Decades ago, I took a couple of photography classes in college.  That whetted my appetite for photography, especially landscape photography.  Work and family intervened, however, and I didn’t do much shooting for a long time.  I worked for many years in the Audiovisual Center at Fort Lewis College, and even though most of our work there involved classroom playback and projection support, I was around photography and never lost my admiration for an exceptional image.  

In the last six or eight years, I have read, reread and pored over John Fielder’s book Photographing the Landscape: The Art of Seeing and a few other landscape photography books.  About four years ago, I took a short vacation to Creede, Lake City, Ridgeway, and Dolores.  I shot a couple hundred images on that trip and, although I had only a few images that I really liked, I felt renewed.  On that and subsequent photo shoots, I’ve realized that landscape photography not only gets me out of doors, but connects me with my spiritual life more deeply than many other activities.  Just learning to see what’s actually out there is a skill in itself.  

Today, I’m still shooting with my original Nikkormat 35mm camera, several lenses and assorted peripheral equipment.  I feel my skills are that of an intermediate amateur.  I have plenty to learn about the art of creating a pleasing image – compositional features of texture, line, color, framing, lighting, perspective, light and shadow, and so forth – and what I call the craft of photography – depth of focus, exposure, aperture, lens characteristics, film characteristics, use of filters, etc.  I expect I’ll move to digital imaging some time, but of course that introduces new technology and new ways of operating a camera, not to mention a computer and software.  

In the meantime, I shoot when I can just for the fun, experience, and camaraderie of it.  The Durango Photography Club is a terrific club; there are folks of many different skill levels and interests participating, but everyone is treated with respect, the speakers are very interesting, and a variety of activities are possible.