Dan Downing Archives - Colorado Central Magazine

An Interesting Twist to Last Month’s Cover Photo

July 17, 2020April 17, 2019 by Mike Rosso

By Mike Rosso Shortly after our March 2019 issue was mailed out, we were contacted by local photographer Dan Downing whose work graced the cover of our November 2018 issue. He had an interesting story to tell about the March cover photo, taken of Marshall Pass in the 1890s by famed photographer William Henry Jackson. …

About the Cover Photographer: Dan Downing

April 14, 2020November 14, 2018 by Mike Rosso

Although my fascination with photography was born at a very early age, it did not become reality until 1980 when I purchased a studio and began making my living as a photographer. Soon my work was becoming recognized both in my native state of Kansas and at a national level as well. My portrait work …

The Costs of Altitude

April 12, 2011December 1, 2010 by Mike Rosso

Aerial view of Mt.Ouray and Mt. Chipeta, Colorado by Dan Downing.

By Ed Quillen

If the United States had adopted the metric system in 1820, then Colorado’s highest country might be in better condition today with much less in the way of trail erosion, trampled tundra and disturbed wildlife.

Why 1820? The metric system had been devised by the French Academy of Sciences in 1795, so by 1820, Americans certainly knew about it. And 1820 marked the first recorded climb of a 14,000-foot peak in America.

Consider that “4,267.21-meter summit” lacks the resonance and romance of “14,000-foot peak” or just “Fourteener.” And without that arbitrary line in the sky, few of Colorado’s 54 Fourteeners would suffer the traffic they bear today.

Tainted by mythology

December 9, 2009August 1, 2003 by Staff

Letter from Dan Downing

Bishop letter July 03 – August 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Editors,

It seems to me that there is a certain irony regarding two items appearing in the July, 2003 issue. One, Martha Quillen’s Letter from the Editors titled The Persistent Power of Myth, explores our tendency to view things not as they are, but as we are. The other, a letter to the editor by Dan Bishop of Saguache, is a perfect illustration of that concept.