Salton Sea Revisited

This work and others in this style are an aesthetic of photography that I pioneered in 2009-2010 as well as a new methodology of data vizualization that I defined in an IEEE paper called realtime lapse (2013).

To purchase individual prints, click on the image of your choice below and it’ll be added to your cart.

$100

10” x 6” chromogenic prints on premier lustre paper, signed and numbered on verso. Price includes postage.

Deadline to order for the holidays is 4 December.

In addition to the individual timelapse images, a limited special edition of 11 of Salton Sea Revisited (the sliced collage) is available in 10” x 6” chromogenic print on Kodak metallic paper signed and numbered on verso (SOLD OUT). 52 of the timelapse photographs were used to create this image. This work has been published, exhibited, awarded, and is in private collections as well as the permanent collection of the Southern Utah Museum of Art. I developed this aesthetic of photography between 2008-2012, and no longer create work in this style as it has been extensively copied.

$250 SOLD OUT

Also available in the sizes below. Message me if interested.
16” x 9”: Edition of 21, SOLD OUT
24” x 14”: Edition of 11, SOLD OUT
40” x 24”: Edition of 3, SOLD OUT
Inquire about 60”w.

For matte prints, see here.

The videos and photographs that I’ve made around the Salton Sea since December 2008 will soon be from a landscape that has disappeared other than in memories and media artifacts. With the shoreline having significantly receded further since I’ve begun work there, all I have captured are already a record of a lost landscape.

Unfortunately, the narrative of a toxic sea has won over the truth that a dry lakebed is more toxic than a living sea. If you’d like to read about it, Desert Sun has an excellent series.

The following timelapse photographs were taken from sunrise to sunset at the North Shore (scroll down ︎ or click). My particular interest in the North Shore is that the view directly to the south creates the illusion of an endless body of water in the desert and layers upon layers of birds are seen in the near and far distance. Where I worked alternated between a fishing spot, a kissing spot, a garbage dump, and a tranquil bird-watching stop along the winter route of birders. Since my first visit in 2008, the amount of birds has significantly decreased as the salinity of the sea has increased.
These images have a place in history:
77 California state parks were slated for closure on 1 July 2012 due to the State being bankrupt. The Salton Sea State Recreation Area was on that list. I printed hundreds of my timelapse photos from 2009 to 2012 on postcards and during the third week of June, with 107º highs in the day and 90º at night, I set out on a mission to save the park. I camped at the State Park, spending the days walking and driving around the local communities, businesses, farms, schools, and churches to collect memories and signatures on the back of the postcards. At the end of every day, I’d take a stack to the post office in Mecca and mail them to Governor Brown’s attention. By the end of the week his office was flooded with hundreds of personal stories and photographs about the sea and the park and how important it has been for the livelihood of the surrounding communities. Needless to say, the Salton Sea State Recreation Area is still open and maintained.