About John

John Fielder (1950-2023)

John Fielder worked tirelessly to promote the protection of Colorado’s ranches, open space, and wildlands during his 40-year career as a nature photographer and book publisher. His photography influenced people and legislation and earned him recognition including the 1993 Sierra Club Ansel Adams Award, in 2011 the Aldo Leopold Foundation’s first Achievement Award ever given to an individual, and in 2017 Colorado Mountain College presented him an Honorary Degree in Sustainability Studies.

He toured the state in 1992 to promote passage of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund citizen’s initiative, a law redirecting all Colorado lottery profits to protect open space and create new parks and wildlife areas. This led to the creation of GOCO, on whose board he served for its first eight years. To date GOCO has protected 2 million acres while investing $1.3 billion. His photographs of 19 wilderness areas in a book Our Colorado Wilderness Future influenced Congress to pass the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993.

In 2023 John donated his Colorado photography to History Colorado. The museum is the repository of this collection of more than 7,000 photos distilled from 200,000 made since 1973, and which are now available to the public for personal and commercial use. In addition, received important artifacts from his career for exhibition including photography equipment, published books, various papers, and oral histories about life on the wilderness trail.

Over 50 books were published depicting John’s Colorado photography. He enjoyed teaching photography workshops to adults and children, and presenting slide shows far and wide. From the nuclear submarine USS Colorado to the halls of the Colorado Supreme Court, his prints decorate thousands of walls around the world. John Fielder In Focus, a biography written by Steve Walsh for young people, was published about his life in 2019.

John spent most of his life photographing his beloved adopted state of Colorado yet found time to explore many more places in North America and around the world. He donated thousands of images, books, and prints to non-profit environmental organizations for the promotion and funding of their respective land use protection initiatives.