Over the past few weeks I’ve found myself reflecting back on my years as a photographer. Why this sudden bout of retrospection? Well twenty years ago this Fall, way back in 2003, my wife and I shouldered backpacks, hopped a flight to Asia, and commenced a sixteen month journey of a lifetime, traveling and trekking through the great mountain ranges of Nepal and South America. Safely tucked within my own backpack was a Nikon N80, two lenses, and a large ziplock bag stuffed with rolls of film. Before us lay a long road filled with awe inducing moments, trying times, growth, adventure, and a lifetime’s worth of soul stirring beauty. It was life lived on an elevated level, our days filled with magic and discovery.

That period was also one of great self-actualization. Nature, specifically mountains, was its driving force. After graduating college on the east coast I moved out west to have easier access to better nature and committed myself to exploring it through uncounted backpacking and climbing trips. As much as these trips were fulfilling I couldn’t help but want more. I wanted to learn where this compulsive need to be surrounded by other worldly beauty would lead. So my wife and I spent sixteen months trying to find out. In the end we came home with enough memories and stories to last a lifetime. If you’ve been around me long enough I’m sure you’ve heard a few. At risk of being cliche, the journey truly changed my life and expanded my understanding of what it means to live a human life on this planet of ours.

While our travels eventually had to come to an end one huge effect lives on to this day — my becoming a photographer. Before leaving, photography was already a passion of mine so I viewed traveling the world as an opportunity to take it to the next level, to figure out how to record images which would in some small way pay homage to my early heroes, Galen Rowell and Art Wolfe. I wanted to bottle up that feeling of awe and wonder I knew we’d undoubtedly encounter. As our travels progressed photography gradually began to become more of a focal point. Over time it became apparent a new path was unfolding before me, one which saw the melding of my life’s two passions: nature and photography. Looking back now it seems as though all roads in my life converged on that very thing, as if evolving into a photographer were part of some predetermined life progression. My life, as well as my connection to nature, has never been the same and for that I am eternally grateful. Two decades later I’m still at it and I find it hard to imagine life without photography’s influence.

So to acknowledge this massively transformative period between September 2003 and December 2004 I wanted to share two collections of images showcasing both the final and behind the scenes images from that period. I wish I could write a story for each, tales which would provide greater context for the viewer. But I won’t. Some things are too personally important to share with a largely anonymous audience. My hope is for the images to tell their own stories, to adequately portray those indelible experiences Betsy and I lived all those years ago.