GHOSTS OF THE DESERT COAST
by Ryan Speers
June 4th, 2025,
After nine hours stranded on a boat in California’s largest and most polluted inland body of water, the Salton Sea, I’m rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and brought ashore. How did I end up there, suspended in a lift basket one hundred feet in the air above a desolate lake in the middle-of-nowhere? To find out, we need to go back to the beginning, to a strange beach in the heart of the desert.
November 17th, 2017
Eight years earlier, twenty miles north, it all started with a single quest: to document a massive fish die-off consisting of tens of thousands of mummified fish skeletons blanketing the Salton Sea’s northern shore. The task would prove challenging, and after months of toiling, I was eager to move on to the next project somewhere far away. However, things did not go as planned.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that these fish were among the last, if not the very last, to live in the lake, and that single timelapse of the die-off event would directly influence my next mission—one that would end up taking me the better part of a decade to accomplish: documenting the Salton Sea and the surrounding desert before they disappear.
2025 marks 120 years since the floodwaters that created the Salton Sea surged across the desert, forming the Sea we know today. We are currently at a watershed moment in our history, as the Sea’s future has never been more uncertain. Animals have died off, subspices have gone extinct, and some are leaving the Sea altogether, and the desert is transforming due to climate change.
Ghosts of the Desert Coast explores the ecological and human impacts on California’s Salton Sea region. Once referred to as “California’s biggest environmental disaster,” illegal dumping, pollution, disappearing wildlife, and a shrinking coastline are just some of the issues currently shaping the region.
First and foremost, Ghosts of the Desert Coast is a photo book. Across 286 pages, readers will experience the Salton Sea like never before, from the highest bird' s-eye view to the tiniest barnacle shell and everything in between, Ghosts takes viewers on an immersive journey around the entire 115-mile perimeter of the Salton Sea. Sprawling aerial photography provides soaring perspectives of the unique desert world, while intimate still-life photography documents the objects found discarded within it.
Accompanying each chapter’s collection of photos is a segment of travelogue writing, ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 words, chronicling my experiences shooting the Salton Sea over nearly 200 days across eight years. As well as a special QR code that links to 10 mini documentaries.