From One Trail to the Next…

The time between, what to do?

After completing the AT, I’ve had a lot of support from friends & family congratulating me on my thruhike along with the work I’ve been doing. This includes my brother, who was proud of me for finishing the world’s longest pub crawl. I didn’t have a job to come back to and haven’t had a steady paycheck or benefits post trail. Everyday after I wake up, I sit at my computer looking through/sorting the photos I took, figuring out which ones I want to represent the story I’m trying to tell.

This is around 60 percent of the film I had left to develop when I got home from the trail, I definitely had my work cut out for me!

It wasn’t easy developing 150 rolls of film nor was it cheap. I’ve put everything I have into my work and proved if I just believe in myself, anything can happen. Some of the film I dreamed would be a masterpiece turned out horrible; meanwhile other shots have surprised me greatly. I can’t describe how it felt to see the images for the first time, but I can say its incredible being able to put them all together. A friend on the trail told me I owe it to my work and myself to treat what I’m doing like a full time job.  I’m doing my best to assemble a manuscript for my first coffee table book, titled: “Click, Click! on the Appalachian Trail. ” (releasing sometime in 2016)

A look through the Hasselblad 500C, one of two cameras I choose to lug around for a couple thousand miles..

The Appalachian Trail is a humbling place that will exploit every single weakness in your mind and body. It takes a considerable amount of grit to walk from Georgia to Maine, and it has been my goal to show that through my work. Some things seem impossible to capture, like what it felt like after a 33 mile day, or hiking 16 miles through non-stop rain. I had to come to terms with accepting whatever happens just adds to the story. Grit seemed to be the word that inspired me on the trail, the word that was stuck in my head as I shot all those rolls of film. Now my greatest challenge is myself, and completing what I started before the next adventure begins.

A rare picture of me taking a picture. I’m also excited to bring those shorts out of retirement.

Next year I have my eyes set out west on the PCT, where I hope to shoot my second book on film. A lot of things will be different and I’m eager to find a new word that inspires me to base my work around. Cutting weight from my pack will allow me to take new lenses and even more film. In the meantime, I look forward to writing more about my time on the AT, and sharing a few stories from the trail here. I hope you enjoy my work and have the chance to check out my website at www.nickclicks.com or follow me on instagram @nicholasreichard 

The feeling you have when its all over, is beyond surreal. Victory on Katahdin with Chessebeard holding his hands high.