The Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area is a landscape and wildlife photographic treasure trove in Farmington, Utah. I’ve lived in the Salt Lake City area for almost four years now, and only learned of this place last week. I’ve passed by it thousands of times. I’ve seen it on many occasions without knowing what it was that I was looking at. I had no idea that it was accessible, and I’m so glad that I finally found it!

What is the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area? To be honest, I’m not entirely certain. There’s a small museum and signs along the road that explain it, but I have yet to actually stop and learn anything. Educating myself is pretty high on my to-do list. What I do know is that Farmington Bay is a bay in the Great Salt Lake, and it is where Farmington Creek empties into the lake. The area where the creek approaches the lake is a marshy wetland with several ponds and small lakes. The Great Salt Lake is a massive salt water lake, but access to it is surprisingly limited. My favorite place to see it is Antelope Island State Park, which is a fascinating spot but not particularly convenient for me. There are a handful of other locations that provide access to the Great Salt Lake, but not many. Farmington Bay is very convenient for me, so that’s a huge plus, as I’ll be able to stop by often. There are several miles of roads (mostly dirt, but well maintained) that take you into the marshy bay, and several miles of trails (again, well maintained) that go even further. I’ve only been to the end of the road and back. The purpose of the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area is, as far as I can tell, to provide a refuge for migrating birds, to protect the marshland, and to provide access for outdoor enthusiasts.

My new project that I begun 2020 with is to photograph Farmington Bay for a year. I want to capture this location under different light, different weather, and different seasons. I want to intimately immerse myself into the environment, so that I can document it as only I can. My goal is to photograph Farmington Bay no less than once every four weeks for the entirety of 2020. I will likely drop by more frequently–if I can make it once per week that would be great–but at a minimum it will be once every four weeks. If I over-commit then I’ll end up abandoning the project before it’s complete. Perhaps if everything goes well this project could turn into an exhibit or book, but for now it’s for my own enjoyment and skill enhancement. While I’ve done plenty of landscape photography over the decades, I’ve done very little wildlife photography. This project will allow me to stretch my skills and hopefully improve my photography.

I invite you to follow along as I embark on this journey. I will be posting periodic updates on the Fuji X Weekly blog. I’ll be using Fujifilm cameras and lenses throughout this project, such as my Fujifilm X-T30. The lenses that I used for these pictures are a Fujinon 90mm, Fujinon 50-230mm and Rokinon 12mm. This post contains pictures from my first outing. I hope that you enjoy these photographs of Farmington Bay!

Part 2