About Photographer Steve Sunday

Steve’s passion for wilderness and photography started to develop when he was in high school, living in Bailey, Colorado. Often Steve would take solo backpacking trips on the weekends, enjoying the Lost Creek Wilderness and the solitude it had to offer.

After graduating high school, Steve enlisted in the Navy to attend the Navy’s school of photography. Upon graduating, he took first place in the school’s photo contest. Steve photographed for the Navy for 6 years. After finishing a tour in the Gulf War on the USS Kittyhawk, he quickly got back to the wilderness, hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. The hike took 6 months while living on the trail building friendships and endurance. 2,168 miles of trail wasn’t enough for Steve, and after recuperating through the following winter, he then hiked the 468 mile long Colorado Trail the next summer. Naturally he always carried his camera with him, ready for those extraordinary moments, like this rainbow over a field of flowers in the San Juans. These hikes also gave him ample opportunity to find his unique vision and refine his skills.

Steve then moved to Leadville to attend Colorado Mountain College. He spent the next two summers as a caretaker at Little Rock Pond on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont. His future wife Elise, whom he met at Colorado Mountain College, spent the latter summer with him developing her love for the wilderness as well. Living a simple life on a pond in the Green Mountains was a wonderful experience for both of them, a stark contrast compared to the hectic world we’re used to. Steve and Elise believe wilderness area protections provide opportunities to interact with nature in ways that can’t be found anywhere else. In Steve’s own words, “Where some people see restrictions, I see a chance to experience nature in its purest, most primeval form.”

In 1995 Steve and Elise moved back to Leadville and have lived there since. For them, Leadville is a perfect blend of civilization and wilderness and a beautiful place to live at 10,125 feet. Leadville is a relatively small town surrounded by National Forest and 4 magnificent wilderness areas, as well as some of Colorado’s highest mountains. Now happily married with two small children, Steve continues his passion for wilderness and photography. Steve’s work has been published in Leadville’s newspaper, the Herald Democrat numerous times, as well as publications such as Summit Magazine, Copper Mountain Magazine, Time, and Equus.