Skip to main content

High & Dry

High & Dry is writer/historian Christopher Langley and photographer Osceola Refetoff's long-term collaboration exploring the deserts of the American West and the people who live there. The myth of West is charged with hope and ambition, yet the current reality reflects a patchwork of struggling communities, dreamers, dropouts, and military-industrial compounds. Balancing images and words with the personal and historical, High & Dry focuses on the remnants and the future of human activity across these vast open spaces — territory that is becoming increasingly dominated my immense wind and solar arrays, and the controversial dynamics of critical resource allocation. To explore more High & Dry, visit desertdispatches.com.

high_dry_cerro_gordo.jpg
A black and white photo of a compact dirt road leading up to a mountain range in a desert environment. A road drives down the road, towards the camera. Clouds hover closely to the mountain range.
The Alabama Hills is a beautiful, scenic, diverse and world-famous location, sought out by artists, filmmakers and tourists for its landscape allure. Yet over the years these hills have been used, abused and vandalized by visitors.
A black and white image of a highway lined by trees with the mountains in the background.
In the desert, the skies are illuminated by the setting sun. A dazzling display of swirls, slashes and streaks of the clouds rush by. High & Dry explores the dazzling cloud formations in the California high desert.
Dead Tree Nests & Thermal Plants - Infrared Exposure - Salton Sea, CA - 2014  | Osceola Refetoff
Our lives are short. When compared to the landscape around us, we are the proverbial mayfly. Given the brevity of our mortality, we swell with pride, or shutter from embarrassment about what we have done to our home.
Building K – Whittaker-Bermite Site – Santa Clarita, CA – 2017 | Osceola Refetoff
Whittaker-Bermite in Santa Clarita has had many transformation, but this latest one maybe the most promising of all.
Canyon View – Whittaker-Bermite Site – Santa Clarita, CA – 2017 | Osceola Refetoff
Exhaustive landscapes have lives, history and stories to be read. Whittaker-Bermite in Santa Clarita, California — this scarred landscape especially has had many lives, which help guests understand better the condition of our world now.
 Stop-Liquor Jr Market – Mojave, CA – 2016 | Osceola Refetoff
Trinity Street in Mojave, California runs only three blocks, but in it High & Dry finds the cross-section of the lower economic strata of the United States and a "king" is facing society's toughest challenges.
Boarded-Up Farm House - Color/Infrared Exposure - Bishop, CA - 2016 | Osceola Refetoff
When pioneer farmers got to Inyo County from the Midwest, most of them had to master a new way of farming in arid lands. These farmers ultimately learned irrigation techniques and built two hundred miles of unlined canals.
1001 Natchts Ride
In the 1930s Indio coupled marketing their excellent date crop with Oriental fantasies borrowed from Hollywood and the short story collection “One Thousand and One Nights." High & Dry follows the evolution of this county's orientalism.
Thermal, CA fire
After a large-scale fire burned through a palm tree grove in Thermal, CA, all of the palms were assumed dead. But one pastor and his congregation prayed for a miracle.
Tourists at Badwater Basin, Death Valley, CA (featured image)
The landscape of Badwater Basin, the most popular tourist attraction in Death Valley National Park, is always changing. Artist collective High & Dry report from the edge of this earth dip, and attempt to capture the immensity before them.
Scotty's Castle After Thousand-Year Flood - Death Valley, CA - 2015
Scotty's Castle in Death Valley remains shuttered after rains and massive flooding.
langley_car.jpg
The town of Trona, CA is experiencing economic challenges. Artist collective High and Dry meet with its residents who remain stalwart in the face of adversity.
Fossil Falls Unimproved Campsite off CA Highway 395 - Fossil Falls, CA 2015
Artist duo High & Dry document the Fossil Falls desert landscape -- a region once occupied by heavy volcanic activity.
Fossil Falls, CA
We are now living in the Anthropocene where no landscape is untouched by human intention. What does the altered geography truly say about the human spirit?
southern california edison in lancaster ca
Lancaster intends to become the net zero city of the future. Once filled with alfalfa fields, now solar systems crop up in the city.
langley_restaurant.jpg
Artist duo High and Dry talks to the Hudsons, a Trona couple who have been together for 60 years, and learn about changes the town has faced.
langley_lens_flare.jpg
A large number of green energy projects are popping up in the California desert. Artists High & Dry contemplate their connection to the myth of the American West.
"Freight Train." Salton Sea, CA. 2014. | Photo: Osceola Refetoff.
The Salton Sea-adjacent town of Brawley is recuperating from a massive fire. Writer/ photographer duo High & Dry visit with community members who have not given up.
"Poles and Dirt Circle No. 1," infrared exposure. Salton Sea, CA. 2014. | Photo: Osceola Refetoff.
The Salton Sea is full of questions. Writer/ photographer duo High & Dry explore abandoned, mysterious ruins found off the Red Hill Marina.
"Dead Tree, Nests & Thermal Plants," infrared exposure. Salton Sea, CA. 2014. | Photo: Osceola Refetoff.
Collective High & Dry walk along the shores of the Salton Sea, examining birds, plants, and other living beings that rely on the shrinking body of water.
Active loading indicator