Visit Salt Lake Image Library

2,700 photos and counting. That’s the breadth of imagery that I’ve delivered to the team at Visit Salt Lake over the years. A whole lotta pixels!

Creating an Image Library

Visit Salt Lake’s image needs have continually expanded to encompass advertising campaigns bolstering conventions and tourism to crafting the most comprehensive neighborhood guides for the Salt Lake Valley. I’ve been there, camera in hand a truck filled with grip.

The challenge that Visit Salt Lake faces is showcasing its cool factor to outsiders. Not just that it’s a hop and a skip away from the best mountains in the West, but that you can get a cold drink and a slice of nightlife after your ski day. Indeed, there’s a stigma that Utah is stuffy and not nearly as rad as Colorado.

We’ve proven that’s a faulty misconception and shown our fair city’s je ne sais quoi with a hefty image library to back it up.

I’ve produced more than 20 full-day shoots with models to highlight the diverse offerings in the city. Additionally, I’ve added supplemental run-and-gun visual assets for a wide swath of applications.

Photography Focus, Challenges, and Solutions

Our focus has been to show friends, couples, and families enjoying the outdoors, having a drink, or savoring a fine dining experience. What’s more, we’ve been able to support the LGBTQ community by showing diversity and allyship.

We used untrained talent to retain a certain raw realness, a level of authenticity and relatability. This, in addition to primarily working in restaurants and bars that were open for regular business, created complications that we, again and again, found solutions to.

On-location lighting that was simple and effective, nimble and only slightly noticeable, enhanced the artistry and punch of the photos.

Below, you’ll see nearly a 100 of these images. It’s a doozy of a case study.

Also, check out what I’ve produced for the winter-centric sister brand of VSL. See the Ski City Image Library here.

Review from Visit Salt Lake

“Austen was my #1 go-to photog whenever Visit Salt Lake had photo asset needs. Austen is dependable, professional, and has an eye for detail that is rarely matched in the contracting world. Austen was great both when I was fully involved in a hands-on production, as well as when I assigned him to projects with minimal direction and oversight. From sourcing models and locations to batching selection galleries and making edits, Austen was consistently on-point. From meeting to discuss high-level projects to producing quick run-and-gun assets, Austen’s professionalism and talent runs the gamut. Working with Austen is a no-brainer–I couldn’t recommend him more.”

— Jason Whitehouse, Visit Salt Lake, Director of Content Strategy