Jeff Lukas Photography - The Nature of Colorado and the West

I'm a "plein-air" photographer who focuses on the natural world. My aim is to honestly and simply reflect the beautiful "everyday" landscapes, flora, and fauna of Colorado and the West. My images tend to be quietly expressive, rather than showy or dramatic.

My photography is energized by the same spirit of curiosity about the natural world that led to my training in geography and forestry, and my work, over the years, as a naturalist, forest ecologist, dendrochronologist (tree-ring scientist), and climate-risk researcher.

I was born and raised in suburban Boston, where growing up I had the keys to a woodland kingdom. When we moved to Colorado when I was 14, I traded the closed-in New England woods for the expansive horizontals and verticals of the Rocky Mountains. I still love forests, and there are plenty of those here, too.

My uncle--another scientist-photographer--gave me my first real camera, an Olympus XA, as a college graduation gift. I migrated to digital in 2004, following the compact form factor and versatility of the XA in all of my subsequent cameras (currently, Olympus OMD-5 and Pen-F, and Canon SL1).

Most of my landscape photography has been opportunistic, as a secondary objective of a hike or ski outing. When I go out with the primary purpose of capturing images, I usually seek more intimate images, like animal and plant portraits.

My images have been featured in the calendars of the Orient Land Trust, the Colorado Tree Coalition, and CIRES, my home institute at CU-Boulder. They have also been exhibited as part of the biennial "Land through the Lens" exhibitions by Boulder County Parks and Open Space.