Stepping into the world of art can be intimidating. Experienced artists create awe-inspiring work, and newcomers often question whether they’ll ever measure up.

However, as new artists come into the space, it also opens up new avenues or roads they’d gone down when they were younger and never pursued. Being vulnerable to the world can be scary, but Amelia Price did it anyway. 

Price grew up in De Beque her whole life, a part of 4H and graduating high school knowing how to do her taxes from selling market animals. She then moved to Parachute, where she lives with her husband and son, Fallon. 

“We’ve been together for 14 years and married for 10,” Price said. “It’s been wonderful, we met in Parachute, he graduated from Grand Valley High.”

Price settled into life with her husband, currently working at The Green Joint in Rifle.

“It’s actually kind of important to me, because I had some health issues when I was young,” she said. “Medicinal marijuana can help a lot and sometimes I definitely feel judged because I work there.”

Price said she’ll mention having a son and sometimes customers will have a strange look on their face. 

“I think they think that because I work at a marijuana store that I sit around smoking weed all the time,” she said. “Me having a family doesn’t match that judgement.”

Finding peace through photography

Price said one of the ways she feels at peace is to take photographs. 

“I started about four or five years ago and that’s when I started taking it seriously,” she said. “I’d taken photos before, but this time it felt different.”

Price often takes her camera on family trips — snowboarding, hiking or just heading out to enjoy the scenery.

“We brought snacks with us and we just sat, enjoying the scenery,” she said. “I took some photos and had a nice, relaxing time.”

Her work focuses mostly on landscapes and wildlife, though she sometimes captures a lone hiker or boat on the water.

“I love getting those, to show there’s life there, but the lone boat says so much,” she said. “Colorado is the perfect place to be an artist, there’s so many beautiful places out here.”

Price admitted she was intimidated at first, especially because landscape photography is so popular in Colorado. But she came to see it differently.

“People tell me they live vicariously through my art,” Price said. “To be able to transport themselves, even for just a moment, from where they are right now, sitting on a beach at the lake or watching elk, it can be a real help to people who aren’t easily able to get to those places, either from physical reasons or they just can’t at the moment.”

She said that’s especially meaningful in western Colorado, where many people work long hours in ranching, construction, farming or metalwork.

“Being able to do that for someone, it feels good that I can help,” Price said. “That my photographs are a moment away.”

Building a future through art

Price has started making calendars of her photos and selling prints.

“You could get one of my photos on canvas or framed for around $25 to $50, which is great,” she said. “Or you can get 13 for a lower price and then get more every year.”

She also hopes to branch out into portraits and small weddings, and she’s considering studying both photography and psychology.

“I want to be a counselor or help people in some way like that,” she said. “I’m a little nervous, but my husband and I have been talking about it for a little while.”

Price also talked about her husband’s grandfather, who does a lot of writing and has been using her photographs to accompany his pieces. 

“I’d like to write something too, one day, maybe an autobiography of growing up in a small town in Colorado,” Price said. “Just to give people an idea of what that’s like.”

Poetry also inspires her. She has titled some of her photographs after poems, including “The Road Less Traveled” after Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.”

“I was published in a poetry book called “Eloquence”, I wrote a poem and won a competition,” she said. “That was really cool, it was when Colorado Mesa University was called Mesa College.”

Taking the first step into doing something creative or something you’ve wanted to do for a long time can be intimidating, but as Price discovered, the roads lead all over, even back to where you came. While the road diverged at one point, sometimes you can travel the second road in the yellow wood at a later time. 

Price’s photos can be found on Facebook under Priceless Captures Photography. Some of her work is currently displayed in the Bookcliffs Arts Center in Rifle.