Photo of the Day #61

The Great Salt Lake

Photo of the day #61
June 20, 2013
Random photo from my collection.

One of my favorite experiences, and one that I will keep talking about for as long as I live, was my solo cross-country road trip in 2013. It was a dream of mine that I had even before I graduated from college in 2011. I recall looking through my parents’ photo album from their truck-driving days. I was mesmerized by the colors and landscape of places like Arizona, Utah, and Texas.

In 2013, a 24-year-old me set out on the evening of June 5th after the Book Release Party opening reception for the Capture Greater Lehigh Valley photo contest, which was held at The Baum School of Art. Less than a year after getting out of a toxic relationship, I found a renewed passion for photography with the photo contest as a catalyst for new work. Then, I embarked on a 28-day journey to make peace and discoveries. Long hours on the road meant quiet contemplative time to myself. My journey went south from Pennsylvania through Asheville and down to New Orleans. Then I headed west through Houston, San Antonio, to Phoenix and eventually Los Angeles and the coast in San Francisco. From there, I headed back east essentially until I made it home.

This particular photo is of The Great Salt Lake. For most of my trip, I picked spots fairly ad-hoc. In Salt Lake City, Utah, I found a spot close to the lake in my GPS. It turned out to be a desolate event venue, The Great Saltair, just off of I-80 on the southern shore of the lake. I parked and walked out on the dried, crusted basin of the salt lake. It smelled terrible like sulfur. Mosquitos and other bugs were flying everywhere. A bird’s skeleton was flattened and encrusted on the sandy surface. It felt like a barren wasteland. I was amazed by how far you could walk out on the lake floor. Notice the couple and their dog way out in the distance where the water finally begins?