Photography: Mikhail Mishainik reveals the wonders of Russia's salt mines

Date
17 June 2014

While we can appreciate the man-made beauty in modern day life with the wondrous buildings put up in our cities or the machines we build to make our lives easier, sometimes nature just trumps all of that by being effortlessly amazing.

Mikhail Mishainik demonstrates this perfectly with his images of Russian salt mines, which he managed to capture by venturing 650-feet below the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia. Spotted over at HUH Magazine, the naturally psychedelic mines are stunning with floor to ceiling swirls of earthy browns and oranges, interspersed with greens and rusty purples.

Caused by the mineral carnallite, Mikhail has spent over 20 hours exploring the abandoned mines despite the risk of leaking chemicals and landslides. The patterns that have evolved over time are beautifully hypnotic and just the sheer scale of this natural phenomenon is what really boggles my mind.

Above

Mikhail Mishainik: Salt Mines

Above

Mikhail Mishainik: Salt Mines

Above

Mikhail Mishainik: Salt Mines

Above

Mikhail Mishainik: Salt Mines

Above

Mikhail Mishainik: Salt Mines

Share Article

Further Info

About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.