Great Salt Lake in Winter

In January I had the opportunity to be in Salt Lake City for a couple of nights.  Me being me, I took my camera and tripod with the hopes of getting out to the Great Salt Lake for a sunset or sunrise.

As luck would have it I got to do both!

Since I was going to be staying a little north of SLC I thought getting out to Antelope Island would be a good destination.  Boy did I pick the right spot.

The island is in the Great Salt Lake and a state park.  I had visited once before during gnat season at the end of April now I was going back with snow on the ground.

As I made the drive across the causeway road to the island I entered a winter wonderland.  The view toward the island across patches of snow, water, and maybe some ice too toward the mountainous island and distant ranges beyond looked almost like those images you see from Antarctica.  It certainly was a far different look than I had seen before.

I only had about an hour to sunset and so headed out to an area I knew had a view west and north across a bay with more mountains.

I got there and to the lakes edge with just a few minutes to sunset.  I had brought my Sony A7R and adapted Nikon 20, 50, and 100mm lenses as it makes a very small kit.

I worked with all three.

The light was bright but there were in essence zero clouds in the sky.  So I stated wide and then as the sunset went to a narrower view.  The view north had some great compositional elements and the longer lens and polariser to help make the scene pop some.

It was a good way to end a day.

I was up early the next morning and decided to go back.  I arrived with the stars and moon still in the sky and went back to the same area.  It would put the mountains between me and the sunrise but I liked the location and hoped it would be good.

At first I got a few images lit by the moon.  Then as the night faded I got a few more images.  I stayed there until the light was getting closer to sunrise and the clear sky looked like I had already seen the best light.


I drove across the island to see the view back toward SLC with some low clouds and fog in the sky and I was able to set up a quick composition as the sun was rising over the mountains lighting up the fog into a great scene.

Shortly thereafter I was on the road out of the park with a full day of activities to accomplish.

A sunset and a sunrise.  Neither very long but enough to make a few nice images and have a great experience.