Flooded Gold Mine Exploration. Flooded portal with breached gate.
While other photographers were shooting the rioting, I decided it was much safer to visit an abandoned mine the other night. This mine dates back to 1874 and is the biggest and most elaborate I've explored yet. Ore chutes, ladders, pipes, hoses, nice timbering, and more.
I wore a pair of tall steel-toed rubber boots to walk through the rust-colored water. In some places I had to stay on the ore cart tracks to avoid deeper muck.
As is always the case with my colorful light photos, the colored effects seen in these photos were done with colored LED lights on location and NOT via Photoshop.
Fun fact: The shape of the green California highway signs mimics the spades carried by Forty-Niners into the foothills and sold by the opportunistic merchants who made the real fortunes of the California Gold Rush.