Venus Belt Above Trapani Salt ponds

From the photographer: “The salt pans of Trapani are a vast system of tanks where sea water is evaporated until the salt precipitates in the form of crystals. The salt flakes are collected and then sold. This activity is part of the Sicilian tradition, an ancient craft that has still been handed down to new generations today. The sea water was moved inside the tanks with the help of some windmills with a characteristic shape. The mills were made with tuff stone and were surmounted by an amaranth red dome that could rotate to better direct the mill blades. The salt flats made use of real wind experts who knew how to predict the direction of origin of the gusts. In this way they could unhook the mechanisms of the mill in time and rotate the dome in the direction in which they imagined the wind would arrive. Today the mills have been replaced by modern hydraulic machines but many of them are still clearly visible with their red domes and the gears kept inside them. Some of them even have blades. In this image, one of these mills is reflected in the placid water of the salt pan illuminated by the first pink light of the belt of Venus. On the left, the Moon just entered the totaly of the eclipse.”

Technical details: Canon 6d, Sigma 105, f/2, 0.3 sec, iso 100

Second photo: Canon 6d, Sigma 150-600mm, f/13, 1/15 sec, iso 100