Growing up in northwestern New Mexico, one of the easiest mountain ranges to escape to were the San Juans of southern Colorado.  An impressively rugged range, the San Juans were my playground in high school for skiing, camping, and backpacking.  I have a lot of fond memories in this range, and because of its rugged demeanor, I have always enjoyed photographs from the area.

In response to Jim Goldstein’s call for photographers to obtain photographs from their own favorite photographers (was that as confusing as it sounded?) I recently contacted Guy Schmickle, who lives right at the base of the San Juans, about a possible print exchange.  Guy and I have interacted a few times over email, but I was happy to hear about his excitement over Jim’s project.  After a long discussion with my wife, we chose one of Guy’s prints to have in our house–the American Basin Waterfall–because it captures my love for this mountain range, and her love of waterfalls.  He chose my “Stars over Mobius Arch” in return, and we exchanged 8 x 12s of these images.

It was really rewarding to do this exchange with Guy; I’ve admired his work for quite a while, and the photo looks fantastic hanging in our house.  Now, if we could only settle on a spot for it to stay (my wife has tried out 2 locations already)…