The photographic art of J.D. Marston captures an essence of the American landscape that is rapidly vanishing. The viewer is taken into a remarkable outdoor place and time that is available to all, but visited by few. Each of his photographs create a compelling intimacy, bringing the viewer into a very private experience with the intriguing beauty that exists around us. The result is a sense of direct involvement with the healing magic of nature.

Recipient of the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, and numerous others, including induction into the National Register’s "Who’s Who? in North America", and The International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, England, Honoring the 2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century, Marston is receiving acclaim from the art world, photography collectors, and environmentalists alike. "J.D. Marston's photography is an intimate vastness. One sees the mountain and ends up caring about every pine needle in the forest," says Elden Hughes, Sierra Club Honors and Awards Committee. The Columbus Disptach exclaims : "...another person imitating Marston’s method would be unlikely to approach the physical and spiritual grandeur of his vision". Marston's images have been the focus of national and regional articles in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Denver Post, View Camera Magazine, Camera and Darkroom Magazine, Rocky Mountain Magazine, Studio Photography and Spirit Magazine.

Marston has walked many miles before coming full circle to a simplified and child-like perception of his subject matter. Starting his life in Stamford, Connecticut, J.D. began photographing microscope samples with a box camera at age ten. He went on to study photography in high school, photojournalism at Boston University, and finally graduated from Emerson College with a degree in communication.

After graduation, Marston was immediately drawn to the Canadian Rocky Mountain wilderness. He spent eight months alone in the mountains, searching for his higher calling and pondering life’s great secret. After his encounter with the wilderness, he returned to civilization to work in the stress management field utilizing acupuncture, body/mind techniques and natural foods.

For 12 years, Marston helped people get a grip on stress, but in 1980, he felt it necessary to uncover the spiritual meaning of stress and the illness it produces. This quest led him to India where his "inner sense of the eternal" was awakened by a spiritual master, who also initiated him in the process of spiritual healing. After seven years of meditation, tending a garden and exploring herbs, traveling the Himalayas barefoot, and serving the ill with spiritual healing techniques, J.D. returned to the States with a vision to share.

He became aware of his unique ability to capture mystical moments that appear regularly in nature with his large format camera. His black and white master printing techniques, eye for color and attention to detail result in images portraying the pure and playful perception of a child. Marston's desire to communicate the spiritually therapeutic presence of "the eternal" in nature is the primary motivation for his art. The photographs are messages, quietly calling for people to get in touch with the wonder and healing presence that is constantly available to them.

To keep his art in touch with what is pure and simple, J.D. Marston currently resides at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains of Colorado. He not only shares his extraordinary vision through photographic art, but also conducts seminars for those interested in tapping into the creative force that resides within everyone. J.D. has also shared these insights as visiting professor in the Southwest Studies program at Colorado College and as visiting professor at Ohio Wesleyan University. His limited edition black & white or color fine prints may be purchased through his gallery in Crestone.