Wasteland Paradise (Salton Sea)
This is what urban legends are made of. The Salton Sea was once a prosperous vacation spot during the 1920’s, thriving with ski boats, new housing developments, night clubs, and wildlife. The “Sea” (which is technically a lake) was formed from a sudden influx of water from the Colorado River. At first the new found mass of water was hailed as a tourist attraction, but because of a lack of water outflow, the lake progressively became more and more polluted and salty. So much that many species of fish are no longer able to survive in the Salton, let alone people. So in a nutshell this vast area is FILLED with signs of abandonment from a once optimistic 1950’s era. A modern day Atlantis… only MUCH MUCH smellier. Did I mention it’s a GREAT place to take photos?
Taking a swim at the “Ace of Spades” nightclub. Or maybe it was a gambling casino? Finding out the truth seems to be hard to do within this mysterious area. See me at the bottom left?
Plenty of parking at the Cafe.
Waterfront view.
The pelicans look a lot like condors.
1,000’s of these fish are piled up on the beaches. While I was walking near the shore, you could hear the crunching of millions of bones.
I’m guessing this used to be a phone? Now it makes a great beer prop.
Small fixer-upper. Comes with custom pool in the backyard.
No caption needed.
The salt and the flooding has ruined everything it touches. A little town of Bombay Beach is behind the camera… not that different of a view from what you’re looking at now.
Looks like an old axle to a tour bus. Sorry no trips back to LA!
Extremely straight and long roads.
Davis Road! They MUST of named it after me!
A freaky little stop along Hwy 111. The UFO looking thing in the background looks like some float from a boat. Who knows.
Not what you really have in mind when you envision California.
Care to come in? Oh damn, the door is barb-wired shut.
Some supportive graffiti.
The alien’s hut… not so intelligent after all.
The “Believe” alien lot had about 5 abandoned buildings. I was careful to peek my head into a few of them because it wasn’t uncommon to find an old mattress or beer bottles on the ground. I didn’t want a big sweaty hug from a Salton Sea-ican.
Area 52
Back to Bombay Beach. This little hut had a light socket in the middle, so I turned it back on.
I’m gonna take a wild guess and assume this water tower is empty.
My girlfriend, Lauren, out on her first photo adventure!
More abandoned buildings at Bombay Beach.
Back to the Ace of Spades nightclub. Grabbing some near sunset shots.
The back entrance. Let’s take a walk in that door…
Welcome! To the Ace of Spades. Custom decorated walls, and natural flooring.
I think the builders were going for a more Art Deco look?
The main entrance is to the left, the pool to the right.
While taking this picture, a pigeon flew towards me and scared the SHIT out of me… Keep in mind I’m using lights to make these shots visible.
A view from the back door, looking out to the sea… er, lake. I can imagine this place being pretty nice back in the day.
After getting over the dead fish, repulsive arsenic smell, and the 100 degree temperature, this place has a sort of pleasant vibe to it, especially near sundown. Given a beach chair and a 12-pack of Mexican beer, I could see myself relaxing to some Buddy Holly while watching the sun go down on the orange horizon.
(Fashionable) Cowboy Up
OK right off the bat, I wasn’t jumping out of my chair when my buddy Clinton Thompson (great name) suggested doing a cowboy photoshoot. For some reason he’s hung up on modeling an old west theme. Not really my style. However I haven’t done a shoot for a few weeks, the weather was beautiful, and I didn’t want to get rusty behind the camera! SO, first things first, LOCATION! This is where having the hobby of road biking comes in handy. You get to see all these places you’d never see whizzing by 50mph in a car. I’ve had this oil refinery in my back pocket for a couple of months, and I’ve been itching to have a good reason to shoot there. Bingo. This place had everything; old trucks, graffiti, steel buildings, oil rigs, dead vegetation… all of which looks like it’s been through WWII.
…problem is, we had to go under a fence, and jump another to get to the spot, BUT all was good once we were on location. We as in my lovely girlfriend Lauren Takeda, and my traveling and also talented BFF Patrick McInerney from college. I basically used an AlienBees Ringflash on full power for the main light to overpower the sun, and a single Canon 580ex speedlight for any fill/rim lighting. And MAN it was dusty. All of my gear is soaked in dust. But it was worth it! The pics came out better than I imagined, got at least 13 keepers. Started at 3:22pm and ended at 5:12pm. All in a coffee break’s work. Higher-res images can be found on my PEOPLE page of www.clintdavis.net
Pnut nite LA
My buddy Patrick is in town… first night we do it right; 7 Grand then the Library, next day Advil and In-N-Out
Gymkhana 2
Out of nowhere, Ken Block’s Gymkhana Practice popped up last year on the car forums and blew our hats off; Raw power, endless pavement, incredible driving skill… it couldn’t be topped. It was just TOO badass. After the announcement that a 2nd Gymkhana was being filmed, I scoffed at how it’s not going to live up to the first, ESPECIALLY if the main car is the Ford Focus-esque looking Subaru STi. Oh how I was wrong, so very very wrong.
I love dogs
hahahaha I’ve been laughing at this for the past 10 minutes. My Russian co-worker showed me at work today, (hence the Russian type) and I’m in stitches! For once something PETA can’t complain about. 
NEW LOGO, NEW BIZ CARDS
I was 2 seconds away from buying new business cards a few weeks ago, but I thought my old logo looked a little dated and immature. I wanted something more simple and professional looking. You know, something mature like me! (right). So I came up with this little circle logo, chopped up to look like “CD”. Matte black finish, spot-UV coating on both sides, and a white “signature box” to jot down misc notes. I think they came out pretty cool 
If you’re lucky enough, maybe you’ll get one of my highly exclusive signed 1 of 500 business cards.
Now boarding C16
Heading back to Cali, after a semi-vacation to South Carolina (I’m at a connecting flight in Dallas/FW). How cool is it my gate is C16, also known as racing fuel… I could of used some C16 for the Assault on Mt. Mitchell!! I stopped at Marion at 75 miles, 4 hours into the race. A 19mph average pace. I think I could of made it the entire 100, but I would of been taken to the ICU right after! Now I know what to expect. It’s a brutal race, next year I’ll be more prepared… But for the next week I’m hanging my bike up and lifting a few beers to my lips, Cheers!!
Calm before the climb
Got my number, bike is tuned, and my belly is full of pasta.. Now I just need a good nights sleep at Wade’s pad in Spartanburg, SC. Tomorrow is the 100 mile Assault on Mt. Mitchell. Bring the pain!
In my DVD drive: Drew Gardner
After a raving review on on Zack Arias’ blog, I had to place an order and add Drew Gardner’s Location Lighting DVD to my collection. Today, I rarely drop a dime on ANY DVD… thanks to the invention of youtube and DV-R, but this one got the nod from my bank account. For $24.95 on the Midwest Photo Exchange, it’s a bit pricey for an amateur behind-the-scenes DVD, but very worth the cost if you’re a location photographer.
Drew is very passionate about his work. For instance in the beginning, he stresses how important it is to be in the right mood for a photoshoot. Listening to the right music, eating breakfast at his favorite place, wearing the right clothes, all very important to the end product of his shoots. Maybe a little glorified, but I understand where he’s coming from. If I shoot on an empty stomach, or in a bad mood, it can ruin a shoot.
But that’s not all you learn! These aren’t your everyday photoshoots. When a photographer has a paid crew, a Mercedes station wagon full of gear (including a Phase One camera, Elinchrom lights, smoke machine, etc), and a water buffalo all under his command, you know things are serious! Drew goes in-depth on how his photos are pieced together. Rather than setting up all the lights at once, he sets them up one at a time. Place, fire, adjust, fire, rotate, fire… OK, next light. Very insightful.
These are the final images and trailer from the two shoots covered in the DVD:
I’m definitely a visual person. I fall asleep anytime I try to read a book. So watching Drew’s steps from the minute he wakes up, to the beer at the end of the day, is very educational for me. If you’re in SoCal I’ll let you take a peek, but otherwise, buy your own!
I got my shaaaaaaades on!
Chris Lee – Monkey from Magnus Engsfors on Vimeo.
This video and song has been owning me for the past 3 weeks. Awesome idea for a low-budget music video. I want a lil space craft! I’d have mine powered by avocados, I don’t really care for that stuff anyways. I say stuff because I mean are they supposed to be a fruit or vegetable?
