Otto Westerman

Otto Westerman — Breckenridge, Colorado  ·  PhotoTalk TV / Kent Gunnufson

Otto Westerman photographed the gold camps and railroads near Breckenridge, Colorado during the 1800s. Maureen Nichols profiles Westerman and his life in this PhotoTalk TV production by Kent Gunnufson.

The history of photography in the Colorado high country is attributed just a few able to haul heavy equipment into difficult terrain to document a world that was changing faster than anyone could fully comprehend. Otto Westerman was severely handicapped and had difficulty walking. Yet he was one of those photographers.

Breckenridge in the 1800s was a mining town in the fullest sense. The gold camps drew thousands of people into the mountains, and with them came the infrastructure of a functioning community — railroads, hotels, saloons, churches, and the occasional photographer willing to set up a studio at altitude. Westerman documented all of it.

What makes his work remarkable is not just its historical value, though that is considerable. It's the quality of attention he brought to his subjects. The miners, the camps, the machinery, the landscape — all of it rendered with the care of someone who understood that he was making a record that would outlast everything in the frame.

Maureen Nichols, who profiles Westerman in this film, has spent years researching those who lived and worked in Summit County during the mining era. Her knowledge of the period and her respect for Westerman's contribution to the visual record of Colorado history comes through in every frame of the interview.

For anyone interested in the history of Breckenridge, the gold rush era, or the early history of photography in the American West, Westerman's work is essential. This film is a good place to start.