Meet Christopher Pany | Photographer & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christopher Pany and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christopher, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
My goal is to convey how I saw something or how something made me feel. This, I suppose, is my underlying inspiration. Through the years I’ve come to the realization that the way we perceive and remember something is far more important and impactful than how it actually was. With that in mind, I take and edit photos based on how I saw and felt during that particular moment. The same goes for music; I often associate colors and moods with a particular song and then write with that color or emotion in mind. My inspiration is to capture a feeling that sometimes is lost in the reality of the moment or that we failed to see or appreciate. This remains the same when taking photos of natural landscapes, friends and family, and anything in between.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I often go through spurts of trying out a certain style for a photo and then move along to another. I enjoy the variety and to approach a shot from varying perspectives. A photo of a singular tree in a field, in my mind, conveys a much different mood than a family photo at the beach; hence, I would photograph and edit much differently. I enjoy these diverging subjects and contexts and the challenge of capturing each’s specific mood. Not to mention, variety makes for good practice and growth.

What I am ultimately most proud of is that I can go back to some of my first photos and see how much I’ve improved. More often than not I’ll see a photo from several years back that, at the time, I thought was great, and immediately pick out what I would have done differently. The same could be said for music; reproaching past works and updating or tweaking or using them as a foundation for something a bit different.

So, the main lesson is to always turn around and look back: figuratively, you’ll see how far you’ve come and grown; literally, you may capture a great shot you would have otherwise missed.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
From my short time in Colorado, I can safely say the diverse physical landscape of the state is what everyone has to see at some point. A simply drive west on I-70 takes you from rolling planes toward the front range mountains, through the snow capped peaks and renowned ski towns of the American Rockies, into valleys and changing rock types, winding along the Colorado River below and the towering red rocks aside the highway as you ultimately empty into Grand Junction with its arid landscape and surrounding flattop mountain and mesas. All that can be seen in a four hour drive; it’s really an incredible state. You could spend a week within the Denver metro area alone exploring the city, Red Rocks, Boulder, Golden, thousands of hiking trails, and Rocky Mountain National Park and easy hour and a half drive northwest. This is not to knock the cuisine and cultural aspects of the state, but the geographic beauty is why I moved here and is the must see for anyone visiting the area.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A bit cliché, but any shoutout would go to my family and friends who, whether they realize or not, have made much of my creative exploits possible. Most often you just need someone to encourage you or leave you with some simple, positive words and that’s the last bit of motivation to give something a try and see how it all pans out.

Website: https://cpanyphotography.picfair.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christopherpany/

Image Credits
All images were taken by me, Christopher Pany