Where do bad folks go when they die? They don't go to heaven where the angels fly They go down to the lake of fire and fry Won't see 'em again till the fourth of July SoCal's spectacular Saturday sunset at the Salton Sea. I shot these at Bombay Beach, California during Saturday's (June 29, 2019) epic sunset. Bombay Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California, United States. It is located on the Salton Sea 4 miles (6.4 km) west-southwest of Frink and is the lowest community in the United States, located 223 feet (68 m) below sea level. In recent years, artists have been moving in to this community and erecting art installations like the swingset in the water here. They're also doing funky and creative "renovations" to many previously-abandoned and decaying buildings nearby. The boat seen in one of these photos is actually seaworthy, by the way.
Milky Way galaxy over a front door art installation in Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea. I shot this on Friday night (June 28, 2009) in Bombay Beach, California. I've been wanting to shoot the Milky Way here for some time - and finally it lined up and the sky wasn't too cloudy. The water was too choppy to do any reflection shots, so I ended up doing what you see here instead. My fairly new tracker quit working big time when I was first attempting this shot. In hindsight, it was a good thing as I was right at the 30 day return window and it was going to expire at midnight. Fortunately I initiated the return process just in time. Not being able to track, I had to make do and stack instead. I shot 11 frames with my Canon 6D and Sigma 15mm EX DG lens at 13 sec f/2.8 ISO 3200. Due to the temperature being around 90° (32° C), I knew noise would be an issue. Fortunately I was able to take care of it via stacking. The auto-align feature in Photoshop works great for the foreground, but for the milky way, I had to painstakingly align and tweak all 11 layers manually. Bombay Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California, United States. It is located on the Salton Sea 4 miles (6.4 km) west-southwest of Frink and is the lowest community in the United States, located 223 feet (68 m) below sea level. In recent years, artists have been moving in to this community and erecting art installations like this door. They're also doing funky and creative "renovations" to many previously-abandoned and decaying buildings nearby.
This my final shot of this swingset in the three-shot series I've posted over the past few days. This art installation is in the Bombay Beach community of the Salton Sea and is the work of @ssippi on Instagram. Though the lake is drying up due to famers using much more efficient crop irrigation methods (that results in much less runoff water flowing into the sea), several eccentric artists have begun flocking to the area in recent years. This is one of many fascinating art installations in the area. I shot this with a Canon 6D and Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens on June 15, 2019. 3.2 sec f/20 ISO 50. I also used a Hoya ND8 filter. The water was dead calm this evening - making for perfect photo-ops. The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in the U.S. state of California's Imperial and Coachella valleys. Decades ago, the Sea had its heyday and was booming with tourists, fishermen, boaters, swimmers, water skiers, yacht clubs, and hotels. In time, however, the salinity of the water began killing off the fish by the millions. Also, algae blooms would boom and bust and the stench of the decaying algae would give a a sulphur (rotten egg / sewage) smell and drive tourists away. Despite all this, the Sea is still an amazing and beautiful lake and is worth preserving. Just the other day, the United State House of Representatives passed H.R. 2740, an appropriations bill in support of a federal agreement to allot $30 million for projects which would address the environmental and health crisis at the Salton Sea. While this bill still needs approval from the president before being enacted, this is some great news.
