After working as a roofer in Illinois for a couple of years, I moved to Colorado in 1982 when I was 22 years old to attend the Colorado Institute of Art (CIA) in Denver. Instead of paying attention during high school classes, I had become good at caricature by drawing pictures of my teachers and didn’t know what avenues to pursue regarding a career. The general curriculum at CIA didn’t hold my interest and after a year I returned to roofing, starting my own business (Top Coverage Roofing) in 1985. I’d escape to the mountains once every two weeks to ski, raft, camp, or fish. Art would become an important part of my life later in the form of photography.

Inspired by the TV show Northern Exposure and tired of the big city, I moved to Boulder Canyon and then the Nederland area in 1990, landing in a 440 square foot shack with no water or electricity for 6 ½ years. With limited funds to work with, I didn’t mind sacrificing modern conveniences since the move took me where I wanted to be. Between and during Colorado excursions, I developed an interest in wildlife photography. I didn’t get many good photos, but had a lot of fun trying. For years I took pictures of nothing but animals.

Over time, primitive conditions in the shack wore thin. In the year 2000 at the age of 40, I finished building my house on an acre of land I’d purchased a few years earlier. The views from the big windows brought and still bring the outside in.

Aaron Storms of the Gilpin County News (later renamed the Weekly Register-Call) gave me my start in the newspaper business in 2005. After running some of my wildlife pictures, one day after a submission, Storms said he could use an article to go along with the photos. That was 450 stories ago.

Producing wildlife adventure travel pieces, eventually I would include concerts and events in my portfolio. Now with The Mountain-Ear for the last three years, the odyssey continues. Wildlife photography is still great fun, taking me to such places as Alaska, Africa, India, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands. Other than bird feeder pictures from my deck, animal photos usually take a lot of time and money to obtain so local events and sports make up a greater portion of my work now.

Through the always satisfying act of taking pictures, I learn the story. Meeting and talking with people at events are enjoyable parts of the process.

To view past articles and pictures, go to www.davegibsonimages.com.