Salt Lake

This last weekend, I made a brief but intense trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. In general terms, I can speak to the purpose of my trip and say that I filmed a series of short biographical interviews, but I do not feel it appropriate to reveal the exact subject matter at this time. Perhaps I will say more after the interviews are released to the public. For now, I will simply address everything that happened between video shoots.

Mormonism resides at the heart of the spiritual, cultural, historical heart of Salt Lake City. It also resides at the center of the city's physical landscape with its temple, conference center, and offices dominating the skyline.

During one of my breaks, I walked downtown hoping to catch a glimpse of the crowds of people attending the fall general conference of the church. Unfortunately for me, the crowds were surprisingly absent. I think perhaps I arrived just after the beginning of the priesthood session, so most everyone had either gone home for the day or had already found their places inside the conference center.



The conference center plaza stood virtually empty under the glow of a magnificent sunset.





My new camera captured some of the finer details of the temple with much better quality than I'm used to getting.



And of course, protesters stood outside Temple Square hoping to sway Mormons from their faith. I always wonder if they ever succeed or if protests end up as a waste of time.



My hosts for this weekend trip put me up in the Anniversary Inn, which is a bed and breakfast that was converted from the old Kahn Mansion. I stayed two nights in a perfectly fabulous room, but I kind of felt that such a beautiful room was partially wasteful. It was like staying in the honeymoon suite without my honey. It got lonely sleeping by myself in those magnificent surroundings.





A view of my bed and the bathroom at the Anniversary Inn.



Early one morning, I got up to photograph Salt Lake City from a non-Mormon perspective. The photograph above was taken from the Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine.



A stained glass window depicting Mary inside the Catholic cathedral.





Various views of the Presbyterian Church including a gargoyle.



The Masonic Temple.



In between meetings and video shoots, I also got to see a few old friends. I met with Candee and Jason McKnight. Back in the early 1990s, they served in the Quetzaltenango Mission at the same time as I did. We had dessert at the Old Spagetti Factory and laughed for hours about the good time we shared back in the day.



Also had a great visit with my friend Percy...



And my friend Nick...