If Ansel Adams shot a gritty western with Sisters of Mercy recording the soundtrack.

Biography

Aaron Hoffmeyer is an award winning photographer living in Colorado. His photography started with magazines covering transportation photography. He had features in several magazines and was even an editor- in-chief of ap publication for several years. Stepping away from media photography he went on his own to express ideas and stories. He spends time traveling to different locations, talking with locals about their history, and getting information on lost and abandoned locations. He also comes across antiques that he uses for in-studio photographs.

Artist Statement

My photography is rooted in the grit and decay of the American past—weathered tombstones, forgotten landscapes, and relics of the old West. I’m drawn to what time leaves behind: the textures of old leather, the lean of a dead tree, the worn face of stone. My work is typically monochrome or sepia, emphasizing the absence of modern life and inviting a mood of quiet melancholy.

These images aren’t meant to romanticize the West. Instead, I want to evoke the weight of reality—how hard it was, how lonely, how human. It’s less spaghetti western, more elegy. Influenced from farm life, family losses, and a life of hard work I try to have my own feelings intertwined with the photographs I create.  Through these scenes, I hope viewers pause and feel that somber reverence for history: the beauty in ruin, the truth in silence. My work is not just a snapshot of historical items. I spend a great deal of time creating scenes whether it is laying out scenes with different items, waiting for weeks to have the perfect cloud formations, or even coaxing a crow to land in a particular spot so my photograph's viewer feels the feelings I am portraying with my images.