Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.

Almost every day James DeWalt posts a photograph on the Facebook page NedHeads. It is usually a landscape shot during his walks at Caribou Ranch or Barker Reservoir, or from a perch on a cliff in the wilderness area.

Sometimes he captures the soft look of a young deer or the wise visage of an aging burro. Often the photographs are in vibrant colors, every shade of a mountain sunset, or he goes back to the clarity and drama of black and white.

For the past couple of years, James has been seen strolling round town, a tall, lanky, chisel-faced figure with dreadlocks down to his thighs; a large-lensed camera hanging round his neck with his one hand gripping, ready at the trigger.

His posts on Facebook usually include a "good morning" or "good evening, Nederland." His shots highlight the beauty of where we live, allowing all of us to get a glimpse of a moment in nature we can't always see.

Most young men his age are venturing into the world of working for someone else, of parties, of recreating in the mountains, not doing solo treks with a camera.

James doesn't even have a vehicle.

His former life doesn't have much to do with his present life.

He grew up near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, out in the country. As he grew up, he thought he wanted to become a chef, so after high school he went to work on the "inside" of the business. The first chef he worked with advised him to work at a variety of establishments, gleaning what he could from each place and then moving on.

"He said this way would give me a far better understanding of the business as a whole, instead of diving into Culinary School," says James. So he did exactly that, following a path that led in interesting directions; acquiring knowledge that gave him the ability to travel and have a job anywhere he went.

In the spring of 1995, at the age of 20, James left Pennsylvania to travel with a giant band of "miscreants" called the Grateful Dead family.  After the last Grateful Dead show in Chicago in 1995, he landed in Boulder. About a year and a half later, he learned that a restaurant in Nederland, the Tungsten Grill, was looking for help.

During the phone interview he learned the interviewer was a friend from Boulder and he was "in." For seven and a half years, James explored his new home, falling in love every day.

James says photography was never one of his passions. "I grew up in a family with my father, an avid shutterbug and his father a very avid amateur photographer. I wasn't all that thrilled about doing to others what I had been subjected to my whole life."

And then the digital age arrived. James talked a friend of his into loaning him a camera to take pictures at a concert. It wasn't long before he purchased one of his own, and soon never left home without it. In 2007, he bought his first DSLR and then later a telephoto lens to shoot at a festival he was attending.

"That weekend I spent time with an amateur photographer who introduced me to the real world of photography and how to use manual mode. My first great shot came from that weekend and won me a contest this past New Year's Eve. The rest is history."

A few years ago, James left the restaurant business and took an office job, not really wanting to go back into the food and beverage business. He began thinking about turning his photography into a business.

James guesses photography is in his blood, in spite of the many years of posing and placing himself in embarrassing moments for his grandfather. He remembers a trip to Europe in 1986, when his grandfather decided to elevate himself for a proper shot of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles and stepped on a 300-year-old ottoman, instigating a security freakout.

"He was never afraid to put himself in the spot he needed to be to grab the shot."

James' grandfather died a long time before James began his journey into the world of capturing the moment. Although he wishes he could have spent more time shooting with his grandfather, James believes that he is beside him every times he ventures out to shoot.

In the past year, James' parents have retired and begun to travel in their RV. When they came out here, he became the recipient of the family's photographic archives, including his grandfather's images and negatives.

"It is truly an amazing body of work to look through, with some family shots, pre-grandpa, that date back to the late 1800s. One of these days my goal is to license some of my favorites and share his work with the world."

After much encouragement from his friends James began considering sharing his own work. He spent most of his time shooting and learning how to do post-digital production.

"While photography is the route I've chosen as a main focus, the concept of the studio came to fruition with the work in progress goal of not just photography, but also other aspects of digital work." James enjoys the computing power in his studio, the fractal design and compositing, the 3D modeling and animation, digital and video editing.

The goal of his studio, the 8500 Light Lab, is to explore the various realms and build a computer render farm that has the power to incorporate the other hobbies.

He chose the Canon 5D III for its video capabilities, as well its photographic talent. The studio gives him the space to enjoy the creativity of the product photography as well as scene building.

His realm is the outdoors. He says it makes him cringe to think of shooting subjects indoors, but he does have the ability to green screen people wherever they want to be. But why not just actually go to the place and shoot?

James says he is too new to the world of digital art to put it out into the world except for sharing on Facebook and posting for friends. He is getting his business off the ground, gaining a base of clientele in areas from portraiture to music to product photography, and trying to get into fine art print sales.

Although he shoots prolifically in his own back yard, Indian Peaks and Rocky Mountain National Park, he aims for further destinations such as Yellowstone and Yosemite and "the whole world."

James, being a climber, would also like to learn the technical aspects of how to shoot while hanging off a rock wall. Which makes him ponder what kind of a photographer he is.

"I just want to learn it all," he says.