Photography
Mountain Living Studio represents some of Colorado's best photography talents, with work ranging from breathtaking panoramic and landscape photos to tasteful and imaginative nude photos. Whether you are searching for a wall-sized masterpiece or an 8x10 gift, we have high quality photographic artwork that will meet your needs.
Bob MacDonald
Bob Macdonald is an award winning photographer with professional experience in almost all the photographic genres—portrait, advertising, architecture, landscape, sports, model portfolios, special events, fine art. His most recent commercial work has included photo spreads for web sites in the hospitality and restaurant industries and health organizations as well as portraits and photo restoration for a book about seniors making the most of their retirement years. He has also produced hundreds of images for the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce and Rock Ledge Ranch. Bob’s fine art pieces have appeared in galleries and other venues in Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico and have been sold throughout the world. Many of his images reflect his enduring love for the beauty of the American West. After many years working with film and Nikon cameras, Bob now works entirely in digital with Canon equipment, preferring the flexibility of digital processing. He also prefers to do his own finish work and printing in order to keep control of the many factors contributing to producing prints of quality. When needed, he makes subtle changes to his photographs in computer processing software to balance color and light in order to reflect more accurately what he saw when he tripped the shutter; but he has also been known to experiment with the many opportunities provided by digital imaging to extend his creativity.
Paul Hanke
Paul Hanke has one favorite photographic subject – light – and in particular, its interaction with natural form in terms of sharp contrasts and brilliant colors. While grand scales are not a necessity in Paul’s photography, it is on such scales that he finds some of the most dramatic interplay between light and form (and is one important reason that Paul calls the wide open vistas of Colorado’s Front Range “home”). So while you will find many of Paul’s photographs depicting familiar high country scenery, in reality that scenery is (more often than not) just the canvas for a more abstract composition of light! Paul captures the majority of his images on weekend hikes with friends. His scene selection “methodology” (if you can call it that) is purely emotion-based – the chill of awe and delight that rifles through the body when one happens upon unexpected beauty is his meter for whether or not a scene has potential.
Paul was born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and raised in Newark, Delaware. After finishing high school, Paul joined the Army and “saw the world” (getting his first taste of the Southwest during a tour in Arizona). Subsequent to that life experience, he earned bachelors and masters degrees in electrical engineering and has since moved on to a career in software engineering. In light of such a background, Paul quite naturally has an intuitive feel for digital cameras and the “digital darkroom,” and their increasing sophistication has opened up the door to a whole new creative outlet for him. Paul now shares his life with his wife (and furry kids) in Peyton, Colorado.
Paul uses Canon PowerShot digital cameras for capturing his photographs and all prints are made using an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 archival-quality printer and archival quality photographic papers (resulting in archival prints that will be fade resistant for 50 to 100 years when properly cared for). Paul’s panoramic prints are created by digitally combining sequences of photographs while remaining true to the subject matter.
David Clack
David Clack has been a professional photographer for the past 23 years. He started his career as a biomedical photographer at Colorado State University. David is the CEO of Colorado Photographics, Inc., and recently opened the Illustrated Light Gallery of Fine Art Photography in Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado. In 1990, David served on the community advisory board for One West Contemporary Art Center, now the Museum of Contemporary Art. David's first book Colorado Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photography was published in 1998. He has been selling his prints in galleries throughout Colorado for many years. In 2002, David was invited to be a keynote speaker at the United Nations "Year of the Mountain" conference in Malaysia on photographing the Rocky Mountains. Having won numerous awards for his photography in both black & white and color, David's work reflects the passion he has for photography.
"As a young boy, I would hike and camp throughout the Colorado wilderness. I marveled at the beauty and purity of it all: the crisp, clean air and the sound of wind rustling through the tops of ponderosa pine. Growing older I wondered: "Where did all this come from, how could something so beautiful exist?" In the back of my mind I knew it was God's creation, yet I suppressed those thoughts, not wanting to deal with the confrontation of God's existence and mine. Now as an adult, I have reconciled my separation from God through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, through whom all things are possible. So, it is my joy and honor to thank Him who has made the culmination of these images possible for you to enjoy."
Matt Payne
Matt Payne is an avid mountaineer and native to Colorado Springs. Having been exposed to the joys of mountain climbing at a very young age, Matt climbed his first mountain at age 4 and his first 14er at age 6. Matt's style of photography centers around mountains, sunsets, sunrises and panoramic vistas of Colorado's mountains. Matt's specialty is stitched panoramic landscapes, and much of his work provides unique views from spectacular vantages with 360 degrees of view.Matt hauls his Nikon D7000 camera up every mountain he climbs in the hopes of capturing even more incredible shots of Colorado's magnificent mountains. Matt's goal is to climb and photograph the highest 100 mountains in Colorado and he is over halfway there.
Matt currently works in Colorado Springs as a manager in the non-profit sector and lives with his wife, son and two dogs.
All of Matt's photos are printed on archival matte (Giclee) paper, which results in prints that are fade resistant for 150 years. Matt is currently working to learn the art of High Dynamic Range photography, which is the process by which bracketed photos of varying exposure values are combined into one single exposure in a process known as tone-mapping. The final result is a photo that captures a more true image of the actual scene since modern cameras are incapable of capturing the all of light details from a highly contrasted scene in a single exposure. If you are looking to purchase some of Matt's work from our online store, click HERE.
Sonia Obering
A note from the artist about The Passages Series: "There is an innate connection we as humans have inherited to doors, windows, pathways and door knockers. We see doors as a symbol of security, privacy and secrets. Windows are filtered connections and sneak peeks between the inside and outside world. Archways represent a transition and threshold to what lies beyond. Door knockers are the protectors of the home, requiring permission for us to enter. These man-made passages can transport us back to childhood, when a strange door was enticing as we imagined what world was on the other side. Where does it lead? Who lives here and what are their secrets? Sadly, as we age we begin to lose the intrigue accompanied by the unknown. We take for granted the little details in our lives, and see only the stories that have already been written. It is time to make escapes into small moments of fantasy a priority again. I look to restore our child-like enthusiasm for the little things in life through my photography. Let your mind wander to a far-off place where anything can happen if you just turn the handle, crack the window, step through the archway or knock. I encourage you to think beyond the surface and write your own stories. Flex those imagination muscles and keep dreaming! Let it all fade so I can just be me....”