Denise Dethlefsen

"I began my journey into photography almost by accident when my husband bought me a 35-mm film camera for our anniversary many years ago. I'm mainly self-taught, with some mentoring and workshops along the way. I’m from a family of talented artists, musicians and writers, but somehow could never make my brain and fingers work together for any of those skills. The camera allows me to make art in a way I’d never been able to accomplish before. It frees me to be creative while not having to force the process. It gives me a view into the world that is sometimes impressionistic, sometimes real. It allows me to “see” something, then take it home and bring out either the original vision or something entirely new in post-processing. I don't call myself a nature photographer – my tastes are more eclectic and wide-ranging – but most of my imagery is taken outdoors.

My photography is often spontaneous, unpremeditated, and serendipitous. I’ll "see" an image, quickly set up for the capture, press the shutter, then look again to see how I can improve, take additional images from the more thoughtful perspective, and then go home and cull out all the later images while keeping only the one or two I first "saw." I have numerous images where the composition, colors and forms seem almost instinctive; there are others where the work in post-processing was the inspiration for the end result.

I currently live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the foot of Pikes Peak in the American Rocky Mountains, and close to a variety of contrasting landscapes – from the “14ers” (mountains higher than 14,000 feet) to the plains, from mountains to desert, from high country to rolling hills, from thick forests to shortgrass prairie lands. My husband and I frequently explore these areas, and they’ve provided many of my favorite images."