I think every photographer in Southern California has made the trip out to Salton Sea and has also stopped by Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain along the way.  We’ve been out a couple times but it’s been a while since our last visit.  Leonard has been getting up there in years but we were saddened by some recent news we heard.  His health has been failing and he may never return to the Mountain.  This made me want to blog a couple portraits we shot of Leonard a few years ago.  I think our first trip out to Salvation Mountain was back in 2008 or 2009, and that’s when we shot this first portrait:

Then a couple years later we returned for a second visit.  This time we brought a gift.  We presented Leonard with a framed print of the image we shot last time we were there, and then we took another portrait of him holding the framed print.  We had the idea of doing that every couple years but unfortunately that didn’t happen.  Here’s the second portrait of Leonard:

You can learn all about Leonard Knight and his Salvation Mountain project at the Salvation Mountain website:  www.salvationmountain.us.  There’s also a small group that has taken steps to preserve Salvation Mountain while Leonard can’t be there.  They have a page on Facebook that you should check out: www.facebook.com/SalvationMountain.  If you haven’t had a chance to get out there you should do it.  Sadly, you won’t get to meet Leonard but you’re still gonna see something special  🙂

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