Last November, I traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Supercomputing conference. The best part of attending conferences like this (I mean, aside from expenses being paid, which is awesome) is the few days where you have to yourself, to explore around the area!
Salt Lake City has an interesting history, as it was basically founded by Mormons looking for a place to settle. It has since evolved into more focus on outdoor recreation, as the mountains are apparently a great place to ski (they actually hosted the 2002 winter Olympics!). Since I come from Vancouver, I have... opinions on what makes a place good for skiing. So, some day I need to come back and check out how it stacks up.
Anyway, I was fortunate to have a friend from my university also attend, and we decided to rent a car one day to explore a bit. For part one, I am going to show off where we went: first into the mountains, and then to visit the place the city is named after -- the Great Salt Lake. So, without further ado, on to photos!
A Snowy Mountain Trail
Up on the top of the mountains, I visited Silver Lake. This was nearby a ski-town called Brighton, along Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. When googling for things to go check out, this was highly rated -- and it was a good pick! Being November, there was fresh snow, enough to make some really pretty photos. I hope someday to come back here, with more time, and go skiing on the mountaintops here!
The Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake (and yes, it's called that), we were more excited to see, yet honestly in retrospect I preferred the mountains. None the less, we checked out the lake, from the Great Salt Lake Marina (which is also I guess a state park). The panorama here is actually a full photosphere! I just need to learn how to turn it into one fully; it's a massive shot, the raw is over a gigabyte.
Fresh Snow on the Streets
Walking around the streets, heading to the conference one morning after a fresh snow. As it was too early for anyone else to be walking around, it gave off a rather barren feeling (or, well, perhaps Utah just isn't as populous as I am used to).
Utah State Capitol
To end the night, I walked up to the Utah State Capitol building, on Capitol Hill. I didn't have my tripod with me, but I got the shot I wanted none the less!
That's all for today! For those of you interested: Camera is Sony NEX-7, with my usual Zeiss 16-70mm lens.
Click an image to enlarge! They are, of course, down-sampled from my original copies; we can chat if you're interested in any full quality versions. As always, these are my original photos, and I maintain the copyright.
Don't forget to 
if you like my blog, I like to post picture stories!
In what part of Vancouver do you live?
I am in Burnaby east (near Burquitlam)
Cool, that's where my brother lives! I go to UBC, and live on campus.
Hahah I live in Salt Lake!! thats cool that you visited :)
Haha awesome! I was really fond of how peaceful the area is, must be a decent place to live. :)
I'd like it!
I have only skied the mountains once in Utah but I lived here for 20 years now or so. The mountains are so steep. Skiing is for those who really know how to ski. Park City which is above, east of SLC about 35 miles on Interstate 80 is the site of many Olympic events. Enjoy, pot is illegal in Utah and they are serious about it.
That's what I like to hear! :D Thanks for the info!
SLC us my home. There are so many amazing opportunities for the outdoor photographer.
I've been posting more street photography photos on my account though.
You've got some great shots that's for certain.
Thanks! :)
Wow you always shock me with these photos, you post process the image or just strait from the camera?
Thanks! I do post-processing, but not much. For the most part, it's usually to correct the lighting, especially in the cases where the sun is directly in the shot.
I see it has good dynamic range, i have 6D but i hate him so much very very bad dynamic range, i prefer the phone :)
I always wanted to visit Salt Lake City. You gave me more reasons lol
It's worth a (short) visit. Stay tuned for parts 2+3. :)
If you like skiing you'll like it. Or Mountains for hiking.
But I feel like we don't have much here LOL
Awesome photo's !
Looks awesome!
Awesome pictures @anyx :)
красота!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Interesting and beautiful!
Very nice pics
Awesome photos!
This could be a good place to mine BTC due to the cold, right?
Need a source of power generation for cheap electricity though!
Nice photos. Thank you for the post
Awesome post and pics! Up & followed :)
https://steemit.com/spanishchallenge/@aniestudio/spanishchallenge-2-entrada-1-plegarias-a-los-dioses plagiarism