Meet Art in the Park Vendor: Dean Allen
Dean Allen is a photographer who captures powerful mountain scenery when backpacking in the Colorado wilderness. His recent projects have included capturing the Milky Way and other starscapes, as well as weather in the mountains. He chatted with Steamboat Magazine ahead of Art in the Park.
Steamboat Magazine: You camp and hike for days when in the field. What does a typical outing look like for you?
Dean Allen: I used to spend a lot of time planning and preparing for a trip, using apps that would suggest what I could photograph there, but I always ended up disappointed. I realized that the preparation was taking away from the experience. Now I plan a route that could have some potential and I go to enjoy it, not to capture specific things. I climb up 14,000 feet and enjoy it, not looking for photos to take – I know the photo opportunities will come to me. If I get a good picture, that’s great, but regardless, I’ve had a wonderful experience. I spend days exploring the area, so it’s more like a backpacking trip rather than trying to get photos.
SM: Do you find yourself returning to the same location to photograph or do you prefer to travel and try new places?
DA: I’ve grown up with wilderness all around me here in Colorado, and as I’ve explored it, I have come to realize that you don’t need to go to famous extraordinary places to see extraordinary scenery. We have so much to see right here in Colorado so I don’t find myself needing to travel to capture incredible landscapes. I often return to places I've been before because I’m comfortable with the terrain and I know where the good compositions are. I like to go to places repeatedly so I understand what to photograph and what will turn out well. I also then get to find the hidden gems and capture what people haven't seen yet.
SM: Nature is very unpredictable. Do you photograph based off of your surroundings or do you have an idea that you try to create?
DA: I only photograph when I happen to be somewhere in the wilderness and I feel something powerful that I need to capture. It never works when you get a vision and try to recreate it, even if you go to the same spot and take a photo of the same landscape. The scenery will always be different, so it’s impossible to have a goal in mind. I choose to wait until I see something remarkable and photograph it. I want photos that are vastly different, so I never go out and try to recreate things that are already out there or that I’ve taken before. I try to capture unsettled weather often, it’s something that is vastly different each time. I can go out and hope for a storm, but I don’t hope to get a specific photo, just to capture what’s in front of me.
Dean will be at Art in the Park this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12. Or, find him online at www.creationimagesphotography.com.