Adventures of Tyler Brantley

1 week till the fellowship…

When I think back to the summer of 2025, I can’t help but wonder why I was called out to Colorado in the first place. At the time, I had just graduated from college and was standing at a crossroads between the familiar comfort of home and the unknown stretch of what came next. Out of the blue, my uncle asked me to help him move from his apartment into his new house. On the surface, it sounded like a simple family favor, but that invitation opened a door to something far greater than I expected.

A few days after, over a casual dinner, I had been chatting with my new aunt, Edie. We talked about her mother, who was a well-known painter in the 80’s, Lynne Pittard. She mentioned she wanted to archive her paintings for a website but wasn’t sure where to begin. That caught my attention because, just that past semester, I had taken a museum photography course and learned how to digitally preserve artwork. On top of that, I had an intermediate Photoshop class under my belt, and I knew I could edit and clean up the paintings so they could live beautifully online. What started as a light conversation soon turned into a serious request for help — and suddenly I was faced with the decision of whether or not to leave everything behind for seven weeks.

Accepting meant clearing out my own apartment, saying goodbye to friends, and putting my normal rhythms on hold before my upcoming fellowship began. It was not an easy choice. But after a lot of thought and prayer, I said yes. Three whirlwind days of packing later, I was boarding a flight out of Baltimore. When I landed in Colorado Springs on July 11th, I was greeted not just by my boss but by the dry heat, wide skies, and towering mountains that would frame my days for the next two months.

My work settled into a rhythm quickly. Each morning, I’d wake up, grab breakfast (or skip it if I was rushing), and head into the studio. Setting up the camera and positioning the paintings became almost meditative. To avoid glare, I developed a method of photographing each piece twice — once upright and once upside down — before blending them together in Photoshop to create a clean, even image. Once I got into a groove, I was flying through the process: photographing, editing, and uploading thirty paintings every three to four days. By the end of my time in Colorado, I had digitized a staggering 550 works of art. Seeing that number written out still feels surreal.

But this trip was never just about the numbers. Sitting here in the airport now, waiting for my flight home, I feel a rush of emotions. I’m grateful, exhausted, proud, and a little overwhelmed. This summer wasn’t only about hard work — it was about slowing down, paying attention, and learning to breathe.

God has a way of using experiences like this to teach lessons we don’t even know we need. For me, it was the reminder that life is not meant to be lived in constant hurry. I had to leave behind what was familiar, walk into uncertainty, and trust that everything would be okay. And it was. More than okay, actually. It was transformative.

As an artist, I’ve always treasured beauty through the lens of my camera. But photography isn’t just about pressing a button. It’s about pausing, breathing, and sitting with a moment before you try to capture it. A photograph can freeze a scene, but it can’t replicate the stillness of actually being there. That’s something only we can do. Too often, people rush through life without giving themselves the chance to notice, to breathe, to simply be.

My hope is that when you look at the images I’ve created, you don’t just see a pretty picture. I want you to feel the presence of the scene, to sense the story within the frame, and to share, even for a second, the physical space I stood in when I pressed the shutter.

This summer taught me that sometimes the greatest opportunities don’t look grand at first — they begin with small conversations, quiet invitations, and the courage to say yes. Colorado reminded me to slow down, to trust, and to breathe. That’s a lesson I’ll carry with me far beyond these seven weeks.

Here is a link to Lynnes’s work and to show what I worked on while here.

Lynne Pittard Art for Sale | Fine Art America

https://www.instagram.com/mpressivephotos/