About Celia Roberts

Honoring Nature and Humanity

"Photography, to me, is a wonderful means of capturing a certain light that speaks to the heart as well as the eye. My vision is to unite this light with color, texture and form in such a way that the viewer will discover newly their own relationship with nature and with one another, as a world community. Thus, my images place emphsis on the beauty and delicacy found in the natural world, as well as the grace and dignity which I have experienced among peoples of other cultures."

Certainly Celia’s ability to capture this grace and dignity is reflected in the images she has taken of our nation’s migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This ongoing photographic essay began in 1992 when Celia was commissioned by the Colorado Migrant Health Program to undertake a black-and-white study of Colorado’s field workers. Celia has continued to spend meaningful time with fieldworkers and their families throughout the country, sharing her insights about their daily lives through the ”Gracias” calendar series. Each of these calendars has featured her photography along with messages that increase our public awareness of the contribution that this hidden culture makes to each of us. “Gracias por los Jóvenes” is the twelfth calendar in this series.

Early publications include self-published calendars in 1989 and 1990 entitled For Love of the Rockies. More recently, Celia has self-published bilingual wall calendars: 2000 - Gracias, honoring our nation’s farmworkers, 2001 - Gracias por los Niños (children), 2002 - Gracias por las Familias (families), 2003 - Gracias por las Mujeres (women), 2004 - Gracias por los Papás (fathers), 2005 - Gracias por las Manos (hands), 2006 - Gracias por las Comunidades (communities), 2007 - Gracias por los Abuelos (grandparents), 2008 - Gracias por los Campesinos (farmworkers), 2009 - Gracias por los Amigos (friends), 2010 - Gracias por la Vida (life), 2011 - Gracias por los Jovenes (youth) and 2012 Gracias por la Tierra (earth).

Although taking pictures had been a part of her life since early childhood in Kentucky, Celia discovered her passion for photography upon moving to Colorado in l969 after receiving degrees from Hanover College in Indiana and the University of North Carolina. She presently lives in Paonia, Colorado, where she continues her work as a nature and travel photographer, selling her images in retail outlets throughout the country and through her web site. Her sensitive style of photography has been greatly influenced by the late Ernst Haas, renowned color photographer, with whom she studied and assisted for many years.

Celia’s portfolio includes images of the natural world from the U.S. as well as work taken while photographing for Habitat for Humanity in Bolivia and Ecuador, UNICEF and the Breakthrough Foundation in India and Sri Lanka, the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) in Costa Rica, Pastors for Peace in El Salvador and during her independent travels in Mexico.

All of Celia's photographs are made with Leica equipment. Her films of choice are Kodachrome 64 and Fujichrome Astia slide film. Enlargements are printed on archival Fujichrome photographic paper at a Denver-based lab under her direct supervision, using guide prints which insure consistency of color and tone.