DEREK JOHNSTON IMAGES

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Raising Stewards

Colorado Fourteeners

Adventures

Ensuring that the next generations have strong connections to nature is essential in making sure there will be future stewards of Earth. This portfolio reveals how my family is building and maintaining these connections. Exploring the natural world, learning about its diverse creatures and hunting and gathering food are all part of raising the next generation of stewards.

For over twenty years I have climbed and trekked around Colorado’s fifty-eight, fourteen-thousand-foot peaks with my 4x5 view camera. My intent has been to spend enough time on and around these majestic peaks to witness something more than the geography of the landscape. I seek to capture the truly sublime beauty of an austere and unforgiving environment as it is revealed by the ephemeral conditions of light and weather.

Pretty self explanatory. Wild places inspire and recharge me. Sometimes you just need to run a river, climb a mountain, explore a new place and get out of your comfort zone. A lot of times I make pictures on these adventures.

Reflections

Long exposures of surface reflections on water paired with one-of-a-kind photograms that capture light transmitting through water. Abstract images that explore the transformative aspect of the photographic medium looking at a common element.

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Up The Pan

A collection of over twenty years of images showing the natural history and phenology of the Frying Pan River, a tributary to the Colorado River Basin.

Natural Curios

A curious collection of images made both in the field and in a variety man-made exhibits that explores man's relationship to the natural world and its creatures.

Talise

Landscapes

The Archives

Abstract, minimalist images that explore the different responses possible in a common composition by varying color and atmospheric qualities.

A collection of classic landscape images inspired by the masterful techniques of my predecessors. These images represent why I originally became a photographer and where my visual aesthetics began.

An assortment of early photographic and installation work that reveals the origins of my aesthetics and diversity of creative pursuits.

Derek Johnston has been a professional artist for over thirty years. His fine art landscape photography is in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and has been honored with a Colorado Council on the Arts Grant in Visual Arts. Derek is currently a professor and Director of Professional Photography at Colorado Mountain College. “As an artist, my ultimate goal is to use my personal vision to help promote and educate people about the beauty, complexity and interconnectedness of the natural world in hopes of inspiring them to be better stewards of Earth.”