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Steamboat Springs — On a desk in his Oak Street gallery and office, nature photographer Jim Steinberg has the proofs for his fifth book, "Colorado Scenic Byways: Taking the Other Road," stacked neatly in their cover.

Mid-morning on a Friday in mid-July, it's only a few days since Steinberg returned from Korea with the unbound copies of his coffee table book and travel guide, an ode to the 25 designated scenic byways in Colorado.

He's almost at the end of a 2 1/2-year effort to get this thing in stores, and Steinberg is relieved to be home after spending more than 200 days away last year.

"By the time I was done, I was very tired," said Steinberg, who has spent the past 30-plus years capturing Colorado's natural beauty on film, and who often sleeps in his nearly-30-year-old Volvo station wagon while he shoots.

"It was nice to come home and sleep in my own bed for more than a week," he said.

With text by Susan J. Tweit, Steinberg's new book endeavors to be a travel guide and a visual introduction to all parts of the state.

"I wanted to make sure that people would have a sense of what this highway and this part of the state is like," Steinberg said. "I wanted to make sure that I (imparted) the distinctive flavor of each."

Spending about a week in each Colorado locale, Steinberg has the tendency to camp out and wait for the light and color of a scene to align.

"You have to familiarize yourself with different areas and understand when is the best time to be in any particular area and capture it at its most beautiful," he said.

With all the hours spent camping in the Volvo, waiting for light to hit a wildflower in just the right way, on top of owning a gallery and putting together books, it might seem like Steinberg has his hands full.

And that would be true, when you take into account everything else Steinberg does: He is a trustee for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and National Council for the American Theatre, and is co-chairman of the Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, among other pursuits. The mix of performing and visual arts gives him balance and business perspective, Steinberg said.

"It's something that I like very much, because my work is very solitary - I was away from home last year 220 days," he said.

"Working in the theater is just the opposite because it's a very communal kind of experience. It's like the yin and the yang in my life."