For decades, the Bonneville Salt Flats has welcomed various extraordinary automobile events, among which is the World of Speed. Every year in September, amateur and professional racing teams settle on the salt for a week to pursue their speed record dreams. In LANDSPEED 2, photographer Julien Roubinet explores this iconic gathering and otherworldly destination, embedded in the American car and DIY culture.
About 12 miles long and 5 miles wide, the Bonneville Salt Flats are a 30,000 acre expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah. The seemingly endless expanse creates a surreal environment, the perfect surface and location to reach speeds nearing 500mph.
Fascinated by American culture and and countercultures, Roubinet has made the Bonneville Salt Flats the subject of his work on multiple occasions. He published Voila Bonneville in 2013, a photo homage to the classic cars raced on the Utah Salt Flats.
Roubinet revisits the destination in LANDSPEED 2, a collection of images that delves into the visual language of a unique subculture, through the portraiture of the tight knit community and eclectic range of vehicles that compose it. Striking color, nuanced black & white photographs, close ups and unusual angles, distinct to Julien’s approach to photography, provide a rare perspective on a classic subject.
This limited edition of 300 can be purchased HERE, in addition to prints from the books.
For more about Julien Roubinet read: ICE CREAM HEADACHES