Dan is a third-generation Colorado born Hayward/Green. He was raised in Denver and has lived in the Colorado Front Range and in Laramie Wyoming his whole life. The west is in his blood, and in his art.

Artistic interest stirred in Dan at an early age. He played with art in grade school but wasn't able to let his artistic side truly emerge until high school. He began his photographic career while in college, experimenting with night photography using a cheap instamatic camera. Frustrated with that camera's extreme limitations, he bought his first 35mm camera in 1975, and in 1978 he founded Hayward Photography. During his early career as a professional, he photographed models' portfolios and shot promotional images for dancers and ice skaters (including a portfolio for 1980 Olympic and World gold medallist Robin Cousins and promotional photographs for 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist Paul Wylie and other world-class medal winning skaters). He taught "Modeling for the Still Camera" for five years at Vannoy Talent in Denver and then expanded into product, industrial and corporate photography. He has operated his photographic business continually, in Denver and later in Laramie, since 1978.

In 1986, he founded and became President and Executive Director of Art Peace, a non-profit corporation dedicated to using a wide variety of art forms to educate the public about Indigenous, environmental, social and personal issues. Art Peace published the Colorado Earth Day Poster from 1990 to 1995, gathering a collection of environmental educational material from governmental agencies and environmental organizations and distributing the poster-package to K-12 public and private schools across the state.

In October 1992, he photographed the Columbus Day Parade Protest led by American Indian people in Denver. He met Russell Means, other Denver AIM (American Indian Movement) leaders and many Indian people in the days and weeks afterward. Dan attended a sacred ceremony the day after the successful protest and has followed the way of the Lakota (Sioux) people since, attending Sun Dances every year and participating in the ceremonies to the extent possible. In October 2003, he was honored when he was given a Lakota spiritual name by one of his Lakota mentors.

While his spiritual connection with Native People isn't overtly evident in his fine art and editorial photographs, his strong, earthy spiritual connections with the natural and the spiritual world are seen in his sensitive use of light and composition, in the faces of the people he photographs and in his passionate documentation of the rapidly changing non-human environment in America's West. Although he has only photographed a couple Native American subjects to date out of respect for the people, he plans to begin working on a couple documentary projects of contemporary Native People in the near future.

Dan operated Hayward Photography Fine Art Gallery and Studio in Laramie during 1999 and 2000, closing the doors to write his Masters thesis. He received his Masters Degree in Communications from the University of Wyoming in December 2002. During the two years after graduation, he created a defining body of environmental fine art photographs and released his "24-by-24 Portfolio" in early October 2004. The portfolio is a collection of 24 fine art images created during the 24 months between August 25, 2002 and August 15, 2004. In early December 2004, he released a second fine art portfolio for sale, his "Cyan-o-type Portfolio" (32 photographs printed as cyan tinted black and white images). He is selling the two fine art compilations locally and regionally, using his web site as an integral part of that marketing effort. The web site is being developed in three phases, ultimately reaching an e-commerce status upon completion of phase three by mid to late 2006 or early 2007.

Phase 2 of the web site will include a new page for an ever-expanding stock photo page. The Stock Photo Pages will include images from Hayward's extensive archive, representing a very wide variety of subjects shot during his nearly 30-year career. To be notified when this page goes live (late 2006 or early 2007) send an e-mail and state that you want to be on the "Stock Photo E-mail List."

Dan has created pieces of fine art photography since his early photographic days and first exhibited his photographic art in restaurants, fairs and special gallery shows in 1983. He photographed his first figure study shortly after purchasing his first 35 mm camera in 1975 and still exhibits images from that experimental shoot. Dan will continue shooting commercial jobs while expanding his fine art business, increasing his gallery exhibition scope, shooting new (and finishing old) fine art projects and opening his next gallery in the near future.

Copyright 2004 by Danial L. Hayward, Hayward Photography
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