Kirt Kempter

2010 & 2011 Featured Artists-Photography

Kirt Kempter became a very important artist, for me, when I was having lunch at The Abiquiu Inn ..and was about to leave when something caught my attention and literally snapped my head in a double take!

The Abiquiu Inn offers many of Kirts panoramic photographs for sale. He was delivering some inventory and they were just leaning against the wall. I was struck by their ..well awesome-ness!!

"Do you like them?" ..from a man quietly seated behind me.

"They're incredible" ..I responded.

Although we vowed to get together (he's a tennis player..I have a tennis court), because of other responsibilities we hadn't UNTIL...

..I was perusing the net for local geologic information because of a book I'm reading on the history of Abiquiu. BAM!! Google..up popped a geologic report Kirt had done for the state of NM focusing on the Canjilon, Sierra Negra, Plaza Blanca and Copper Canyon area to the North of and actually part of Abiquiu!

"Geez...he's a geologist..not even a photographer" ..I said to my own self!

His photography for this geology report was just as awe-inspiring as the pieces I saw at the Abiquiu Inn! I knew right then who our 2010 Featured Photographer had to be! Dan

Kirt Kempter is a geologist and educator living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His primary field study areas include the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, Copper Canyon, Mexico, and Rincon de la Vieja volcano in northwestern Costa Rica. Kirt also leads educational tours for the Smithsonian Institution, including Iceland, Antarctica, and numerous exotic sites in between.