About American Photo Treks LLC
American Photo Treks LLC is a Colorado-based photo workshop and tour company lead by photographers Lars Leber, David Soldano, and Ken Childress. Our mission is to offer high-quality, hands-on workshops, not only in Colorado, but in all corners of this beautiful country. Places like Crystal Mill, Maroon Bells, and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, night photography in the dark skies of the mountains of Colorado. Other places on our plans are the national parks of Utah, which offer some of the darkest skies at night in the country, and the Lake Powell area of Arizona including Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and Monument Valley.
Our goal is to provide fun, interesting, unique, challenging, and educational workshops to enable our guests to enhance their photographic skills, achieve their photographic goals, and create photographs they are proud to show to others.
Dave Soldano was awarded Diamond Photographer of the year for 2020 by the Professional Photographers Association. His photos have been featured in Photography Week magazine and other national publications. Dave is also Getty contributor. His images have been used in international promotions by companies like Samsung and Boeing.
Dave shoots Sony “team alpha all the way.” He is highly proficient in the full line of Sony camera models and lenses. Dave’s favorite lens is the FE 2470GM which he pairs with the Sony a7Rii and the game-changing Sony a9.
- Sony A7RII (landscapes)
- Sony A9 (portraits, wildlife, birds)
- Sony a7S (astro and night)
Favorite Lenses
- FE 2470 f2.8 GM
- FE 1635 f2.8 GM
- FE 1224 F4 G
- FE 70200 F2.8 GM
- FE 100-400 GM
- Sigma 20mm 1.4 Art
- FE 85mm 1.4 GM
- Nifty-fifty-five 1.8
Breakthrough Photography ND Filters
Haida Graduated Filters
Ken is a Sr. Software Engineer for Delta Solutions & Strategies with over 35 years experience in the computer and software fields. Photography is one of his passions outside of his day job. He has 40+ years experience in photography, developing film, and print making. His photographic interests range from landscapes, night, portraits, macro, to high-speed photography. He has had photographs published in books and calendars. The evolution of digital photography fits right in with his interest and knowledge of working with computers and software. He is proficient with Adobe LIghtroom, and is continually working to improve his skills with Adobe Photoshop. Ken was the Professional Photographers Guild of Colorado Springs (PPGCS) Photographer of the Year for 2020 and was awarded a Silver Medal in the 2020 International Photographic Competition (IPC) by the Professional Photographers Association (PPA).
Camera Equipment
Camera Bodies
- Nikon D850
- Nikon D750 (Full Spectrum Modified)
- Nikon D7000
Favorite Lenses
- Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8
- Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
- Nikkor 80-400mm
- Nikkor 105mm f/2.8
- Sigma 20mm f/1.4
- Sigma 35mm f/1.4
- Sigma 85mm f/1.4
- Sigma 150-600mm
Other Equipment
- Breakthrough Filters
- Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Tracker
Lars Leber was born and raised in Germany. Since moving to Colorado Springs, he has spent a lot of his time in the outdoors to pursue hiking, backpacking, and fishing. Lars is an extremely passionate full-time professional photographer and always comes up with new exciting Colorado landscape photographs.
Winner of the Gazette’s “Best of the Springs” Fine Art Photography Award in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Camera Equipment
Camera Bodies
- Canon R
- Canon 5Ds
- Canon 6D II
Favorite Lenses
- Canon 16-35mm f/4 L
- Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L
- Canon 17mm L TS-E Tilt-Shift
- Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L
- Rokinon SP 14mm f/2.4
- Sigma C 100-400mm
Other Equipment
- Polar Pro Filters
- Sky-Watcher Tracker