John Fielder Put His Stamp on Colorado

John Fielder may be gone, but the celebrated nature photographer has certainly not been forgotten.

On Saturday, January 24, at History Colorado Center, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil the Colorado Statehood Forever Stamp commemorating Colorado’s 150th birthday…and bearing a Fielder photograph of Jagged Mountain. Immediately after, the new Mountains Majesty: On the Summit with John Fielder exhibit will open on the John Fielder Mezzanine Gallery in the facility; it’s the third installment in a five-year run of shows devoted to the photographs and conservation efforts of Fielder, who donated much of his work to History Colorado.

The first installment, REVEALED: John Fielder’s Favorite Place, opened at the center just three weeks before the photographer passed away in July 2023. At the opening reception, Fielder stood before a packed crowd, talking about a forty-year career that culminated with the gift of thousands of photographs to the state, an incredible act of generosity. “I never felt like I owned these places,” Fielder said of the lovely locations he photographed. “I always felt kind of guilty.”

The Jagged Mountain photo on the stamp is included in the new show; History Colorado members helped choose others. “This exhibition is a love letter to John Fielder and his mountain photographs from History Colorado’s members,” says Katherine Mercier, the historian who developed the display. “As History Colorado members selected photographs, I was struck by their deep emotional connection to John Fielder’s work. His powerful photos of Colorado’s mountains brought back personal memories of the state’s beauty and wonder.”

The power of his work to capture Colorado is also being celebrated by Visit Denver; Fielder is one of four community leaders who will be honored at the 26th Annual Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame Dinner on March 4 at the Mission Ballroom. Visit Denver’s summary of Fielder’s accomplishments:

John Fielder (1950–2024) was Colorado’s best-known photographer and nature writer. He began photographing the state in 1973 and traveled across 104,984 square miles of the Centennial State, documenting its landscapes and environmental changes. His work was featured in dozens of books, earned him numerous awards, and played an essential role in the passage of legislation to protect public lands in Colorado and beyond. His awards include the 1995 Rocky Mountain National Park Stewardship Award presented by Rocky Mountain National Park, the 1998 Humanitarian Award presented by National Recreation and Parks Association, and the 2011 Aldo Leopold Foundation, which was the first time the organization awarded an Achievement Award to an individual. Fielder’s 1999 book, Colorado 1870–2000 paired his contemporary images with those taken in the late 1800s by pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson, offering a powerful visual record of the state’s transformation. He also published Denver Mountain Parks: 100 Years of the Magnificent Dream in 2013 to support the park foundation’s fundraising efforts. In 2023, he donated more than 7,000 photographs to History Colorado. His scenic calendars and photography books introduced thousands to Colorado’s natural beauty. Over the years, Fielder also became a prominent advocate for open space and wildland conservation, speaking to thousands annually in support of land use and environmental causes. He received the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography in 1993 and the Aldo Leopold Foundation’s inaugural Achievement Award in 2011. He was a three-time Colorado Book Award winner and an original governor-appointed member of the Board of Great Outdoors Colorado.

Governor John Hickenlooper was so taken with Fielder’s work that when he moved into the governor’s office in 2011, he asked the photographer if he could display a blown-up image on the wall. Fielder responded by sending over three photographs, and Hickenloooper went with “Last Dollar Ranch.”

“It will be a great addition to the atmosphere of the governor’s office,” Fielder said at the time. “We’ve picked the image, and we’re designing the treatment as we speak; it will be applied to the wall.”

But since this was government work, that was easier said than done. The elaborate woodwork on the walls of the governor’s office had been created by guests of the Colorado Department of Corrections decades earlier, the 8′ x14′ reproduction ultimately went inside the faux frame created by the inmates — once the space has been shored up to hold it. “We’ve got to reconstruct the wall so that we can attach these large print panels with adhesive,” Fielder explained.

That photograph is no longer on display in the governor’s office, though. A $2.8 million remodeling job stripped the office back to design details from a century ago. Initially, the goal was to send the blown-up image to History Colorado, but it had been glued to the panels in that faux frame, which itself is now gone, revealing even more historic columns from the 1920s.

As a result, the prisoners’ work is now sentenced to the dustbin of history. Fortunately, History Colorado already had the original “Last Dollar Ranch” photo in its collection, thanks to Fielder’s donation.

“John Fielder will always be ‘Colorado’s Photographer’ capturing the amazing beauty of our great state,” says Polis, who’s slated to be at the January 24 ceremony. “Colorado is thrilled to receive the gift of a USPS commemorative stamp for our 150th birthday. This stamp will feature the awe-inspiring splendor of Jagged Mountain in the Weminuche Wilderness, one of Colorado’s breathtaking landscapes. This special stamp truly honors what makes Colorado unique.”

First Day of Issue Dedication Ceremony of the Colorado Statehood Forever Stamp and opening of Mountains Majesty, 8:30 a.m. to noon, Saturday, January 24, History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway. Learn more here.