![]() I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Temperatures in the lake can rise to 140 F (60 C) and the alkalinity is between pH 9 and pH 10.5, almost as alkaline as ammonia. The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. Lake Natron in northern Tanzania is one of the harshest environments on Earth. The water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. More info: Nick Brandt This extremely rare phenomenon is caused by the chemical makeup within the lake. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake. I unexpectedly found the creatures - all manner of birds and bats - washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. "The notion of portraits of dead animals in the place where they once lived is what also drew me to photographing the creatures in the Calcified series: The animals were then arranged in their poses. The animals probably aren’t truly calcified, but. Animals that find themselves submerged in the water die and become calcified. Have you ever heard of Medusa The snake-haired greek monster who turns people to stone with a single glance Well, she might just be a myth, but there is an area so deadly that it could actually turn you to stone. The lake is next to a unique neighboring volcano, Ol Doinyo, which spews alkali-rich carbonate rocks which end up the lake through water runoff. The water in Lake Natron isn't too friendly to life, as the alkalinity is between pH 9 and pH 10.6 and water temperatures can reach 60 degrees celsius.
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