Eureka: The Road Trip - The Mining Town // Utah Fashion Portrait Photographer

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4:10 AM: Too excited to sleep. 

Here's the thing about traveling with models. I'm a photographer, which means everywhere I go my artistic medium is always on my mind, like how objects and people and faces and the mood of an entire environment can be transformed by angles and light and shadow. And if you're a fashion or portrait photographer like me, there are moments when exploring those environments when we wish we had a model with us. With wardrobe. And makeup. And time. Yet somehow, even after all this time photographing people, I've never taken that notion seriously.

Until now.

This post is the first of three about our day trip this past summer to the Old Tintic Mining Town in Eureka, UT and Little Sahara Sand Dunes (also in Utah).
PART ONE: Tintic Mining Town
PART TWO: Little Sahara Sand Dunes
PART THREE: Behind the Scenes

9:15 AM: On the road




Eureka, UT is also known as the "Old Tintic Mining Town". It has an estimated population of a little over 600 people that spread north and south from a single block. But on a Sunday morning with nobody around, we actually missed it on the first pass and had to backtrack. Farther southwest the road eventually leads to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes and beyond.

From the trunk we unpacked two suitcases and examined the wardrobe we prepared. My suitcase was full of corsets borrowed from a friend and rolled up fabrics from my sewing closet. Ashley's was full of vintage 60s clothing actually purchased by her grandmother during the 1960s. Clearly not ideal for billowing in the desert, we chose the 60s in town.

Models & Hair:
Amanda Dixon (platinum hair)
Mekall Ryan (sandy blonde hair)

Photographer: Wendy Hurst

















The Train

A retired Union Pacific train is parked across from the Tintic Mining Museum that is utterly magnificent. It's old, it's rotting, and it's gorgeous. It's also vandalized with spray paint and trash--actual garbage leftover from actual picnics by actual douche bags who think the world is their trash can. (If I could make one diplomatic plea to those people it would be to respect history; it's all we have!)

From a photographic standpoint, the train has a secondary element of awesomeness, and that is the windows. The three-room, naturally patina'd train is a glorious softbox giant. One could shoot there any time of day and still get gorgeous natural light anywhere indoors. I still go back to it in my mind whenever I need a peaceful moment...

















Location: Eureka, UT 84628, USA

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