Discovering the Magical Bonneville Salt Flats

By KÜHL Editor on June 19, 2023

2 min read

Table of Contents [Show]

1. Exploring My Backyard: Bonneville Salt Flats
2. KÜHL Best Seller Men’s Jackets

Prajit Ravindran started his photography journey eight years ago. He dabbled in different genres of photography before focusing on landscape photography and traveling to 22 states to capture the natural beauty of the United States. He moved to Utah five years ago and fell in love with the state and its rich, diverse landscape. Prajit is now based in Salt Lake City. He loves to include a human element in his photographs to add a sense of scale and to inject energy into the image. Follow Prajit on Instagram @irockutah.

Exploring My Backyard: Bonneville Salt Flats

I love landscape photography, and as a result I love to travel to discover new and interesting locations for my photographs. However, with a full time job it’s not possible for me to travel often to far away places.

A few years ago my photography was stagnant due to lack of travel time, so I decided to explore my backyard. During one of these explorations, I came across the magical Bonneville Salt Flats.

The Bonneville Salt Flats is a densely packed salt pan and one of the largest remnants of the ancient Lake Bonneville. The 30,000 acre expanse of hard, white salt crust is almost 5 feet thick in places, with the depth tapering off to less than 1 inch as you get to the edges. Land speed records are often set here, and the location is on the National Register of Historic Landmarks because of its contribution to land speed racing.

There is no entry free, and visitors can drive on the salt. Just 100 miles away from Salt Lake City in Tooele County, it’s a perfect location for me to rush to when the conditions are ripe for photography.

There isn’t a bad season, time or condition to photograph the flats. During winter, there is about 1-2 inches of water on the flats. This produces amazing reflections during sunrise and sunset.

At night you can see clear and sharp reflections of the stars. Night photography has become my passion, and discovering this location has been blessing since it boasts some of the the darkest skies in Western Utah.

With 25 trips to this place in the last two years, the Bonneville Salt Flats has been one of my most visited locations in Utah. Every single time the flats put on a great show with different patterns, colors and textures on the surface.

Whether it’s a sunrise…