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Subcribe to comment rss feedA passion for local haunts reveals the subtle changes through the seasons
Matt Payne
Matt Payne is a landscape photographer and mountain climber from Durango, Colorado. He’s the host of the weekly landscape photography podcast, “F-Stop Collaborate and Listen,” co-founder of the Nature First Photography Alliance, and co-founder of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards. He lives with his wife, Angela, his son Quinn, and his four cats, Juju, Chara, Arrow, and Vestal.
For the fifth iteration of this column, I decided to focus on the artwork of a photographer who has accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time. His passion and commitment to the natural world consistently inspires me to be a better person, a better photographer, and to try to focus more of my own work on actions and words that inspire others to protect the places we love to photograph. Eric Bennett is a 30-year-old landscape photographer living in the Salt Lake City area who has a deep passion for wild places.
I was first introduced to Eric’s incredible photography when he joined me to discuss his artwork on my podcast in January 2018. Eric and I had a wonderful conversation about his journey into the craft of landscape photography where I learned about his upbringing in a family of performing artists, which heavily informed his pursuit of the creative arts at a young age. I first met Eric in person last fall when he joined my friends and I for a few days of photographing fall colours near where I live in Southwest Colorado. The more I have gotten to know Eric and his photography over the years, the more I am impressed with not only the quality of his work but also the deeper emotional commitment and connection Eric has with the wilderness through his photographic artwork. Truly, it has become quite apparent to me that Eric’s goal with his photography is purely selfless – he wishes to inspire the world to take better care of wild places and hopes to do that by showcasing these places in a way that only he and a small handful of photographers are able to do.