At the end of October after a busy summer season I once again ran off to the desert. They are becoming places of retreat for me, places where I can enjoy solitude and beauty. They are places of healing and prayer. It reminded me of why so many of the early church leaders were known as the "Desert Fathers". On this trip I had generally bad weather but I still managed to take a few images and enjoy a break from the business of life for a little while. Most of the images I took were more of the abstract images since the sky offered little most of the time. I've recently noticed that when I am in the mountains my photos tend to focus on the grand landscape and when I'm in the deserts I am captivated by the small details. What a wonderful and varied world we live in!

Many people who drive across Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park look out across Forest Canyon to the distant valley of Hayden's Gorge. It seems so close and perhaps even accessible. Many people dream of one day hiking down into the valley and across this forest, thinking that it can't take more than a few hours. Others have heard the incredible stories about the ruggedness of Forest Canyon and wonder if they are true. Yesterday a friend and I made the journey. It was an epic adventure, one that started at midnight at Bear Lake and ended at Trail Ridge Road near the Ute Crossing. Here is a full report of our trip.

April is my slowest month of the year at the gallery so I decided to get away and catch my breath before the busy tourist season arrived. I drove out after work on Sunday and then spent the next two days shooting, returning to Estes Park after sunrise on Wednesday morning. The weather conditions weren't amazing but I still had a great time and covered a lot of ground. It was a wonderful break and provided quite a few photo opportunities. This is simply a stunning part of the world and so very different from the mountains where I spend most of my time. For most of my visit. Have a look at some of my new desert images.

While I love the natural world and enjoy capturing its beauty, it is important to remember that a large percentage of the people on our globe face the challenge of poverty. Close friends of mine have been working to give people a hand out of poverty through the creation of small business programs in Sudan, Uganda, northern India, etc. Their organization "Global Business Assist" is doing some amazing things. I encourage you to visit their website and consider getting involved. To further raise awareness to this need I am in a race with another photographer to be the first Colorado photographer with 10,000 people signed up on my Facebook Artist page. (See Press Release) If I win, I will donate $1,000 to the work of GBA. You can encourage others to sign up and help me get there. Most importantly, you can use this opportunity to let others know about how they can be involved in helping the world's poorest through the work of GBA.

I use this website to post my best images and important news, but many of the daily items and smaller announcements don't make it here. If you want to keep in touch with Erik Stensland and his photography on a more regular basis then consider following him on Facebook. He updates it regularly with images, information about what he is doing, where he is hiking, special offers and upcoming events. It also provides you a way to give feedback on the images you see. You can find his Facebook page at this link: "Erik on Facebook".

I just returned from a 10 day trip to the Desert Southwest with several friends. Every day we were in a new location covering large areas of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. I haven't spent much time in the deserts so it was all new to me. We explored both well known places as well as other less known areas of this amazing country. I have never had much of an interest in the desert but friends assured me I would fall in love with it and I did. There was an amazing variety of landscapes, textures and colors. While I still consider myself a mountain guy, this has opened up a new world of possibilities for me. Thanks for taking me along guys! Check out this Southwest gallery and see if you can catch a glimpse of why I found it so enchanting.

I recently had a sale at my gallery in Estes Park to sell a number of my older pieces in order to make room for more of my new work on the gallery walls. Many pieces were sold during the sale but there are still a number left over. Someone wrote and asked if there was any way I could extend this sale to the larger web audience. I've therefore put together a clearance section for the website. I have only one of each of these pieces so when they are gone, that is it. "Check it out" and "contact me" if you are interested in purchasing one or more of these highly reduced pieces.

In January of 2004 I began taking photos of Rocky Mountain National Park. The first decent photograph I took of Rocky was "Bear Lake Red", taken on a cold January morning with a sunrise the like of which I have not yet seen again. Since then I have covered a lot of ground while trying to photograph all 415 sq miles of RMNP. Today I uploaded the 1,000th photo to this website. This is an image of Bridal Veil Falls which I shot yesterday. It reminds me of my birthday in 2005 when I slipped on the top of this fall and lost almost all my camera gear. That was a rough day! I've now shot a majority of Rocky, but still feel like there are many corners I have yet see at their best. The park is constantly changing and new views are always to be found. Some say my website has far too many images, but I just can't help myself. There is always something new and beautiful to see.

Beginning the second week of July I will begin offering a weekly "Introduction to Landscape Photography" workshop. This is a 5 hour program combining both field and classroom training, which will help you to create evocative landscape images. I'll also begin offering a new photo guiding service, taking photographers to some of the most stunning backcountry locations in Rocky Mountain National Park which few photographers have had the opportunity to shoot. Later in July I'll also begin offering other services such as hourly instruction and custom itineraries for photographers visiting RMNP. Read my summer newsletter to find out more.

It can be very difficult to find just the right art work for your wall. Every space is unique, every one’s approach to decor is different, and every image communicates its own message. Many people will spend months going from gallery to gallery trying to imagine what the different pieces will look like on their wall. Underlying the process is the fear of making a large purchase only to find that it doesn’t suit that space as well as they hoped. To assist with this difficult decision making process I have developed a new way for you to see what an image will look like on your own wall. Using computer imaging software, I can overlay my artwork on a photo of your wall, allowing us to try a variety of pieces in different sizes to find exactly the image or images that are right for your space. For more information click on the image.