"APPALACHIA" is a collection of images made within the extraordinary mountain region in the eastern United States. "Going to the mountains" has been an incredibly important part of my adult life. I've spent many days and nights in the forests of the Appalachians living on the trails and out of my backpack. From these fascinating wildernesses I have learned lessons of humility and reach of my own abilities. I've been overwhelmed with awe and wonder and simultaneously astounded by reality. It is difficult to put into words the resonant energy that courses through wild lands like the eastern mountain ranges - but many can relate to the sentiment that when you find yourself out there: deep in the old growth forest, at the edge of a granite cliff-face overlooking a beautiful valley, staring up at a black-as-coal night sky speckled with millions of stars flickering through the perforated canopy - something feels right. John Muir poignantly stated in a writing about the U.S.'s National Parks: “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”
Here's to Muir and other inspiring explorers like him. Here's to the mountains. Here's to home: wherever you find it, however you define it.
I hope you enjoy the gallery - do have a look through and please feel free to get in touch and exchange some thoughts, trail stories (or names), and pleasant vibes.
-ph
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.”
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness”
Backpacking, Yurting, and a few Oddities in Between
“Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.”
