We set out on Tre Cime di Lavaredo on the southern side of the mountain shortly before dawn, hiking past Rifugio Auronzo. This hike requires one to keep an eye on the trail, attending to variations in the terrain and weather patterns and as we hiked past Forcella Lavaredo the trail became increasingly hard. At 9300’ above sea level the hike became more challenging while at the same time the higher we went, the more we were taken in by the desolate beauty of gray granite, white snow, and blue sky.
A little more than 5 miles into the hike a cloud bank suddenly moved in, bringing fog so thick I could hardly see beyond my feet. At the same time the trail became wet and muddy in places making navigation difficult. After flying 4400 miles, tooling and retooling our ascent we decided to return to our vehicle.
Not finishing Tre Cime di Lavaredo has become a metaphor for something important in my life. The unfinished mountain trail is often the most beautiful. Anyone who likes to hike can appreciate that sometimes reaching our destination is just not in the cards. I can think of many unfinished trails in my life, both real and metaphorical, but I look at these as gifts to help me see that whether you face a physical inability to make it to the end of the trail, or a realization that you're no longer the king of the hill that you were thirty years ago, what we aren't able to attain sometimes proves more powerful than anything within our reach.
The Unfinished Mountain Trail
11/1/2019
We set out on Tre Cime di Lavaredo on the southern side of the mountain shortly before dawn, hiking past Rifugio Auronzo. This hike requires one to keep an eye on the trail, attending to variations in the terrain and weather patterns and as we hiked past Forcella Lavaredo the trail became increasingly hard. At 9300’ above sea level the hike became more challenging while at the same time the higher we went, the more we were taken in by the desolate beauty of gray granite, white snow, and blue sky.
A little more than 5 miles into the hike a cloud bank suddenly moved in, bringing fog so thick I could hardly see beyond my feet. At the same time the trail became wet and muddy in places making navigation difficult. After flying 4400 miles, tooling and retooling our ascent we decided to return to our vehicle.
Not finishing Tre Cime di Lavaredo has become a metaphor for something important in my life. The unfinished mountain trail is often the most beautiful. Anyone who likes to hike can appreciate that sometimes reaching our destination is just not in the cards. I can think of many unfinished trails in my life, both real and metaphorical, but I look at these as gifts to help me see that whether you face a physical inability to make it to the end of the trail, or a realization that you're no longer the king of the hill that you were thirty years ago, what we aren't able to attain sometimes proves more powerful than anything within our reach.
I began photographing crosses ten years ago. They are composed in my camera with intention. The cross is a symbol of my faith and every time I place a cross in my viewfinder it’s my way of giving thanks to God for breathing inspiration into me so that I can move forward in my life and in my growth, so I can help translate the beauty of this world for myself and others. And the beauty of our world exists in everything, in joy and sadness, in life and death, in suffering and redemption — everything I experience when I am shooting.
I want my work to be a reflection of all I see around me, the timeless relationship and the interactive dynamics between earth and sky, their touching and caressing at every moment of the day, I think all creative work has its roots in the Spirit of God which is all around us, even when we are numb to it. Even when we feel it has left us, but still, it is there.
