If you want to fully appreciate the scenery our state has to offer, you need to completely immerse yourself in it.
For some people though, just looking at Colorado’s breathtaking views isn’t enough. For Eric Schuette, a local outdoor photographer, there’s a need to document them. To do that, he travels to all corners of the state, sometimes to completely remote areas, in search of unique images that will resonate with his audience.
One recent outing found Schuette trekking several miles into the Holy Cross Wilderness near Leadville, lugging a heavy pack with everything he needed to spend a few days off the grid photographing an unfamiliar location. We tagged along on that trip to see what he goes through to get the perfect image.
PHOTOS: Colorado-based outdoor photographer travels the state in search of the perfect image
“I think with backpacking it gives you an opportunity to be in a place for when things get really special,” Schuette said. “If you were to come up here for a day hike it'd be pretty and I think everyone would love it, but spending a couple of days in a place lets you really explore it.”
Not everyone is able or willing to explore the way Schuette does, so he says his ultimate goal is to give people the opportunity to see the places he sees, and hopes that his work will encourage them to get out and explore areas they haven't been to before.
To Schuette, that means coming away with an image that, above all else, is unique. He wants to provide a new perspective on each location he visits.
To achieve that goal, Schuette often brings along a waterproof housing for his camera, which he uses to get a rare look at underwater landscapes that most photographers don’t capture. It’s part of a project he’s been working on that makes his photography stand out.
“I thought it'd be really interesting to start showing lakes and streams and waterfalls and different things that we kind of take for granted at a certain level,” he explained. “So we look at it from eye level and it's really beautiful, but what what does it look like beneath the waves? How does that change that setting? How does it make it more interesting, or does it?”
Schuette says such an endeavor is challenging, but that it makes for a more rewarding experience.
“By being in the lake there's just a greater appreciation and maybe a more powerful experience that way. And when it all comes together it's one of those things that's hard to put in words. You just have to be there and experience it,” he said.
Coming home with those types of shots is easier said than done though, and the nature of outdoor photography is that, sometimes, things are completely out of the photographer’s control.
“When we come out to the mountains we don't get to create the light, and we don't get to create the weather. We rely on what's around us to try to make something interesting.” Schuette said. “There has been trips where I've gotten up at 2:00 a.m. and hiked up to a spot and didn't take a shot because the conditions just didn't allow for it. Although it's really disappointing, I also was able to spend a day in the mountains, and that still beats a lot of what else I could be doing.”
It’s that positive attitude that keeps him from dwelling on bad experiences and allows him to learn from them, which he believes is an important part of the learning process.
“It's maybe disappointing but you learn something from it. You learn how to read the forecast better. You think ‘Oh but maybe if I would've approached it from this way, or that angle, maybe I could have got something.’ So you try to learn from it,” he said.
Schuette says that, even when things don’t work out, there’s always hope that they will the next time, and that pushes him to get back out there.
“There's trips where I've been out for a few days and not really gotten anything. But nature has a way of surprising you, and I think when you lose that hope, that desire, is exactly when [something amazing] is going to happen,” he said.
WATCH - The story behind the story: The hunt for the perfect shot
For Schuette, each year is filled with opportunities to capture those amazing moments, and the first step when he arrives at a new location is developing an approach and an interesting composition, which helps his odds of being in the right place at the right time.
“When I get to a new location, especially one that there's not a lot of information about, it's a lot of staring and really trying to take it all in. It's spending a lot of time looking at how the scene goes together before I necessarily even get the camera out,” he said.
Schuette says he tries to develop the potential images in his head, so that he can go back when conditions are just right and capture them in the best way possible.
The work doesn’t stop once an image is captured though. How a photographer chooses to edit an image is half of the creative process, and Schuette puts a lot of emphasis on keeping his images as realistic as possible.
“Basically if you were standing next to me for a sunrise this morning, what I come up with, what the finished product is, you could be like ‘yeah that's what I saw too.’” He explained.
Sometimes, that means spending up to a couple hours editing a photo to get it just right. Hopefully, once the process is complete, he’s left with an image he’s proud of. He says he tries to stay cautiously optimistic about the shots he thinks have potential, but that capturing that perfect image is a pipe dream.
“Those of us in landscape photography haven't gotten [the perfect image] yet. So I think it's that push to keep going out and waiting for that moment that just totally sings to you, sings to your soul. I think that drives a lot of us to kind of keep going and doing what we're doing,” Schuette said. “And I think that kind of drive to continue to show things that are different is a powerful one, and I think that keeps me going a lot of mornings when maybe I'd rather be in the sleeping bag.”
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This story is part of a series of features 9NEWS is producing focusing on local remarkable photographers that capture the beauty of Colorado through landscapes, wildlife, portraits and more – and we want to see your photos!
Get out and capture Colorado, and be sure to post your favorite images on social media using #9Stills or by emailing yourtake@9news.com. All photographic styles are accepted and your photos have the chance to be featured by 9NEWS!
