The Salton Sea is one of the most incongruous and haunting sights in the American Southwest, a glistening body of water surrounded by barren desert. It's a place of uncommon natural beauty, an inland oasis that stretches some 35 miles between the Coachella Valley to the north and the Mexican border to the south. But things are not quite what they seem at the Salton Sea. The lake is shrinking. The fish are dying. The birds are sick. And the once-thriving communities and tourist resorts along the shore are mostly abandoned. The place is an ecological catastrophe in the making. These photographs are a work in progress. They attempt to capture the stark beauty of the place while also documenting some of the effects of environmental devastation and decline. They were taken over the course of five visits between 2006 and 2009. View photos >>