Walking down Colorado Avenue, main street in Telluride, you intersect with Oak Street and find the wonderful "jewel box" Sheridan Opera House.

Built in 1912, the theatre came back to life with the rebirth of the town of Telluride, Colorado itself (1970's) with the theatre as the primary venue of the world renown Telluride Film Festival.

This scene is now partially gone, the "Opera House" sign is either gone or incorporated into the design of the New Sheridan Hotel that occupies this exact space.  This image is
one of my favorites in my collection; the quaint, "warm and fuzzy feeling" take me over.

I saw a solo performance in 1983 of Jimmy Buffet inside the theatre.  Photos were not permitted, it was quaint and "warm and fuzzy" inside as well, a beautiful little theatre.

Happy holidays from us at Denver Photo Archives.  Enjoy the Sheridan Opera House image.

Telluride's Colorado Avenue     1992

Looking southeast, down Colorado Avenue,  the Sheridan Opera House is slightly out of view on the left, but the New Sheridan Hotel is visible.  The light pole is wrapped with evergreen decoration and the street piled high with snow in this image taken the same weekend as the Sheridan Opera House photo above.

Telluride is located in a box canyon; normal car transportation ends here, period. You can see that this small town is surrounded closely by very steep mountains. Telluride is simply
one the most stunningly beautiful mountain towns in the continental United States.

One of these holidays we will have to visit again, walk down main street to the Last Dollar Saloon and have a warm beverage and make a toast to celebrate and enjoy the festive season and the future.

Stay warm, enjoy the holidays and hopefully these images bring a little extra delight for you.

Sandblasting interior of Stuart Buchanan Building, 1633 Wazee Street     1987

The images you are viewing are different degrees of darkness on the edges that
highlight the lighter centered image.

They are extremely strong images, I used to call them "womb shots" - still do I guess. 

Possibly a metaphor of life for all of us in varying degrees at various times.

Joni Mitchell has a song entitled "Shadows and Light"...

You will see this technique in some of my work, sometimes it was from the inside of a building which generally was harder to accomplish for various reasons.

The Stuart Buchanan Building renovation was one of the earlier projects in Lower Downtown to convert empty warehouses into usable structures.  The building is located midway on the west side of the 1600 block of Wazee Street and sold fine antiques.

Up on the 5th floor of the building was a opening to another part of the building that was very narrow.  Inside a man was sandblasting the wooden joists and beams.  The texture of the shaded bricks gave way to view the highlighted worker contained in an airtight suite.  It was so noisy inside the building; the noise came from workers of many trades, but the sandblaster made the most noise of all of them.

It was an opportunity for a great image and I was fortunate to have been there at that moment and capture it.

Inside of the Henry Wagner Building looking S.W. at the Monarch Mills Building
15th Street and Delgany Street     1986

The Monarch Mills building was a grain mill that was built in the 1890's and used to make various products from grain such as flour, which was used in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region.  At that time, it played a very important function and role for Denver.

The small Henry Wagner Building was across the street from the Monarch Mills
building, and as I was snooping around the area, guess what I found?

I was rewarded with a "womb shot" that I knew would be a great image.  Inside the Henry Wagner Building I was looking southwest at the Monarch Mills Building.  I had been inside the Monarch Mills in the past, now I had another perspective of it from the outside. The black shaded angles from inside the Henry Wagner building were similar to that of the Monarch Mills exterior, simply outstanding.

The Monarch Mills building was later demolished and in that exact location, the new Monarch Lofts were built. The cycle of a city's architecture is never-ending.  Done with good planning and intention prevents stagnation and insures healthy growth for a city to move forward.

Slightly to the right of this view, the new MCA Denver was built which has become the beacon of art and energy for this area that has evolved into a community.