Fire & Rain

"Fire & Rain: Views From The Front Range" is a compilation of photographic landscape images taken over the span

of twenty years in a region of Northern Colorado known as the Front Range. The high plains meet the foothills of

the Rocky Mountains here, spanning between Colorado Springs, CO to Cheyenne, WY.

The majority of images were taken in the areas between Boulder, Loveland, Greeley and Fort Collins, CO. Initially,

the project was a collection of reference shots taken to support future painting projects, with no initial plans to

publish these images in and of themselves. But I believe they stand on their own.

I had the privilege of learning from talented and successful artists and instructors at the Art Institute of Seattle.

One of these professionals was Chris Hopkins, a top tier artist and illustrator in the eighties and nineties. He gifted

his time to us, and imparted much in the way of technique, and more importantly, an instillation of the discipline it

takes to develop into a true artist. Instead of retiring at the time, which his peers were doing, he challenged himself

by creating a series of oil on canvas paintings with clouds as the subject matter. He said clouds were difficult to paint

correctly, and he wanted to challenge himself - even though he was one of the best working commercial artists of

that time. This was a lesson I have always remembered, and it was the spark which began my collection of sunset

and sunrise photographs.

Each image took just a few moments to take. It only cost a few minutes to stop by the side of the road while com-

muting or running errands, and some were taken a few yards from my home. Several images have

intense coloration, which was a by-product of devastating fires and overwhelming particulate debris in the air

during several of the last twenty years in Colorado.

I have accentuated shadow, and I have pulled out color which exists in the original file, but was not as prominent,

much as a polarizing filter removes disbursed and scattered light. The cameras were primarily on cell phones, of

varying degrees of optical capability, and a digital Nikon CoolPix which is now several years old. The equipment

was not chosen for its professional precision, as the intension was not to publish this collection. Consequently,

I encourage the viewer to frame these images as paintings and not photographs, since the imprecision of a brush

stroke can, with the right composition and colors, offer more satisfaction than a cold, clean line.