Blog

I've been pretty quiet on here lately as I've been working on a few different projects. They are now nearing completion and being sent to press.

The first of these is The Photographer's Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park...

This pandemic has hit all of us hard in so many different ways that I would never have predicted. One of the impacts we're facing as a business is in regards to shipping our products to customers...

Many of you have visited my gallery space in Grand Lake at Studio 8369. Well, I'm very sad to report that the gallery will be closing at the end of this week (Friday September 24). The gallery has been doing really well, but our dear friends Keith and Laura who run it are moving to Seattle...

Writing The Journey Beyond was a very stretching experience. I so wanted to ensure that this book would address the challenges being faced in our society, but in a way that was meaningful and healing...

Three years ago I launched a book that was very different from any I had written before, a book filled not only with photographs but also with my own musings on reconnecting with nature and our deepest selves...

2020 has been a year that none of us will probably ever forget. The pandemic lead to weeks where nearly all of us stayed at home, where we had to learn new and difficult ways of relating to one another, a stop to most of our travel and changes in nearly every aspect of life...

On Thursday September 10th, the Colorado Independent Publishers Association held its 26th award ceremony and gave out its CIPA EVVY awards. Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park: The Essential Guide was awarded first place in the Outdoor and Travel category...

During the Covid-19 lock-down I took some time to answer questions sent in via Facebook about a wide range of topics. There were so many questions that I broke them down into three separate videos. The first one addresses hiking related questions on topics such as encountering wildlife, my favorite hikes, mileage covered each year, etc...

My gallery staff have been pushing me for a quite a while to put together a little post on what my life is actually like as they get so many questions about it. People are constantly saying that I have the world's best job, though in truth most of those who say that know little of what it actually entails...

This summer to comply with the health regulations of the State of Colorado, Larimer County and Estes Park, we have implemented a number of changes that will help to keep our staff and guests as safe as possible...

Estes Park photographer and author Erik Stensland says his photography was “an attempt to figure out how to get paid to hike.” That career decision has earned Stensland another award. His 2019 book “Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park: The Essential Guide” was recognized as Best Travel Book of the Year by the Independent Book Publishers Association at their 32nd annual award ceremony...

I am thrilled to announce that on Friday May 8th, Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park: The Essential Guide was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for best travel book of 2020. The Benjamin Franklin Awards recognize the very best in independent publishing in the United States and is run by the Independent Book Publishers Association...

Today is Earth Day, actually the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. This is a day that is relevant to all of us no matter what side of the political aisle we may lean towards. Probably now more than ever we recognize the value of sunshine and clean air, trees and flowers and untamed wilderness...

For a couple of weeks our books will not be available on Amazon. This is because we are in the process of handing over our book sales to Publishers Group West which will be handling our book sales throughout North America...

I hope that this newsletter finds you and your family all healthy and well in this unusual situation that we find ourselves in. This was probably not the spring that most of us imagined when we first entered 2020...

If you are like me, it is hard to spend so much time inside. I feel the pull of nature and long to get out to hike through the woods and ski through the deep snow found at the higher elevations at this time of year...

In the publishing industry, the most prestigious award for a small publisher is a Benjamin Franklin Award. These are given out each year by the Independent Book Publishers Association. This year they had 1,700 entries...

Yesterday as I skied through the forest during a snowstorm I marveled at the deep stillness and silence. The only sound was the gentle falling of intricate flakes on my jacket. These tiny crystals, each unique but so small and seemingly insignificant, somehow transformed the world with each passing hour...

What's it like to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park during the winter season?

As we all know, winter in the mountains can be incredibly beautiful. There's something joyful about fluffy white snow and blue skies...

I thought some of you might enjoy taking a peek behind the curtain to see what it's like writing a book. It certainly isn't glamorous or exciting. Instead it is often quite scary. This seems to especially be the case when you know that the first volume was so well received...

Listen, can you hear it? The autumn grasses rustle as they gently sway in the breeze. Shh! Do you hear that gentle whooshing sound? Can you hear it increases in volume and then decreases only to increase again, incessantly like the waves of the sea? That’s the wind moving through the forest...

Day after day and year after year I post images of our incredible natural world. I celebrate its beauty and its power to lead us into healing and wholeness. Yet if I limit myself to merely posting photos while watching silently as our environment is swallowed up for the sake of "the economy" then perhaps my love of nature is only an illusion...

With over 300 miles of hiking trails, it's no wonder that Rocky Mountain National Park saw a record-breaking 4,590,493 visitors in 2018. Colorado's famous protected lands are home to 124 named peaks at 8,789 feet or higher, part of The Continental Divide and an abundance species of mammals, birds, fish and plants...

I was asked by one of my staff members, who helps run one of our social networking sites, to write up a little description of one of my days. The challenge is that they vary so greatly that none are quite the same...

In the annals of nature photography, Erik Stensland may someday be as synonymous with Rocky Mountain National Park, as Ansel Adams is with Yosemite...

Six hundred and eighteen days ago I embarked on a new project at the request of the Rocky Mountain Conservancy. They wanted a new hiking guide for Rocky Mountain National Park that would address the new realities of the Park with its rapidly growing number of visitors...

My heart sunk as I approached the meadow. This spot which for years had been the most fertile section of wildflowers, usually filled with a mixture of elephant head, scarlet and sulpher Indian paintbrush, pinnate-leaved daisies and arrowleaf senecio, was now just a field of gravel with a few sprouts of green struggling to poke through...

Some would call him lucky to spend so much time surrounded by Colorado's iconic peaks and valleys, but Estes Park photographer Erik Stensland said his career of capturing Rocky Mountain National Park comes with bad weather, early mornings and long treks...

In early December we held a pre-sale of my upcoming book, "Hiking Rocky Mountain National Park: The Essential Guide". The sale lasted just under two weeks and during that time we sold 667 copies! That will give me a real boost in helping to pay for the printing...

I was thrilled to learn that Backpacker Magazine came out with their list of the best gifts for hikers and my book, Whispers in the Wilderness was listed as one of the recommended items. You can see their other list of gifts here: https://www...

Over the years I've focused my photography primarily on creating large prints for homes and businesses. Later I started creating numerous publications with my images such as books, calendars and cards...

In the mailbox today was an award from the Colorado Independent Publisher's Association. It appears that my book, Whispers in the Wilderness won second place for Motivational & Inspirational books as part of their CIPA EVVY Book Awards...

In 2013 as I was writing my first coffee table book, Wild Light, I realized I would need to form my own publishing company. At the time I had no idea what direction it would take. I've now published six books, am in the process of preparing three others for publication and have produced a number of calendars and greeting cards as well...

Hiker at Finch Lake, RMNP

On August 23rd of 2017 the Rocky Mountain Conservancy asked if I would create a new hiking guide for Rocky Mountain National Park...

I'm pleased to announce that we are now taking registrations for my 2019 photography tour of Slovenia and Croatia. We'll be heading back to some of the most beautiful locations on this planet, just in time for peak autumn colors...

In mid-May I was contacted by Active Interest Media and asked if I would consider being a part of three commercials for Tamron Lenses. Since Tamron makes some pretty good glass I agreed. They let me test out the three lenses for about a week so that I could get comfortable with them...