Last week, in part one of our series on Denver photographer Greg Thow, we saw some fantastic shots of the 5280, one of America’s most beautiful cities. Of course, stunning nature photography is a prerequisite for shutterbugs living in Colorado, and while it was his urban photos that first caught my attention, Thow has an eye for the Centennial State’s trees, mountains and skies, as well.

Back in North Carolina, where I grew up, the diversity of hardwoods means a full spectrum of bright yellow to harvest gold to flaming red during the fall change, but in Colorado you get mostly yellows and golds. It’s easy to make your peace with the homogeneity when it’s this gorgeous, though.

All three of these photos are from Thow’s 2011 Aspen set. I encourage you to have a look at the entire series.

As illustrated last week in the Denver series, Greg has a knack for capturing the majestic way clouds pile up out here in high country. Sights like this can be common when heavy weather threatens in late summer.

This first shot, of thistle just after sunrise, is taken from the 2011 Colorado Daytime set and is one of Greg’s favorites. The second is one of mine.

This was taken at Guanella Pass, which lies west of Mt. Evans in the Colorado Front Range.

I’ll leave you with a shot of an empty road heading somewhere beautiful. Colorado is full of them.

In part 3, we” discover that Greg Thow loves hot air balloons.

To see more of Thow’s work, visit Greg’s site, Denver Digital Photography. To purchase a shot for your own collection, e-mail him at denverdigitalphotography@gmail.com.