Where I live: "Out to Dry: Flow and Ebb of the Salton Sea"

Photography exhibition in Ferndale, Michigan and Q & A with the artist behind the camera, Sandi Wheaton

Photographer Sandi Wheaton saw an upside to being downsized, seizing the opportunity to take off from her Windsor, Ontario, home on a cross-country trip from Chicago to California along Route 66 to make some striking images and begin to remake her life along the way.

I first met Sandi face-to-face when I bought one of her Route 66 photos as a Christmas present for my father in 2009. Now you have a chance to meet Sandi as she shows some of her stunning images of California's Salton Sea January 28 through February 12 at the State of the Art Gallery in Ferndale, Michigan.

Sandi agreed to answer a few of my questions and share a couple of her images here as she prepares to launch her Ferndale show and an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Windsor later this spring.

1. I became aware of your photography in fall of 2009 as you prepared to leave for a Chicago to Los Angeles trip via Route 66. I followed along online as you drove a Jeep cross-country while towing an Aliner trailer, making images and telling stories of your discoveries in your pictureRoute66 blog. Tell me a little bit about how that trip came about and how it helped shape your photography career.

I had wanted to drive and photograph Route 66 for years, but working full-time for someone else made it impossible. I was downsized during the automotive industry downturn, and one of my first positive thoughts was, “well, at least now I’ll have the time to do that trip!” The journey and the projects I worked on while traveling Route 66 drew more interest and support than I ever dreamed. That helped to convince me that I should follow my passions and work for myself. Now I am doing just that, so the trip was quite significant not just to my career, but to my whole life. It also has me thinking a lot about a location-independent lifestyle.

2. You have a special interest in black-and-white photography using infrared film. Can you tell me why you enjoy infrared photography? And as you run out of the now obsolete film, have you had any success in creating similar images using your DSLR?

My first time shooting Kodak high-speed infrared film coincided with my first trip to California’s Joshua Tree National Park, and Route 66 in fact. JTNP had some of the most incredible, surreal landscapes I had ever seen, and I simply fell in love with the place. When I got the contact sheets printed, not only was I thrilled with the dramatic look of the IR film, but I felt that it somehow helped me capture just how surreal those sculpted desert landscapes were to me. I’m extremely disappointed that Kodak stopped making that film. Lately I’ve been working primarily on color projects, so I have yet to really experiment with digital IR – but it will happen in the near future.

3. The creation of the Salton Sea in California in the very early 1900s, its mid-20th-century development and heyday as a freshwater tourist attraction, and its subsequent deterioration is a fascinating story. What drew you to document the Salton Sea's present chapter as a bleakly beautiful saline wasteland?

After shooting these formal black and white Joshua Tree landscapes for a few years, one day I decided to take a side trip to the nearby Salton Sea, a place I had heard was abandoned and quite weird. I was simply curious. In another interesting twist of timing, that visit coincided with my first D-SLR. Suddenly I found myself shooting color work that was a bit more documentary in style than the quiet, abstract Joshua Tree work I had been up to. The Salton Sea just mesmerized me. It was a sad, decaying place scattered with the remnants of its previous heyday, yet I felt an incredible peace there. The setting is gorgeous – a huge lake in the middle of desert mountains – but more than that, I found the transformation taking place there as nature “took back its own” to be moving and quite beautiful.

4. What do you see, or what do you hope to see, for the Salton Sea in coming years?

I really hope that a solution to the water issues is found soon. The sea is already shrinking and with the ongoing battle over the Colorado River water rights, it’s going to get worse. Eventually what fish are left will die, and the 400 species of birds that visit the sea won’t be able to feed. As the water recedes further, air quality will be a big problem for the people and industry in the area, once the fine dust of lakebed sediment from agricultural runoff water goes airborne when the winds belt through there. Solutions have been proposed, but so far the price tag is just too high.

5. What's next for you? Tell me about the upcoming show at the Art Gallery of Windsor-will you be showing the same images there as we'll be seeing in Ferndale?

I’ll be speaking about the Salton Sea at State of the Art in Ferndale on February 12 at 6 p.m. and at the Sarnia Photo Club on April 5. At both events, I will also be selling and signing my Salton Sea books.

Yes, the same images will be in the Art Gallery of Windsor show (March-June), but there will be twice as many. I’ll also be exhibiting some of the Joshua Tree infrared work alongside the Salton Sea work, which should make for an interesting contrast. After that, I’ll be building my business as a photography teacher/workshop leader. I’m now a Certified International Tour Manager, and I want to combine that with my photographic expertise and knowledge to lead photo tours to places I know intimately (Route 66, Salton Sea, etc.). I want to help other photographers experience the wonder of those places and get great shots for their portfolios, without having to do all the research and planning. I love to help others travel, I love to teach and I love photography – so I’m very excited about this new venture.

Thanks, Sandi!

Stop by the State of the Art Gallery (918 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale, Michigan) to meet Sandi at 7 p.m. on Friday, January 28 during an opening reception for her exhibition. Sandi returns to the Ferndale gallery at 6 p.m. on Saturday, February 12 for "Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea" an artist talk, film screening, and book signing.

Can't make it to either event? You can check out the State of the Art Gallery site for gallery hours or contact Sandi online.

Website: www.sandiwheaton.com

Route 66 blog: www.pictureRoute66.com

FB page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sandi-Wheaton-Photography/134885191747

Twitter: sandiwheaton