Well I finally got out for my first really productive local photo shoot here in the Salt Lake area. It had been pretty stormy here for quite awhile, and I had a bad itch that needed to be scratched. Only one solution…get the camera out and do some shooting.
I had been following the weather and knew that the storm was to break that afternoon. The wind had been howling all day, but the sky conditions seemed favorable for a nice sunset. So, early afternoon, I grabbed the camera bag, bundled up and headed out to scout my new surroundings. I knew that I wanted to go down by the Great Salt Lake, as I figured it would have unobstructed views to the west. I decided to go to a place called Saltair.
Saltair is the location of a resort that was originally built in 1893 on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake. The resort was cursed with fires, The Great Depression, WWII and the receding waters of the lake, until it was destroyed in 1970 by an arson fire. In 1981 investors decided to rebuild Saltair (1 mile west of the original location) only to have the lake waters rise again and flood the resort a few months after reconstruction. It remained flooded for several years before the waters again receded leaving the resort high and dry again. The structure today is used as a music venue. With its large dome towers, alongside the barren sands surrounding the lake, it reminded me of some kind of Arabian palace.
With the sun dipping towards the horizon, armed with my wide angle lens and tripod, I crossed the wind blown barren sands in the direction of The Great Salt Lake. As I crossed, I began to hear this constant roar like a freight train. I soon realized that it was the crashing of white caps and waves on the lake, generated by the persistent intense wind. As I made my way towards the roar, I found compositions using the low light shadows in the sand patterns. Then as I neared the water, I used reflections to capture the beautiful colors of blue, purple and pink. After the sun had set, I made my way back across the wasteland, as the sands turned from a bluish cast to a wonderful shade of pink. As I made my way back, I set up several times for some wonderful long exposure shots.
