Zen of decay by Anastasia Sofos

Photographer, Anastasia Sofos takes us on a feast of urban decay from Northern California to the heart of the beauteous, sublime, trailer park wasteland of a paradise, The Salton Sea.
Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

Photographer, Anastasia Sofos takes us on a feast of urban decay from Northern California to the heart of the beauteous, sublime, trailer park wasteland of a paradise, The Salton Sea.

This is what Anastasia calls, the Zen of decay. The ultimate moment of awestruck realities beyond reality where nothing can be felt but a voiceless hum. The Salton Sea represents, without modification, the raw, unpolished masterpiece of evolution.

Brought into creation every 400-600 years, the Salton Sea – the largest lake in California- is born of off run river, rainfall and agricultural run off for tens of thousands of years, drying up in between. The current fill in 1905 birthed and extraordinarily, bushwa, upscale resort town through the 1950’s and 60’s where Hollywood celebrities, debutants and sport events flocked. Vintage trailers, speed boats, yacht club and hotels created the Salton Riviera where hot babes in sunscreen and cat eyed sunglasses glamoured. Without any outflow, the saline levels in the water rose to great extent, 25% above ocean water. Fish died by tens and thousands over the years, their botulism killed the birds, the stench of fish carcasses hung in the air. Salton Riviera: Abandoned.

Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

03.Sofos_Anastasia-(5-of-5) 03.Sofos_Anastasia-(7-of-19) 03.Sofos_Anastasia-(10-of-19) 03.Sofos_Anastasia-(11-of-19) 03.Sofos_Anastasia-(13-of-19) 03.Sofos_Anastasia-(14-of-19)

Moved by cycles of birth and decay, Anastasia took the long drive to desolation to create art photography for us. She finds it so rare in our times to see the reality of decay, death, sickness, imperfection so unhidden before replaced quickly, removed, polished, fixed. She seeks to restore the authentic beauty and passion that lives so unabashedly in urban decay. The same wonder of nature filling the dry lake bed for tens of thousands of years, was taking it back, slowly. Labyrinths of dead fish line the shore, trailer park grave yards take a glamorous death like retired stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era, thunder and lightning storms pound as the sun sets behind the beautiful haze of thick air on the blissful gleam of water. The once native land comes through in fierce beauty on what looks apocalypse by the sea.

The photographs seek to communicate compassion, realization and full embrace of the decaying process of our own inner landscapes and of our fellow humans. These images express the need to love the humanity, all of it and the fearlessness available to do so. That nothing is wasted and we all belong here as we are, Love enveloped in the zen of decay.

About Anastasia Sofos

selp (2 of 2)Anastasia is a San Francisco born, Bay Area based photographer utilizing color, black and white digital photography as a medium. Her interest and skill create intimacy with every subject matter from inherent beauty bursting through eroded structures in the Mojave Desert, to the quintessential living spirit forever alive in San Francisco day and night. Urban photography and rustic architecture from India to Oakland, California has been her focus in recent years. She also offers commercial interior and event photography. As a returning featured photographer for Dodho Magazine in Barcelona Spain, her work is also available at Wonderland Gallery in San Francisco, the international Pancakes & Booze Art Show, has shown with LAB Art Show, Vancouver Canada and various local/ international small businesses. Please contact the artist directly for sales, shows, auctions, charity.

Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos
Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos
Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos
Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos
Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos
Zen of decay | Anastasia Sofos

More Stories

Visual poetry; DreamWorld by Sarah Allegra

Visual poetry; DreamWorld by Sarah Allegra

DreamWorld began one long, sleepless night while I tossed and turned with the frequent insomnia I struggle with. As I lay there not sleeping, I had a vision of a magical person in charge of sleep and dreams and as I continued to not sleep, more characters came to me.
Solaris by Roberto De Mitri

Solaris by Roberto De Mitri

There are places that emerge in front of us as a direct expression of our own mood. Nature becomes a manifestation and pure expression of our own feelings, transcending the materiality of the elements that compose it.
Special Children of Kattankudy by Kai Yokoyama

Special Children of Kattankudy by Kai Yokoyama

In a country that is 70% Buddhist, but almost all of the 40,000 people in the city believe in Islam. Forty students attend the school "Zahira Special School" for children with disabilities.
https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/bannerpr.jpg

We invite you to participate in the first edition of the Portrait Photography Awards. Our call is open to any artistic interpretation of portrait photography.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BAnImage.jpg

ImageRights provides intelligent image search and copyright enforcement services to photo agencies and professional photographers worldwide.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/mono2022.jpg

The best 100 images along with the winning images published in the yearly book “Monochromatic – Best Photographers of 2022”

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/banner24.jpg

Call For Entries #24 | After 23 editions and more than 100 published photographers, our print edition has proven to be a simply effective promotional channel.

The relationship of subjects with food; FoodPeople by Sara Cencetti

The relationship of subjects with food; FoodPeople by Sara Cencetti

My photo session intends, therefore, represent six different identities through the analysis of the relationship of subjects with food.
Color Moods by Gus

Color Moods by Gus

In my work "Color Moods" I try to create dreamlike atmospheres, sometimes abstract and surreal, my vision of everyday scenes of the world around me or places I travel to.
Larry Louie – A Working Day In Dhaka, Bangladesh

Larry Louie – A Working Day In Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh has experienced one of the highest and most rapid urban population increases in the world. Dhaka city has a huge population of 14 million with over 300,000 migrants arriving annually.
Displaced by Jashim Salam

Displaced by Jashim Salam

Myanmar Army’s campaign of killing, rape and arson in Rakhine, which has driven more than half a million Rohingya out of the country since late August. The UN is calling it the fastest displacement of a people since the Rwanda genocide.
Survival by Taylor Pool

Survival by Taylor Pool

What does it mean to survive, and what are we surviving from? With all people, in all different walks of life, we are survivors. Some are survivors from wars past and present, others from devastation, hardships, miseries, and misfortune; either physical, emotional, or mental.
Black & White; Street photography by Cenk Bayirli

Black & White; Street photography by Cenk Bayirli

Born in 1976 in Istanbul/Turkey, Cenk Bayirli is a passionate amateur spirited photographer specialized in  black and white photography.
Faith by Nilanjan Ray

Faith by Nilanjan Ray

Faith is not about belief. Faith in fact has very little to do with what beliefs you hold, other than that it allows you to hold them. Faith is a sacred, deep, emotionally involved kind of trust.
Together by Anne-Sophie Guillet

Together by Anne-Sophie Guillet

In the ongoing new series ‘Together’, I suggest that we change our attitude and look differently at re- lationships ( friendly relationships, lovers). The social injunction impose itself like a proven normalcy with its hetero-normative codes in our live and our relationship to other.
Out by Eltaj Zeynalov

Out by Eltaj Zeynalov

I started this project after my research about people with mental disability in my country. I have been working on this project for six years.
Coney Island Beyond the boardwalk by Steve Hoffman

Coney Island Beyond the boardwalk by Steve Hoffman

Coney Island Beyond the boardwalk is the title of this project. I am a documentary photographer who has spent the last dozen years working with and photographing the people that live in the housing projects in Coney Island.
Guatemala; Mayan, a people with no state by Emanuele Satolli

Guatemala; Mayan, a people with no state by Emanuele Satolli

The Mayan People constitute about half of the population of Guatemala. The majority live in remote mountainous areas where they are left to live or die.
My mother is by Ji Yeon Yu

My mother is by Ji Yeon Yu

An existence of family is much more special to me, since I am not able to see them anytime for over 9 years. At the age of 14, I came to America to study abroad. I still remember the moment that me and my parents cried and cried in the hotel after the first week of school.
Festival of Lilies by Umberto Lucarelli

Festival of Lilies by Umberto Lucarelli

The Festival of Lilies is a popular Catholic celebration that takes place every year at Nola (Naples, Italy) on the occasion of the patron saint celebration dedicated to San Paolino.
Cloud Cover

Cloud Cover

Epic is an overused word these days but if anything is epic the sky is. A few years ago, I started a project photographing clouds mostly from my third floor balcony and sometimes my kitchen windows.
Lucio Farina : Nepal – A day in the life

Lucio Farina : Nepal – A day in the life

This body of work shows the daily life In Kathmandu Valley which, due government laws, suffer a controlled daily 12 hours black-out. During the electricity cut off people go out in the street trying to catch the last ray of the sun
Seascape; Céleste, my Mediterranean by Michel Lecocq

Seascape; Céleste, my Mediterranean by Michel Lecocq

She wants to show of improbable landscapes that can if we are very careful, be our daily with a little imagination and poetry.

Featured Stories

Japanese Aquariums by George Nobechi

Japanese Aquariums by George Nobechi

Japanese Aquariums is a journey into some of my oldest, most treasured childhood memories. Whenever I visited my grandparents in the small, northern Japanese city of Otaru, my grandfather, a high school teacher and an enormous influence in my life, would take me to the aquarium.
Suri Portraits by Piper Mackay

Suri Portraits by Piper Mackay

Inspired by their environment of wild trees, exotic flowers and lush vegetation. The Suri tribe use the clay soil of bright yellows, startling whites and rich earth-reds to paint each other’s bodies and make bold decisions about their outfits.
The photography of Luis María Barrio

The photography of Luis María Barrio

This project is based on a miscellany of photos that I have been collecting during my travels to India, Morocco, China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Romania. A selection of individual images that are not interconnected and in which I show characters
India; Pilgrims and faith by Olivier Borson

India; Pilgrims and faith by Olivier Borson

My interest for photography dates from my adolescence with my passion for astrophotography. I expanded my field of view and I began to photograph my surroundings.
Water towers of Luxembourg : A Pictographic Study by Gediminas Karbauskis

Water towers of Luxembourg : A Pictographic Study by Gediminas Karbauskis

Water towers are used to store and distribute water. They are found both in small towns and major cities. Luxembourg is no exception.
David : As cold as clay by Jim Mortram

David : As cold as clay by Jim Mortram

Meeting regularly, David and I, in early 2013 began working upon the first instalment of an ongoing series of stories about his life with blindness. The challenging new day to day routines, learning routes into town with his stick or following behind his mother, Eugene.
Dreamland; Tale of the blue pear by Nikolina Petolas

Dreamland; Tale of the blue pear by Nikolina Petolas

Tale of the blue pear; Nikolina Petolas’s project was selected and published in our print edition 16. The series present a search for our own essence, which is embodied in the shape of a pear, in different color and sizes, which can be found in the majority of her artworks.
Poetic lyrics : Il pleut sur Nantes by Philippe Marchand

Poetic lyrics : Il pleut sur Nantes by Philippe Marchand

Barbara was a famous French singer who died about ten years ago. Her very evocative and poetic lyrics are still very successful all over the world.
Scotland & The Environment by Gavin Smart

Scotland & The Environment by Gavin Smart

Scotland and the Environment is a conceptual series touching on a variety of contemporary issues facing Scotland today, such as plastic pollution, marine conservation, intensive agriculture and woodland protection.
Time To Rush Home by David Nam Lip

Time To Rush Home by David Nam Lip

This portfolio is specifically captured an environment with expression of muslim people after they completed the congregation of the Bishwa Ijtema at Tongi, Bangladesh.
The Iberians by Candy Lopesino

The Iberians by Candy Lopesino

The Iberian Peninsula is a geographical concept formed by Spain and Portugal, two geographically united countries but separately by an invisible border. 
Unequally; Urban Women by William Guilmain

Unequally; Urban Women by William Guilmain

The urban space is unequally shared between genders. Patriarchal cultural codes make the street as a place dominated by men. If it is well accepted that men can stay in the street, women only cross it.
Wiebke Haas ; Fine art equine

Wiebke Haas ; Fine art equine

Wiebke Haas is a dedicated award-winning equine and animal photographer from Germany. Ever since she was a little girl she dreamt of hoof-beats and flying through the fields on a back of a horse.
Alternative family album by Frank Rodick

Alternative family album by Frank Rodick

These images are part of what I’ve called an “alternative family album.” With one exception, I constructed each work using vernacular photographs from archives discovered after my parents’ deaths.
Portraits by Richard Ansett

Portraits by Richard Ansett

My style and relationship to photography has been built from this foundation and I have come to realize that my fascination with other people’s lives is entirely relative to my own lack of understanding and sense of dislocation.
Still lifes by Belén Argüeso

Still lifes by Belén Argüeso

More or less three years gave me my first camera ...... I'm not a professional photographer ... just a simple fan trying learn and improve every day,. I started taking pictures of my dog, and uploading them to a pet forum

Trending Stories

Tokyo Hotel Story by Nathalie Daoust

Tokyo Hotel Story by Nathalie Daoust

Nathalie Daoust’s photographs reflect a love for random places and a wild, inexhaustible sense of inquisitiveness.
Urban Sociology ; Katharina Fitz

Urban Sociology ; Katharina Fitz

Katharina Fitz was born in 1985 in Austria, currently working and living as a photographer in Berlin.
Teeth of the Sea by Maggie Shannon

Teeth of the Sea by Maggie Shannon

My project Teeth of the Sea documents the relationship that residents of Martha's Vineyard have with the ocean. The island where I grew up lies off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts and requires a forty-five minute ferry ride to gain access.
Vevchanski Carnival- Synonym for culture and tradition by Biljana Jurukovski

Vevchanski Carnival- Synonym for culture and tradition by Biljana Jurukovski

Here it is how the story of pride, resilience, rebellion, culture and tradition are intertwined in the small village of Vevchani in Republic of Macedonia.
Reflection by Lilyan Aloma

Reflection by Lilyan Aloma

I have spent the greater part of my life living in Manhattan, a city with a constantly changing visual plan that continues to inspire me to explore its physical complexity.
European Street Photography by Katharina Fitz

European Street Photography by Katharina Fitz

“Europe Through My Eyes“ is a photo series by the Austrian photographer Katharina Fitz, which explores the urban landscape of European cities.
One for all by Emel Karakozak

One for all by Emel Karakozak

Emel Karakozak takes us to a new journey on female body with her series of BİR/İM/İZ. Her photography indicates how we scream out by silence, how we veiled ourselves by disrobing and how we become sole by reproducing.
J. B. about men floating in the air by Julia Borissova

J. B. about men floating in the air by Julia Borissova

The idea of creating this book was born after reading the poem by Joseph Brodsky "Lithuanian Nocturne" and this particular passage acted as a source of inspiration
Night photography : Mojave Moonlight by Tom Lowe

Night photography : Mojave Moonlight by Tom Lowe

When the opportunity to work as an artist in residence for Mojave National Preserve presented itself I jumped at the chance. I knew immediately what I wanted to do. With my affinity for the night and the outdoors it had to be “Mojave Moonlight.”
Favelas: the rhythm of change by Albertina d’Urso

Favelas: the rhythm of change by Albertina d’Urso

The favelas of Rio de Janeiro are mostly known for violence and drug trafficking. But, also if those problems still exist, life for most of the inhabitants has nothing to do with that. Favelas are becoming safer and better organized.
England by Valeria Ranalli

England by Valeria Ranalli

Valeria left her hometown in Italy, L’Aquila, just after her graduation and she moved to England where she lived for nearly 4 years. During her staying, she had the chance to visit and live in different cities such as Liverpool, Coventry, Birmingham and London.
The Dance behind the Mask by Pritam Dutta

The Dance behind the Mask by Pritam Dutta

In Purulia Chhau dancers wear large stylised masks while performing and hence the evolving of Chhau Mask making. This dance form is predominantly seen in the states of Odissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.