Here is a Kickstarter that should be supported.
“The Salton Sea is eventually going to go away as water becomes more of a commodity and as such we would like to document the area before that happens.”
So write my friends, Phil Rose and Allison Drennan.
Phil is an excellent and passionate photographer, and just the person I’d want to send pretty much anywhere to take pictures of it. He seems to know where the meaningful and emotional details are in a given landscape and can make them sing with his camera. He might object to such poetic description of his work, however, but it’s really true. And he wants to do this. Quite a bit.
Allison is a writer and artist who also has an eye for detail, and a mind that can squeeze out of it the core questions inherent in its existence. Again, I’m probably describing her skill in a way that she might object to, but I don’t write like she does. And I don’t draw like she does. And, like Phil, she’s just the person I’d want to send to a place like the Salton Sea to report back about it. And she wants to do this. Quite a damn bit!
And what they’re offering in return for the opportunity to go on this trip is a book of their work. You can buy the book by supporting the campaign. I WANT THE BOOK.
Which is why I’m writing this post and sharing it. Even if I invest enough to get the book, which is a slim shot at best for me, it still needs to get funded to happen. And it’s a very fair campaign. You’re not throwing your money away by putting it there, you are buying something of wonder and value. Something that is going to be very cool.
What is it about the Salton Sea that makes it worth going to? What is the Salton Sea in the first place? Well, here’s how they describe it on their Kickstarter page:
“The Salton Sea and its surroundings are amongst the most extreme places on the planet and late august is when it is at its hottest and most inhospitable. The Salton Sea represents the folly of post-industrial america, and the ability of the natural world to overcome staggering odds. The sea was created by accident as a result of an irrigation project gone wrong. Over the intervening century, though heavily polluted by agricultural runoff, it fosters one of the largest populations of migratory birds in the nation.”
Read more about it at their campaign page!
Water in The Desert originally appeared on Drawing Contraption on 2013/08/17.