Mieke Boynton, Braided by Nature (Landscape (2019))

When I first saw an aerial photograph of the colourful braided rivers of Iceland, I didn't believe it was real. I was convinced that it had to be computer-generated... or at least heavily photoshopped. I simply couldn't imagine that it was possible for such incredible colours and patterns to exist in Nature. I continued to doubt their authenticity until I saw the braided rivers with my own eyes - first in New Zealand in 2017 and then in Iceland last year. The intense colours of the water are due to the presence of glacial "flour": ground-up rock from underneath the moving glacier. When the glacier melts, this rock silt is so fine and light that it hangs suspended in the water and doesn't settle for a long, long time. These tiny rock particles also prevent the light from penetrating the water, giving it a milky appearance and occasionally, the water then also comes into contact with elements such as iron and sulphur. As a consequence of these processes, the rivers are an ever-changing riot of colour as they spread out in inter-locking rivulets over the dark, sandy outwash plains: milky grey, coffee-brown, royal blue, purple, canary yellow, rusty orange, pale pink, egg-shell blue, and turquoise. Nature's abstract art.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.