{{Short description|American photographer and conservationist (1950–2023)}} {{other people}} {{Use American English|date=August 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = John Fielder<!-- defaults to article title when left blank --> | image = JohnFielderPhotographer.png | alt = small headshot of Fielder an older white man in glasses wearing a ballcap with a mountain backdrop | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|08|02}}<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|08|11|1950|08|02}}<!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = photographer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''John Fielder''' (August 2, 1950 – August 11, 2023) was an American landscape photographer, nature writer, the publisher of over 40 books, and a conservationist. He was nationally known for his landscape photography, scenic calendars (which have been published for over 30 years) and for his many coffee table books and travel guides—including Colorado's best-selling ''Colorado 1870–2000'', in which he matched the same scenes of classic photographs taken in the 19th century by photographer William Henry Jackson.
==Biography== John Fielder was born on August 2, 1950.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |last1=Nicholson |first1=Kieran |title=Colorado nature photographer and environmentalist John Fielder dies |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2023/08/12/colorado-nature-photographer-and-environmentalist-john-fielder-dies/ |access-date=August 13, 2023 |publisher=The Denver Post |date=August 12, 2023}}</ref> A Washington, DC, native, Fielder moved to Colorado upon graduation from Duke University, where he studied accounting.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Boster |first1=Seth |title=Beauty, pain shape life of John Fielder, Colorado's famous nature photographer |url=https://gazette.com/life/beauty-pain-shape-life-of-john-fielder-colorados-famous-nature-photographer/article_06dff024-358d-11eb-a28c-33711bfe7420.html |access-date=August 14, 2023 |agency=The Gazette |date=December 20, 2020}}</ref> After working eight years for department stores, he turned his photography hobby into a profession.<ref>[http://www.johnfielder.com/bio.php John Fielder: ''Biography''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226100700/http://www.johnfielder.com/bio.php |date=December 26, 2008 }}</ref>
Fielder married his wife, Virginia, in 1978. The couple became parents of three children.<ref>{{cite news |title=John Fielder, famous Colorado photographer, dies at 73 |url=https://denvergazette.com/arts-entertainment/john-fielder-famous-colorado-photographer-dies-at-73/article_7ea9a8b2-3962-11ee-ac17-c308d684eb68.html#1 |access-date=August 14, 2023 |agency=Denver Gazette |date=August 12, 2023}}</ref>
Fielder won the Colorado Book Award three times, in 1996, 1997, and 2000.<ref>[http://booksense-stores.booksense.com/images/stores/6801/newsletter/colorado.pdf ''Colorado Book Awards'']{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, PDF file.</ref> His photos were published in more than 50 books.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tan |first1=Robert |title=Colorado photographer John Fielder, the man with a camera 'always pointed at nature,' remembered by friends, family |url=https://www.summitdaily.com/news/colorado-photographer-john-fielder-the-man-with-a-camera-always-pointed-at-nature-remembered-by-friends-family/ |access-date=August 14, 2023 |agency=Summit Daily |publisher=Swift Communications, Inc. |date=August 14, 2023}}</ref>
In January 2023, Fielder released the entirety of his over 5,000 photographs into the public domain, with History Colorado as caretaker.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Growcoot |first1=Matt |title=Celebrated Nature Photographer Donates Life's Work to Public Domain |url=https://petapixel.com/2023/01/26/celebrated-nature-photographer-donates-lifes-work-to-public-domain/ |website=PetaPixel |access-date=January 29, 2023 |date=January 26, 2023}}</ref>
Fielder worked to promote the protection of Colorado open space and wild lands. His photography influenced people and legislation, including the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993, and earned him recognition, including the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award in 1993, and in 2011, the Aldo Leopold Foundation's first Achievement Award given to an individual. He was an original governor-appointed member of the lottery-related board of Great Outdoors Colorado, and spoke to thousands of people each year to rally support for land use and environmental issues.
John Fielder died from pancreatic cancer on August 11, 2023, at the age of 73.<ref name="obit"/>
==Posthumous recognition== On January 24, 2026, Amber McReynolds, Chair of the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service, and Colorado Governor Jared Polis unveiled the Colorado statehood sesquicentennial postage stamp at the History Colorado Center in Denver. The forever stamp was designed by USPS art director Derry Noyes and features a photograph of {{convert|13826|ft|adj=on}} Jagged Mountain in the Weminuche Wilderness by Colorado nature photographer John Fielder.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2025/1217ma-colorado-statehood-stamp-to-be-issued-jan-24.htm|title=Colorado Statehood Stamp To Be Issued Jan. 24|publisher=United States Postal Service|date=January 24, 2026|access-date=January 24, 2026}}</ref>
==Exhibitions== * [http://www.coloradohistory.org/exhibits/ThenNowII/ThenNowII.htm Colorado History Museum: ''Colorado 1870-2000, then and now, II''], September 2005-April 2006, Denver, Colorado * The Wildlife Experience, permanent exhibit, Parker, Colorado
==Awards== * Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, 1993 * Colorado Book Award, 1996, 1997, 2000 * National Outdoor Book Award (Design and Artistic Merit), ''Mountain Ranges of Colorado'', 2005<ref name=noba>[https://www.noba-web.org/master.htm National Outdoor Book Award - Master List]</ref> * National Outdoor Book Award (Outdoor Adventure Guidebook), ''Colorado's Continental Divide Trail'', 1998<ref name=noba/>
==Published works== * ''Colorado's Highest: The History of Naming the 14,000-Foot Peaks'' (coauthored with Jeri L. Norgren), Silverthorne, Colo.: John Fielder Publishing, {{ISBN| 1-73444-292-1}}. * ''Colorado 1870-2000'' (2000) Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers {{ISBN|1-56579-347-1}}. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707233738/http://www.bigearthpublishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=345&osCsid=e01de3293b79ecd03c43e2887dd7acc7 ''Colorado 1870-2000 II''] (2005) Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-566-0}}. * ''Colorado 1870-2000 Revisited'' (2001), coauthored with Thomas J. Noel, Boulder, Colo.: Big Earth Publishing, {{ISBN|1-56579-389-7}}, {{ISBN|978-1-56579-389-7}}. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707233755/http://www.bigearthpublishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=421&osCsid=e01de3293b79ecd03c43e2887dd7acc7 ''Mountain Ranges of Colorado''] Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-496-6}}. * [http://www.westcliffepublishers.com/detail.php?id=451 ''To Walk in Wilderness''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006020114/http://www.westcliffepublishers.com/detail.php?id=451 |date=October 6, 2011 }} (coauthored with T.A. Barron), Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-038-3}}. * [http://www.westcliffepublishers.com/detail.php?id=329 ''Along the Colorado Trail''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006020324/http://www.westcliffepublishers.com/detail.php?id=329 |date=October 6, 2011 }} (coauthored with M. John Fayhee), Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-010-3}}. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707233743/http://www.bigearthpublishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=352&osCsid=e01de3293b79ecd03c43e2887dd7acc7 ''Colorado: Lost Places and Forgotten Words''] Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|0-942394-88-7}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707233749/http://www.bigearthpublishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=395&osCsid=e01de3293b79ecd03c43e2887dd7acc7 ''John Fielder's Best of Colorado''] Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-429-X}}. * ''The Complete Guide to Colorado's Wilderness Areas'' (coauthored with Mark Pearson) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707233804/http://www.bigearthpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=326&osCsid=e01de3293b79ecd03c43e2887dd7acc7 ''A Colorado Winter''] Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-289-0}}. * [http://www.westcliffepublishers.com/detail.php?id=436 ''Photographing the Landscape''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915020626/http://www.westcliffepublishers.com/detail.php?id=436 |date=September 15, 2012 }} Boulder, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56579-228-9}}.
==See also== {{portal|Photography|Environment|Mountains|United States|Colorado|Biography}} *List of Colorado state symbols *List of mountain peaks of Colorado {{clear}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.historycolorado.org/john-fielder-collection John Fielder Collection]: A collection of 5,000 images, managed by History Colorado * [http://extras.denverpost.com/books/book514.htm Denver Post book review: ''A Colorado Winter''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081226013223/http://www.johnfielder.com/index.php John Fielder's Colorado] * [http://photomediamagazineonline.com/?p=405 ''Photomedia Magazine'': "John Fielder: head for the mountains"] * {{discogs artist|John Fielder (2)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fielder, John}} Category:1950 births Category:2023 deaths Category:American nature photographers Category:Artists from Colorado Category:Sierra Club awardees Category:People from Summit County, Colorado Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Colorado