Photographs of Helper, Utah: From coal town to creative heaven

Helper, Utah Photographs: Capturing a Desert Artist’s Community

Helper is one of the seemingly endless gems available to any road tripper willing to get off the beaten path while exploring Utah. Years ago I was driving up the 191 and stopped to make a photograph of the old sign for the Balance Rock Motel. I’m a sucker for vintage signage anyway, but this was particularly interesting with the stark desert features in the background. Add in the 7up sign and it became a must stop. Looking around there was no inclination of any sort of civilization, let alone an entire town. While standing there making photographs a policeman stopped to ask what I was doing and seemed satisfied enough with the answer. Afterward I continued on my way, thinking there was nothing else in the area at all to photograph. Some ten years later I discovered a thriving artist community in Helper, tucked away off the 191. The 191 is a stunning backroad for people driving south from Salt Lake City and continuing east on the 70. Driving into town is sort of a “holy shit” moment. Why is this town here and how does it survive? And the only real answer is art! Helper, Utah is an artist community in the middle of nowhere filled with galleries! It’s such an incredibly unique place. In all my travels I’ve never really seen anything like it. And the excitement that comes from discovering such a town is what keep me addicting to road trips!

Contact me directly if you’d like to use my photographs of Helper, Utah for editorial or commercial purpose. Prints also available.

Photograph of the Balance Rock Mote Sign in Helper, Utah

The Balance Rock Motel - Helper, Utah

Photograph of the Lasalle restaurant in Helper, Utah

Lasalle’s - Helper, Utah

Black and white photograph of the view up Main Street in Helper, Utah

Main St. - Helper, Utah

Photograph of the Strand Theater on Main St. in Helper, Utah

The Strand Theater in Helper, Utah

Black and white photograph of the Hotel Newhouse in Helper, Utah

The Hotel Newhouse

The Open Road - Photography

American Road Trip Photography

There’s been a hold up with the delivery of Roadside Meditations from Germany, so the release date is looking more like early to mid December. Instead of using this blog post to vent, it seems like a better opportunity to share some new work from the series. They were made over the past two months during two separate road trips to Wyoming and Arizona while working on the new cowboy series.

Looking at these photographs now, there is certainly a calming meditative nature to them. The thing that stands out though, is they aren’t something I could have or would have made 6 months or a year ago. That’s called progress, isn’t it? They aren’t landscapes. So what are they? Not sure you really need to classify them at all. If they are pleasant to look, provide a documentation, or education, that’s what’s important.

Will keep you all posted with updates on the new book as soon as possible.

Utah fine art photography. A beautiful landscape in a rural part of Utah.

Utah

Fine art landscape photos made in a beautiful remote section of Utah, USA.

Utah

Utah Fine art landscape photos by Rob Hammer

Utah

Fine art photo of the California desert. Black and white desert photo.

California

American Road Trip

It seems like every road trip has its own personality filled with unique findings and activities. Of course photography is always the main focus of these trips, but there are also auxiliary goals that I try to squeeze in as well. Ranching, fly fishing, friends, and hunting are just a few of the things that happened in the squiggly red lines on the map. So far it seems like the results are good in the photography category and a hell of a lot of good times were had along the way. Excited to share more the miles soon.

Western Road Trip

Open Road - Photography

American Road Trip Photos - Nevada - Utah

It seems like there is always a new “favorite” state based on a recent experience. Nevada is really creeping up on the list for me though. In a much different way then say Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming, but I really love Nevada. It’s a place that’s generally overlooked or unthought of altogether. Except of course for Vegas. Personally, I’ve had far too many good times there to ever need a return trip. The rest of the state though!! Would be fun to do a whole book just on the state of Nevada…..

Click here to shop my road trip photo book - Roadside Meditations

Click HERE to see more of my American Photography.

Driving across America

Cross Country Road Trip - America - Photography

There aren’t a lot of positive things things to say about American highways. Whenever possible I try avoid the soulless stretches of poorly maintained pavement that teach you very little about the country and the towns/people that inhabit it. The 15 on the other hand is something special. It’s one very long stretch of highway that’s as fascinating as any “blue highway” (backroad) in the USA. I’ve personally been traveling this road since 2006 during the move from Upstate, NY to San Diego, CA. It blew my mind then and still does today. Once you get north of the clusterfuck that is Los Angeles /Riverside County and into the desert, there’s a lot to love. Images can be made from the highway or, if you want to get more intimate, try ducking off into one of the many small towns along the way.

Last month I was working on a a few stories up in Montana without a ton of time to get there, so The 15 it was, straight up north from southern California. Regardless, I ALWAYS find time in-between destinations for one or many of my ongoing series. This trip found images that will fit nicely into the “America” and “Hotel” series.

Places like Lima, Montana are endlessly fascinating no matter how many small towns I see. As someone who lives in a frustratingly populated place, it’s stimulating to stand in and see the beginning and end of a town only 75 yards long surrounded by nothing but rolling hills. You can’t help but wonder what everyday life is life for the people of that community.

The second set of images were made in St. George, Utah. Also interesting for different reasons. Although much bigger than Lima, it’s still a small town “in the middle of nowhere”. One thing that stands out is the way they build homes there to blend in to the environment. The color palette matches almost seamlessly.

Roadside Meditations

Been shooting a “new” series for quite a while now and at this point the working title is Roadside Meditations. The title could change, but the series certainly won’t. If the words don’t make things obvious, the subject will be an array of findings from my time on the road. Isn’t that what I’ve been posting about for years? Yes, but this is different. These images won’t focus on the small broken down towns, barbershops, or basketball hoops. Instead they will show, if I’m at all successful in this pursuit, how I feel while on the road. More precisely how certain places or stretches of road make me feel.

More to come. Lots more.

American Photography

American Photography

Colorado - Utah

Whenever possible I make it a point to take new routes even when the destination might be a place (like Denver) I’ve been a hundred times. That way it’s easier to be inspired by new sights. Occasionally though, when you don’t have a ton of extra time, you find yourself on a familiar highway just motoring from A to B. At this point I’d be confident in my ability to drive from San Diego to Denver with a blindfold on. Still though, it’s a world class stretch of road that should never be taken for granted. Keeping this in mind, I returned to places along the way that I’ve photographed before, while remaining open to things that might have been missed before. Happy with the outcome.

Click here to see more from the AMERICA series.

Road Trip

One of my pet peeves is when people use the excuse of being “too busy”. They can’t do this or that because they are too busy. They can’t exercise because they “don’t have enough time”. Whatever it is, there’s an excuse. What people should say though, is that the particular thing you’re questioning them about “isn’t a priority”. That’s more accurate. Otherwise it’s just a bullshit excuse. I have so much work that’s been made over the past year+ that I’ve been meaning to post on the blog, but it hasn’t been a priority. Two posts down from this one is about an 8,000+ mile road trip I did and still haven’t posted about. Now I’m posting about another road trip, and who knows when I’ll get around to posting images from it? Another reason is because I’m trying to figure out the balance of posting/not posting images when they will be involved in something bigger than the blog. I’m currently working on a few book projects and would prefer to have a lot of the content fresh for the book releases. Is that wrong? Better to just post and get the imagery out there? Who knows. There is no right answer I suppose. Either way, my priorities have been in other places than the blog, but I’m trying to be better.

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Utah

I've got so much content to post, and trying desperately to catch up on it. I keep cruising over these images, and thought I'd get them out of the way. Gotta love Utah. The more I road trip, the more it seems like there are states that want to give you good stuff. And others that really make you earn it. Utah is one that seems very giving to me. Not sure if I get lucky or what, but I always seem to come out of there happy. This day didn't see a lot of shooting because I was in kind of a rush driving back from Colorado with Emily who had to work. Still though, the few times the camera came out, it was a success. I love this type of shooting.