Western Tanager Migrating Through. Do NOT Tell This Bird It Is A Small Bird! Photo: Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

Macro Picture Of A Honeybee Hard At Work. Photo: Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

A Lifetime of Stories, Now Shared Through the Camera

In Boulder, some people follow a straight line through life. Others follow something closer to a murmuration — a shifting pattern that only reveals its shape over time.

For Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling, that pattern has included more chapters than most people experience in several lifetimes: attorney, judge, inventor, teacher, blogger, writer, and award-winning photographer.

For more than fifty years, Boulder has been both his home and his classroom.

Many residents know Lensworth from his photographs — striking images of wildlife, landscapes, everyday moments, and the subtle compositions hidden in ordinary scenes. Others know him from television appearances, his time as a judge, or from decades practicing law in Colorado.

But those roles only tell part of the story.

At heart, Lensworth is a teacher.

And now he’s opening the door to something new.

Not a class about cameras.

A conversation about seeing.

Boulder and the Art of Seeing

Anyone who has lived in Boulder long enough knows the feeling.

A red-tailed hawk glides over the Flatirons.
A sudden snowstorm turns the foothills silver.
A flock of birds moves across the sky as one shifting shape, a murmuration.

Moments like these are everywhere in Colorado.

Most people see them.

Photographers learn how to recognize the picture inside the moment. Whether it is an Eastern Blue Jay catching a peanut or a murmuration of sparrows, the picture is waiting to be captured. 

You’ve probably seen it before — hundreds of birds turning together in the sky, forming shapes that appear random but somehow perfectly composed.

Photography works the same way.

What appears chaotic often hides a powerful composition waiting to be discovered.

A Boulder Life That Never Followed One Path

Lensworth’s own life mirrors that idea.

Over the decades he has been:

• A high school yearbook photo editor
• An electronic technician
• A lawyer for nearly five decades
• A judge
• A writer and blogger
• An inventor and builder
• An early website designer coding HTML by hand
• An award-winning photographer

To someone looking from the outside, the journey might seem random.

It wasn’t.

Each step sharpened the same instinct: curiosity, observation, and the ability to explain complex ideas simply.

Those skills now shape the way he teaches photography.

Turning Snapshots Into Photographs

Lensworth believes one idea separates great photographers from casual ones:

Great photography has very little to do with expensive equipment.

Some of the most powerful photographs ever taken were captured with simple cameras — even phones.

Meanwhile, thousands of dollars of equipment can still produce lifeless images.

The difference is not the camera.

The difference is how you see.

A group of ripe mangoes. Photo: Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

A pile of mangoes becomes geometry and color.

A field of flowers becomes rhythm.

A bee at work becomes intention.

The photograph was always there.

You just needed to recognize it.

Why Boulder Is the Perfect Place to Learn Photography

Few cities in America offer the visual playground Boulder does.

Within minutes you can photograph:

• Golden sunrise hitting the Flatirons
• Elk moving across open meadows
• Cyclists on mountain roads
• Birds at Sawhill Ponds
• Artists and performers on Pearl Street
• Sudden weather shifts across the foothills

Lensworth has spent decades photographing these moments.

Now he wants to help others learn to see them too.

A New Chapter: Photography Coaching

Beginning this spring, Lensworth will begin offering private and small-group photography coaching sessions online.

The goal isn’t to lecture about camera settings.

Instead, sessions will focus on something more interesting:

Understanding why certain photographs work — and why others don’t.

Students will examine images together, discuss composition, and explore the hidden patterns that make a photograph powerful.

It’s less like a classroom and more like a conversation.

Lensworth also plans to host free monthly online gatherings where photographers and curious beginners alike can explore ideas about composition and creativity.

Lake Dora Sunset. Photo: Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

Lessons From a Lifetime of Observation

Ask Lensworth about photography and he’ll tell you something surprising:

There are no rigid rules.

There are only guidelines.

Composition is not a cage.

It’s a conversation between the photographer and the world.

Some photographs are carefully imagined before the shutter clicks, pre-visualized.

Others appear suddenly — an unexpected gift.

The job of a photographer is to stay open to both.

Art Deco Sculpture At The Hoover Dam Above Lake Mead. Photo: Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

Finding the Picture Inside the Picture

Boulder has always attracted curious minds.

Scientists, artists, climbers, musicians, entrepreneurs — people drawn by the landscape and the creative energy that surrounds it.

Photography fits naturally into that spirit.

It encourages people to slow down.

To notice patterns.

To see beauty in everyday moments.

That’s what Lensworth hopes to share with the Boulder community.

Not just how to take photographs.

But how to see them waiting all around us.

Here’s the link to get on the mailing list and to get the Zoom invites to the free sessions How to make a picture into a photograph, 

Time to learn how to find the picture inside the picture.

Shared Knowledge Is Power!

Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

(720) 320-6201

Large Nymph Butterflies Posing For The Camera. Photo: Lenny “Lensworth” Frieling

Lenny Frieling Pen Of Justice

• Multi-published and widely syndicated blogger and author.
• Most recently published by Amazon, his first book, "Lensworth"a book of his prize-winning photos.
• University lectures at University of Colorado, Boulder, Denver University Law School, Univ. of New Mexico, Las Vegas NM, and many other schools at all levels. Numerous lectures for the NORML Legal Committee
• Former Judge
• Media work, including starring in episodes of Fox’s Power of Attorney, well in excess of many hundreds media interviews, appearances, articles, and podcasts, including co-hosting Time For Hemp for two years.
• Life Member, NORML Legal Committee, Distinguished Counsel Circle.
• Photographer of the Year, AboutBoulder 2023
• First Chair and Originator of the Colorado Bar Association’s Cannabis Law Committee, a National first.
• Previous Chair, Boulder Criminal Defense Bar (8 years)
• Twice chair Executive Counsel, Colorado Bar Association Criminal Law Section
• Life Member, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar
• Board Member Emeritus, Colorado NORML, and prior chair during legalization, as well as pre and post legalization
• Chair, Colorado NORML, 7 years including during the successful effort to legalize recreational pot in Colorado
• Senior Counsel Emeritus to the Boulder Law firm Dolan + Zimmerman LLP : (720)-610-0951
• Board member, Author, and Editor for Criminal Law Articles for the Colorado Lawyer, primary publication of the Colorado Bar Assoc. 7 Years, in addition to having 2 Colorado Lawyer cover photos, and numerous articles for the Colorado Lawyer monthly publication.
• http://www.Lfrieling.com