Mojave Desert in California. It is an 'endorheic lake', a dried lake with underground water. The patterns you are looking at are formed by underground water drawn up by capillary reactions through the earth. The golden lines are completely dried areas. The dark brown surface is semi-dry earth. The white colour is the nearby salt pan. This effect creates amazing tree-like structures. For this reason, I refer to this place as "Tree Lake". The location is buried deep in the wild desert and I had to hike for 3 hours to get here, crossing very muddy areas of land. Nobody normally visits this location from the ground. As it is completely flat, you cannot really see it from a distance. I used satellite GPS to reach the location and when I finally got to see it from above my jaw dropped! California Drought Studies 1 & 2 are stitched together using several drone photographs. The reason I didn't use a helicopter or light aircraft is because the location is so mysterious it is very difficult to guide the pilot to the correct location. Besides, there is no guarantee that the pattern will be there since it changes from season-to-season. It is incredibly lucky to find patterns as dramatic as this. 

This particular study is one of my personal favourites and unique among my portfolio for several reasons. The colour of the image is primarily different shades of brown, which is rare. As most of us live or work in modern metropolitan cities, we are no longer able, like our ancestors, to see vast areas of pure brown colour anymore. You may think it is easy to see brown, but in truth it is usually concrete grey. Even in a park or on a football pitch where there is a lot of earth, it is normally turfed over so you don't see it. Emotionally, brown is a warm, calm and dependable colour and goes in harmony with many different environments. On this silky smooth brown background, I am drawn to the prestigious golden threads. To me, this evokes images in my mind of fine embroidery. Secondly, this study has a unique pattern which is my favourite design in nature called "Fractals". A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. The best example of this is lightning. To me a fractal shape is mathematically perfect and symbolises infinite possibilities. The pattern is repeating itself in a unique and creative way, which one just cannot take their eyes off; deep down it's a feeling of 'How on earth could this be created?' It is simple but powerful and makes me want to use a magnifying glass to see if there are more patterns at the microscopic level." Yi Sun

Awards:

2016 PX3 Awards, 1st Place In Professional Nature Category & exhibited at Espace Beaurepaire, Paris.

2016 Epson International Panoramic Photography Awards, 3rd Place Carolyn Mitchum Award.