Twelve Months, Twelve Temples! {Utah Fine Art Photography}

I'm a little scary with resolutions. Once they are written down they are basically set in stone for me and I review my list every day. I was a little nervous to make photographing a different temple every month as one of my New Year's resolutions for 2011. I knew this goal would require travel and though I adore adventures more than I have words to describe you just never know where life will take you in a year.

I decided to photograph the Provo Utah temple in November. November is actually one of my favorite months to photograph in. I love the softer, more muted colors. My little boy came with me. I made sure to have plenty of snacks and Angry Birds on my phone for him to play and he was happy. We like to have adventures together.

It rained almost the entire drive down and I was discouraged, but it stopped just as we got there. The rain turned out to be a blessing because the light was pretty, the colors extra saturated and the clouds were a lovely added element. The rain also added a fun Hollywood effect. It wet-down the road in front of the temple which added a bit of reflection.


Manti was my final temple. I'd wanted to photograph it all year but was daunted by the three plus hour drive. My husband and I planned on driving down and staying overnight but that didn't work out. Todd is a lodging snob and when he looked into Hotels in the area he said that all he could find was a BandB where your rooms were named after LDS Prophets. His words..."I am NOT getting jiggy in the Joseph Smith room." I laughed hysterically and told him I was going to post that on facebook. He promptly threatened me with all sorts of doom and destruction if I did so....don't tell him I posted it on my blog! ;)

Once again my little five-year-old was my adventure buddy. I came prepared with even more snacks and games but he was more interesterd in just chilling on the drive down and sleeping on the drive back. It may have been the inversion. It was extra nasty during that week (Dec. 19th is when we went down) and though I thought it would clear once we got out of Salt Lake it lasted clear to Manti. It was a huge relief to get back to my beautiful Valley where there were clear blue skies. Y'all have my sincere sympathy for having to live with the yucky inversion smog.

We didn't have quite as much fun at the Manti temple as we did at the Provo Temple. There weren't any water fountains for Noah to admire and it was bitter miserable cold. We still had fun. Noah goes to Kindergarten next year and though I never thought I'd be one of THOSE Mom's I am already getting sad at the idea of losing my adventure buddy. We have so much fun.

I did it. Twelve temples in twelve months. I'm humbly proud of fulfilling this resolution. It really was an effort, which of course is the point of resolutions. I have something different in mind for 2012 which I am excited to get started on. The best way to learn and grow is to just get out there and shoot.

Happy Shooting everyone and to all a most Happy New Year!

p.s. There are more photographs of both temples on my Boutique site.

link to the Provo Temple Pictures
http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/provotemple

link to the Manti Temple Pictures
http://fineart.illuminephotography.com/mantitemple