With the new year just a few days away, it's time for one of my favorite annual blog posts where I get to look back on where the last year has taken me and think forward to where I'll go in 2018. I can't think of a better way to do this than by sharing the best images of 2017!
It was yet another successful year of art shows throughout the summer, I can't thank you all enough for how much you've helped my business grow! I was able to keep a rather similar schedule to the previous year while fitting just a few more shows in at the beginning and end of the show season. It's no doubt that the summer was still very busy but I was able to squeeze in some quick backpacking trip in Colorado along with extended trips into the Wind River Range of Wyoming and the Canadian Rockies with many strong images from all of them. On top of that, the early art shows in the plains states give me a good reason to hang out in the Flint Hills of Kansas which is really a unique and quiet landscape to photograph where I can focus on the simplicity of open spaces.
2017 also marked the year where I was able to release my new ebook "Film in a Digital Age," which I poured years of research and experience along with months of hard work typing it out. I've been overwhelmed by the amount of support from the film community and the feedback received on it shows that people are still moving into the film format and enjoying the educational material. I thank you all for your support with the launch of the book!
Looking forward into 2018, my goal is to work harder in my local landscape of Colorado while still allowing time for art shows and more exotic travel. Colorado really has a wealth of outstanding backpacking and stunning scenery, and trips should be easy to schedule around the shows. Add our golden aspen in the autumn and it's truly hard to beat! Learning how to best budget the time between business endeavors and new images will likely be a major goal each year.
Enough talk! Let's move onto my favorite images of 2017, in no particular order. These aren't necessarily my most popular, but rather the ones I feel are my strongest and my personal favorites. Which one do you like most? Leave a comment and let me know!
"Twilight Over Floe Lake" - A truly impressive rock wall rises over the lake near the backcountry campsite, but a 45 minute walk up to the top of a pass gives you even more incredible views of the mountain range. Golden autumn larch made the scene just that much more special. Prints Available.
"Corn Lilies in the Rain" - Afternoon rain soaked a patch of false hellebore (also known as corn lily), revealing a world of texture, detail, and tones in the early-summer green foliage. Prints Available.
"Twilight Reflections" - Rock spires rise thousands of feet over a calm reflecting pond deep in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. Prints available.
"Cracked Earth and Bush" - A lone bush stands on a huge expanse of cracked earth mud tiles. Sunrise colors pour down from the sky into the barren land. Prints Available.
"Teton Reflections" - The Grand Teton glows in purple hues at sunrise, reflecting in the perfectly calm waters of a beaver pond. Prints Available.
"Canyon Light Beams" - Wind kicks up dust in a remote canyon in the vast deserts of Utah, revealing beams of light that dance about in the midday light. It takes a good bit of effort to get here but it's well worth it to have a place this incredible in complete solitude. Prints Available.
"Flint Hills Moonrise" - The moon rises over the namesake stones of the Flint Hills at sunset. These large outcroppings dot the rich green landscape of rolling grasslands. Prints Available.
"Heart of Stone" - Fallen maple leaves fill a dry riverbed, leaving a clear shape of a stone heart emerging from the ground. Prints available.
"Silos at Sunset" - Silos stand in an endless field of wheat field below a vibrant sunset sky. Prints available.
"Barbed Wire Sunrise" - Vibrant sunrise hues fill both the sky and winter grasses along a fence on the plains of Colorado. Prints Available.
"Solitude at Sunrise" - A lone tree high on the Flint Hills at sunrise. Prints available,
"Golden Glow" - Deep in the Virgin River Narrows, reflected light causes the towering canyon walls to glow for just a few moments. Prints available.
"Lupine Hillside" - Lupine grow endlessly up a hillside near Crested Butte, Colorado. The largest display of the flowers that I have ever seen by far. Prints available.
"Rampart Range Sunrise" - I will never forget the experience of true wild I had here, with four days completely to myself without a soul in sight. While the trek in was nearly exhausting, the days in the valley were calming and reflective with plenty of time to just exist. Prints available.
If you would like any of these images on you walls as prints, please contact me by email or by calling me at (970)412-0679
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Thanks for reading!