About Jack Brauer

I live in the small town of Ridgway, at the foot of the mighty San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Though my passion for the mountains long preceded my passion for photography, I have found that photography often provides the motivation to explore places I might not usually hike to, in weather I might not usually prefer to hike in, at times of day that I might usually rather be sleeping. The result is that my photography takes me to spectacular scenes I might not witness otherwise, and I hope to share these scenes with others through my photos and prints.

I do most of my photography in wilderness areas, usually while backpacking and often while exploring remote places where no trails exist. For me the joy of photography is intertwined with the joy of immersing myself in nature, and the challenges of photography are inseparable from the challenges of traveling through the mountains on my own two feet. In large part, my photos are simply an expression of this love of being out in the mountains.

I first started playing with cameras while I was in college at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where I graduated with a BA in Fine Arts Printmaking (mostly intaglio, but also lithography, woodcuts, and screenprinting). Since I've moved on to photography, my photos have been collected by print customers in all of the lower 48 United States and a dozen countries, and have been published worldwide in numerous magazines, calendars, and other publications for organizations including National Geographic Traveler, Alpinist, Backpacker Magazine, Climbing Magazine, Outdoor Magazine, Lonely Planet Magazine, Sojourns, 5280 Magazine, Cowboys & Indians, The Trust for Public Land, Wilderness Workshop, The Wilderness Society, Weingarten, Apple Computers, and many more.

You can hear more about me and my photography in the F-Stop Collaborate and Listen and Seek Outside and Frame Focus Foto podcasts, and an interview on Switchback Travel.

About Jack's Photography

The driving force behind my photography is a desire to seek out and photograph extraordinary scenes and moments in nature. As you can probably tell from my photo collection, I am drawn to colorful grand landscapes and I love the entire process of finding and photographing new and unique perspectives – including researching and scouting out potential photo locations, the experiences and challenges of hiking and backpacking in the wilderness along the way, and the thrill of occasionally catching amazing light and photographing the scene I envisioned or maybe a spontaneous scene I didn't expect. I wrote an extensive article on PhotographyLife.com called Originality in the Grand Landscape, in which I explain in more detail my motivations and strategies in mountain photography.

About Jack's Fine Prints

With excellent color accuracy, vibrant contrast, and high archival ratings, my fine art ink prints display impressive photographic clarity that will last for many decades. I always strive to create the highest-quality prints possible, and these photographic prints are truly impressive with a vibrancy and clarity that makes the images come alive.

I also offer several unique archival display options, which are clean and modern-looking alternatives to traditional framing. Please see the prints page for more information about my beautiful print display options.

About Jack's Camera Equipment

I've used many camera systems over the years, including over fours years shooting exclusively with a Tachihara 4x5 large format film wooden field camera. The large format camera taught me much about optical principles and the craft of photography, but these days I prefer the workflow, versatility, and portability that modern digital cameras and lenses offer. My current primary camera system is a Sony A7Riv 60mp digital camera matched with a Sony 20-70mm zoom lens and sometimes a Sony 16-35mm f/4 wideangle zoom, Tamron 70-300mm telephoto, and other specialty lenses on occasion.

Beyond the camera gear, you can also see a list of my backpacking gear here.

Nature First

Nature First

I am a proud member of the Nature First Photography Alliance. Our goal is to help conserve the natural places we love and photograph through wise use, education, outreach, community, and research. If you are a fellow photographer who cares about responsible nature photography, please join us.