Photography

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Greg Stahl was a photographer long before he owned a camera, and it has at least something to do with rooftops.

While taking classes in English-lit at Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison, Colorado, Stahl lived in a run-down apartment complex he affectionately learned to call the Sierra Condominiums (known to everyone else as the Sierra Apartments). Located on the southwest edge of town, adjacent to the city’s industrial area, the Sierra Condominiums weren’t much to look at, but they were  prime-time real estate for the Gunnison Valley’s predictably jaw-dropping summer sunsets. Each afternoon, as the day’s thunderstorms passed, Stahl would entice friends with a six-pack of beer to the roof of his apartment. They would sit and marvel, often playing a poetic word game he fancied he invented, and watch as shadows crawled down the flanks of the nearby foothills and then as the sky gradually transformed from the tranquil passing of expired thunderheads and azure-blue to an explosion of rich, fiery hues.

This was not a mere passing fancy. For much of his life, Stahl has been fascinated with the power of the setting and (more rarely seen) rising sun. There is poetry in the austere strength of what we see in the natural world, and this difficult-to-quantify potency is what Stahl sought while sitting atop the roof of his Gunnison, Colorado, apartment. It is the topic of doctoral dissertations. It is the subject of the works of authors, theologians, philosophers, biologists and physicists.  It is a force so big and mysterious that words and ideas, however adept and adaptable, seem to fail at fully capturing whatever “it” is.

But photographs don’t fail. They may not explain, but they capture and preserve the complex beauty of an intricately balanced natural world, and for this reason Greg Stahl was eventually drawn to the camera. Photography, in short, is appreciation and education. And, perhaps most importantly, it is communication.

The art and craft of photography have been more hobby than profession for Stahl, but he has showed his work at several galleries, has donated photographs to charitable events and is planning to participate in more shows as his skill behind the lens evolves and as his body of work grows. Having only received formal education in black-and-white film photography more than a decade ago, his sometimes very non-traditional techniques are entirely self-taught. His preferred subject matter includes the inspiring wide-open vistas and compelling details of the West’s wild country.

And, of course, sunsets.

Follow this link to view a gallery of some of Stahl’s favorite images. Otherwise, click the square thumbnails or use the drop-down menu to link into this site’s galleries.