Sunrise over the Salton Sea reveals a layered palette of shades and colors; the light arriving slow and sure across a land that feels both timeless and hard-won. From the peaks of the Lagunas to the Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness, the view stretches over a scorched expanse of impossible badlands, bubbling mud volcanoes, and wind-blown sand dunes. Here, the earth tells its story in heat and silence, in dust and distance, the far-off ridgelines rising into a purple mountain majesty. The Salton Sea cuts a formidable line between mountain and desert. It is an oasis for birds and seekers of quiet space, both a refuge and a lonely, haunted place.

This surreal sunrise was captured by Chris Pyle, Discovery Cube Los Angeles' Director of Photography, whose lens has traveled every kind of frontier-from the winding Panama Canal and hidden caves of the Yucatan, to the rugged Alaskan backcountry and drifting Arctic ice pack. Yet time and time again, he returns to landscapes like this, where the American land opens wide and unguarded. For decades, Pyle has devoted himself to filming and photographing these stark, enduring environments and their wildlife, working with PBS Television and National Geographic. The result is a body of work steeped in exploration, shaped by a distinctly American sense of place, and honored with seven Emmy Awards for photography and documentary production.

Purple Mountain Morning: Sunrise over the Salton Sea will be framed in a 30 x 15 frame