Photographer's Profile

Jeremy Janus

Jeremy Janus Photography, United States

I moved to Colorado when I was 18 and I struggled deeply with depression, anxiety, and suicide contemplation following high school. I lost my sense of purpose and meaning and struggled to find myself in my latter adolescence. The most meaningful aspect of life that I found when I moved to Colorado was nature. The wilderness would eventually help me through the dark times of my life that included losing a friend to cancer, breaking my back, almost dying from the subsequent surgery complications, as well as several other transformative struggles I faced in early adulthood. I fought through the years of darkness and finally began to conceptualize my life, meaning, and purpose in ways that could bring light to other people’s lives. My artistic journey began at the age of 20 when I started drawing superheroes, which progressed into painting the following year. I produced my first canvas the week following my back surgery and near death experience in 2007. I produced over 100 works of art and donated 65 drawings and paintings to children’s hospitals all over the southwest United States. I did not pick up a camera until I was 30 years old in 2016. I had just moved back to Colorado and one of my childhood friends urged me to pick up a dSLR camera for all my nature adventures. I eventually gave in, picked up a camera, and immediately became obsessed with photography. My love for nature and passion for art were finally able to combine for me to create beautiful nature photography. All the years I spent in the darkness quickly turned to light as I started taking and sharing photos of my experiences. I began to intertwine stories of the pain and suffering I dealt with over the years as the sharing became cathartic for my soul.