These dream-like scenes are the works of skilled journalist and photographer Mandy Sham (@peach.punk). Each photograph is captured within a place so otherworldly that its unique landscapes caught the eye of famous Astronaut Neil Armstrong during his voyage through space back in 1969.
Bolivia is the otherworldly destination in question, and Sham's photographs are a breathtaking visual summary that merge both her documentative and creative perspectives as a journalist and a photographer.
For days, I felt as though I'd entered an alternate dimension brushed with lunar crevices and a Martian palette.
Bolivia is a tropical country located in Western-Central South America. It is a landlocked country which boasts a diverse landscape, featuring lush rainforests and mountains to extensive valleys and lowland. These varying habitats are home to some of the most fascinating animals, plants and scenery which Sham goes on to mention and had captured throughout her travels. The country's climate ranges from being mostly humid and tropical to cold and dry meaning that the majority of rainfall takes place within the summer months. While one of the world's largest mountain ranges, The Andes runs southwest through Bolivia, Sham notes that "The country's southeast offered a perfect contrast between abundant beauty and emptiness".
As she explored Bolivia, Sham visited Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flats located in southwest Bolivia. It was this very region that astronaut Neil Armstrong saw glistening from space many moons ago - but what causes the salt flats to glisten in such a way that they catch one's eye from space? Known as the mirror effect, this reflective phenomenon occurs after heavy rainfall when water collects on top of the far-stretching salt flats. The sky and clouds above reflect off of the still water, and the horizon line also becomes obscured, creating a seamless and unbelievable optical illusion. If standing on the flats, it would seem as though the ground was in fact the sky, and that the sky had no end.
The colours within Sham's photographs are as diverse as the Bolivian landscape itself. Sham captures fire blazing skies and sands, as well as pillow soft pastels, and it's this contrast between the warm and cool tones that ombre into one-another like water colour on a canvas, that creates this too good to be true, dream-like feel to each one of her photos. Sham expresses similar sentiments and tells us that: "Bolivia is one of the most stunning places I've been on Earth - so much so that it's hard to believe such surreal and painterly landscapes exist. Salar de Uyuni and its surroundings are filled with vibrant wildlife like vicuñas and flamingos, white sparkling sand stretching into the ember red horizon, and lagoons rich with minerals and algae that dye them deep, extraordinary colours... When you're so far deep into the Andes, breathing thin air and looking upon mountains historically considered to be legendary deities, the mere fact of being witness to that is enough to stop you in your tracks."
