{NM Daily}

Women's

Behind The Book: Bonneville Salt Flats

To shoot the “Scenic Beauty” story in The September Book, senior art director Lori Stadig and crew ventured to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, a lake bed famous for the land-speed records set there. This team, however, drove delicately.

“Driving there is scary because you might get stuck, and the salt is damaging for cars,” says Stadig. “It was late April and extremely cold. I brought an old fur coat from the Eighties because I knew the model would be freezing, and her feet were wet a lot of the time. She was such a trouper. The water was about 6 inches deep, so we had to rig some clear Plexiglass for her to stand on. Also, our wellies didn’t arrive the first day so we had to use gaffer tape and garbage bags on our shoes to walk in the very salty water. Really classy and glamorous!”

“A storm blew in, so we all rushed into the motor home, which rocked all around. Then we went outside and the water was gone! Just gone. Maybe for the entire season. The photographer, Alistair Taylor-Young, was so upset, because the reflection on the water was the whole reason for going there. We drove around looking for more water, and the next day we found a half inch that was perfect,” says Stadig.

See the final images on pages 114-133 of The September Book. In lieu of a hard copy, we suggest downloading NM Editions for iPad.