“Shadows, Trees, and Trails: Recalling a Personal Journey with Metaphor”

This project intends to recall deep emotions, such as solitude, calmness, and gratitude by revisiting cherished memories experienced on a long journey.

I hiked the 2,200-mile (3,540 km) Appalachian Trail for 192 days in 1999.  This challenging footpath winds through 14 eastern states in the United States.  Each day presented intense challenges like hunger, fatigue and severe weather.  The resulting memories remain equally vivid.

To commemorate this milestone, I’ve assembled ten monochrome images from the Colorado mountains near my home.  Each image is titled with a simple metaphor, encouraging viewers to grasp the mental images behind my memories.

Three considerations guided my image selection.  First, I focused on the 10 images that indeed recalled trail memories thus fulfilling the project’s core intention.  Second, I incorporated subtle elements from the early 20th-century pictorialist style.  This rich historical style characteristically uses light creatively, subjective interpretation, and nature’s raw elements—shadows, trees, and trails—for emotional impact.  Finally, digital toning highlighted timeless themes in each image.  Alternatively, old tea bags, delightfully salvaged from breakfast, added a satisfying bath to dye the resulting prints.