Open Studio! If you’re in Oakland on June 1st, 2nd, 8th or 9th: stop by!! Looks like some half dozen prints on display and for sale. Work from two major projects included: the Imperial Valley, which you see here, and developing work in Utah’s West Desert and Arizona’s Gila River Valley.
Image © Chris Gillis.
Pilot Knob, California.
Image © Chris Gillis.
Pilot Knob, California.
Image © Chris Gillis.
Recently, special and influential person said that editing photos was sexy. Beyond wisdom, that. So, let’s get back in the flow and reconnect with the Imperial Valley. But, first, a map to understand better the land itself.
These days, the Colorado River ends at the border, no surprise given it’s many allocations. Here, in 1903, a fanciful depiction of the river by today’s standards. Pilot Knob stands ready to oversee the last, major diversions being built, busted and rebuilt, taking the river’s last drops.
Yuma Quadrangle, United States Geological Survey, 1903.
Salvation Mountain and Slab City, outside of Niland, California.
Change over time, courtesy of imagery from Google Earth. Dates shown are not evenly spaced over time, sadly. Images from 1992, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2005, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 are shown.
The camps in Slab City come and go near the Mountain. One large squat disappeared after a son sexually assaulted his mother and burnt her trailer. People might like to claim it the last free place, but it has its troubles and is not easy living.
Munitions building and burnt-out squat along Beal Road in Slab City, outside of Niland, California.
Image © Chris Gillis.
Getting back to the desert here with a quick note…
NPR has a decent piece on the near-assured demise of the Salton Sea, which looks at water transfers by the Imperial Irrigation District to San Diego County and related fallowing that will slowly decrease the Sea… ushering in a bunch of serious environmental and social problems.
The story glosses over the region’s long history of decline and stagnation. Salton City was doomed from the start and a look around proves it. Most importantly, Imperial County is more keen on industrializing the entire county with only the most-profitable agriculture production, water transfers, geothermal and solar schemes worthy of serious consideration; preservation of what is left of it’s natural resources soon won’t be that much of a worry, sadly.
The Golden Gate Bridge is 75 years old. It’s a joy to look at and thousands of people do so everyday from the various view points. It’s fun to watch them, too.
Image © Chris Gillis.
The Golden Gate Bridge is 75 years old. It’s a joy to look at and thousands of people do so everyday from the various view points. It’s fun to watch them, too.
Image © Chris Gillis.
The Golden Gate Bridge is 75 years old. It’s a joy to look at and thousands of people do so everyday from the various view points. It’s fun to watch them, too.
Image © Chris Gillis.
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