Mountains Majesty: On the Summit with John Fielder

Mountains Majesty: On the Summit with John Fielder is open now at the History Colorado Center, in the John Fielder Mezzanine Gallery. It opened on January 24, 2026, and runs through January 10, 2027, so you've got plenty of time to catch it.

If you've spent any time in the Rockies, you've probably heard of John Fielder. He's known around here as "Colorado's Photographer," and for good reason. He spent four decades documenting the state's ranches, open spaces, and wildlands, and his passion for the outdoors started when he first saw the Rocky Mountains as a young student. From there, he spent over 50 years hiking across the Centennial State in all kinds of weather to photograph its peaks and summits, taking more than 200,000 images along the way. In January 2023, he donated a collection of more than 6,000 of those photos to History Colorado, which is still digitizing and cataloging them.

Fielder didn't just take pictures; he used them to push for the land he loved. His work influenced the passage of the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 and helped create the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund in 1992. In 2011, the Aldo Leopold Foundation gave him its first achievement award. This exhibition is curated by historian Katherine Mercier and is the third in a five-year run of rotating shows honoring Fielder's life and contributions. It also marks Colorado's 150th anniversary of statehood.

Admission is included with general admission to the History Colorado Center, and kids 18 and under get in for free. The show runs through January 10, 2027, at the History Colorado Center in Denver.