Leonard Knight

Leonard Knight at Salvation Mountain, Slab City, California

Leonard Knight is the creator of Salvation Mountain. He told me that he has been residing there for the past 24 years working on this monumental project. Personally I think he should be mentioned up there along with the other great artists of the 20th century. Salvation Mountain is really impressive both from a distance and up close.

Mr. Knight also appears in the movie Into the Wild. Highly recommended book and movie if you haven't already checked them out.

Salvation Mountain

Leonard Knight's Station Wagon at Salvation Mountain, Imperial County near Niland, California

There is this computer game series called Fallout that I am a really big fan of. The setting takes place in a post-nuclear California wasteland with familiar locations such as Reno, San Francisco, and Slab City. Much of the landscape and characters in Fallout are reminiscent to the communities you would see around the Salton Sea. That was my inspiration for deciding how to process this image and yesterday's photo from Bombay Beach.

Bombay Beach

Abandoned Home Destroyed by Salton Sea Flooding, Bombay Beach, California

At one time, Bombay Beach was a resort town for the affluent. However since the town lies below sea level on the east shore of the Salton Sea it is prone to flooding. Most of what remains appears to consist of decaying structures.

This house seems to have been burned out sometime after it was abandoned. I didn't expect to but I was kind of fascinated by driving around the streets. There is supposedly an old RV community that is half-submerged in mud somewhere around here so I might have to make another trip to the Salton Sea to check it out!