Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah | Shayden + Allissa

I LOVE my job. I know a lot of photographers say that about their craft but today I wanted to share a story about why this built from the ground up business means so much to me.  

Of course getting the opportunity to meet some incredible people and sharing their story is one of my top reasons, but I really love the freedom it gives me to see new places and challenge myself as an artist!!  For the longest time I’ve seen photos of the Bonneville Salt Flats outside of Salt Lake City and I’ve always thought it looked like the essence of magic! I’m not kidding when I say it seems like every single photo taken here is unreal!! But being a wedding photographer from Portland, getting an opportunity to shoot there myself was a dreammm! 

That is until the stars aligned and I had a wedding in SLC and had some time to kill! I reached out to Shadian and Allissa, who were down to get up before dawn and adventure with me AND WOW. It was nothing like I expected but dang, this natural and minimalistic location provided its own kind of magic that had my head spinning! 

Just getting there was a humbling experience as our 90 minute drive was done in the darkest hours of the morning and in a SURPRISE SNOWSTORM!!  Yep, I’m an Oregon girl but the amount of snow coming down was crazy...I guess that’s October in Utah for you!

When we finally found the perfect location and stepped out for the first of the test shots, I’m not kidding when I say it was so deceptively cold and windy outside that it will go down in my life history as the coldest day ever haha! I’m talking below freezing temps and 20mph+ winds! 

But regardless of all the hurdles and breaking down the shoot into 2 minutes of shooting and 10-15 minutes of warming up in the car, this gallery came out absolutely perfect!!!!  

Shayden and Allyssa were the ultimate champs, having fun, staying positive and really embracing my vision while not letting the weather get them down! Heck I don’t think you can tell in any photo that they were absolutely freezing!!  Oof I was so proud of them! 

And to be honest with you, I’m proud of myself because I was able to check something off my bucket list, do something just for fun and be reminded that as much as experience I gain in this industry, I’ll always have to expect the unexpected, and take everything with a grain of salt!  (HA get it?!) 

Anyway I hope you love this gallery as much as I do! 

Enjoy!

- Annie