John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... 
Sunset at Oxbow Bend in Teton National Park. Photo by Patrick Devereaux.
About 10 years ago, Patrick Devereaux went to Yellowstone National Park in the fall and shot a photo of an elk in a field.
Patrick Devereaux is an avid nature photographer, in addition to an investment broker at Cushman & Wakefield.
He was so taken by capturing the moment of the majestic animal on film, that he became hooked on nature photography.
Devereaux – a top investment broker who is a leader of the Capital Markets team at the Denver office of Cushman & Wakefield that has sold more than $1.5 billion in office buildings, shopping center and industrial properties – several times each seasons swaps the world of calculating internal rates of return and cap rates for his two Canon digital SLRs and lenses from 12 mm to 600 mm, and heads into the wild. (Devereaux recently prepared an analysis of the Denver market that showed only $250 million in commercial properties sold this year, as reported exclusively by InsideRealEstateNews.com.)
Light bouncing off rock formation in Slot Canyon in Paige, AZ. Photo by Patrick Devereaux.
He’s covered a lot of real estate to capture his photos, but instead of office parks and shopping malls, he’s made multiple trips to places such as Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Monument Valley, Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and, of course, the Rocky Mountain National Park. Closer to home, he chronicles each season at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.
Devereaux, a youthful-looking 40 and a University of Denver graduate, recently travelled to the Bosque del Apache in New Mexico.
“They have 60,000 birds there,” he said. “It covers 3,800 acres along the Rio Grande floodplain. It has everything from sandhill cranes to snow geese. It truly is magnificent.”
As with any outdoor photographer, he often is chasing the light. It is not uncommon for him to rise before the sun rises, hike for miles, finally catching the morning light on a cliff, canyon or lake. Or, conversely, he will wait for hours for a few moments of the precious glow of sunset.
Devereaux also will stalk animals in the bush, patiently raising his camera to his eye to capture a candid moment of a bear cub or an elk.
“I really enjoy the hunt, when you capture a great image or moment on camera,” he said.
He estimates only about 15 percent of his clients know that he is a serious photographer. He is a member of the Mile High Wildlife Photography Club, where he hones his shooting skills. “You can take nature-photography tours, just like you might go out with a ski guide,” Devereaux said. Through the club he met Russ Burden, a professional outdoor photographer. “Russ has been my mentor,” he said.
He sells his photos at his Web site, Devereauxphoto.com, but commerce isn’t the driving force.
“I have no desire to make this my business,” he said. “This is my passion. If I turned it into my main business, it would ruin it for me. It is a great stress reliever. I love to capture that moment in time and place.”
Sprinting bull elk in Yellowstone. Photo by Patrick Devereaux.
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.
Patrick is driven by both his job and his photography. He's a very successful commercial real estate broker always putting his client first. His photography has reached a level where he now sells his imagery on line through his website. I've been lucky enough to watch both the business and photographic sides of his life grow and prosper. While he still refers to me as a mentor, I'm lucky to have developed a great friendship with him. Keep making those fantastic images!
Hey this is a really unique and great point of view, thanks for posting this information.