ISTOCK
4" x 5" large-format camera – similar to what Tim Zandee uses.
Stepping Into the Image Like vintage wine, the landscape imagery of fine art photographer Tim Zandee is created with archetypal equipment. The rich, vivid color of Zandee’s art is achieved organically through the use of a large-format (4"x5") camera. The opposite of digital photography, large format film photography requires patience, time and experience. While some people shoot 30 digital frames per second, a large-format photographer may shoot 10 images a week. The resulting composition is the gold standard of fine art photography. Patience is rewarded with incomparable detail, color so intense it’s reminiscent of Kodachrome, and the capacity to produce large – even room-size – images. Sizeable imagery is one of the hallmarks of Zandee’s art. “Landscapes look better when they’re bigger,” he says. “You feel like you’re there. The art becomes a conversation piece.” One of Zandee’s recent creations is 19 feet long. It dominates the front room in the Zandee Gallery in Ski Time Square. Zandee’s triptychs, too, can easily serve as the focal point of a room. Zandee has traveled throughout Colorado and the West, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands, the Pacific Northwest and Canada in pursuit of his art. “It’s not that I love photography – I love nature,” Zandee explains, “And photography is the purest form of nature.” Sometimes Zandee gets up in the dark and does “blitzkrieg” hikes to get the perfect picture; other times, it’s as easy as pulling over to the shoulder of the road and setting up his camera. Either way, his artwork has found a home in Steamboat Springs. “Steamboat is an area where people collect Western, contemporary and modern art – all of which is in my gallery,” he says. Some of his newest work was shot at Steamboat Lake in North Routt County and on Dunckley Pass in South Routt County, where the aspen trees are works of art in and of themselves. Zandee opened his gallery in Steamboat last winter. “My heart is out West. I am a mountain guy. I made the plunge,” he says. Despite 14 • Volume 15, Edition 1, 2021
COURTESY TIM ZANDEE
Photographer Tim Zandee
"Landscapes look better when they're bigger," Zandee says. "You feel like you're there. The art becomes a conversation piece."
