Wildlife Photography Contest - First Place Professional Award Landscape Category
If you didn’t know what you were looking at, you would think these were stones in the pink water. These are not stones though, but alive bacterial mounds in the water known as microbialites. They are critical for the ecosystem providing habitat for brine fly larvae and food for brine shrimp. Millions of birds feed on brine shrimp and harvesting the brine shrimp is an important Great Salt Lake industry. Unfortunately, the bleached top of the microbialtie mounds depicts an ecosystem in distress as once exposed to the dry air they die. Half submerged, these mounds are still partly alive, but as the long-term drought continues and the lake evaporates there is not much hope for these exposed colonies. With that being said, this is a stunning landscape of unusual and beautiful forces interacting. This view includes Fremont Island, called Mo'ko-mom-bitc by the Western Shoshone on the right, the northern tip of Antelope Island also on the right, and the incredible snow-capped Wasatch Mountains in the distance. Captured on February 8, 2026 at 12:45pm, Camera DJI Mini 4 Pro, Lens 24.0mm f/1.7, Focal Length 6.72mm; Exposure 1/4000 sec; f/1.7; ISO 100. Location: Great Salt Lake Causeway, Promontory Point, Corinne, Box Elder County, Utah.