This is the beginning of Joe's journey and also the beginning of the trail.

For the first photo I wanted the trail to look long and bright enough to see all the details while still having a sense of contrast and forbidding with the dark shadows and the way the trail is swallowed up by the trees.

This is deep into the trail of joe's journey. I wanted this photo to be a dark place to reflect the struggle and hardships of life as a brooding teenager while reflecting the challenge of the hike and showing us a light at the end of the tunnel, the hope of perseverance and rewards that you can achieve if you never give up. I tried to capture as much dark and dead trees while having a bright opening at the end of the trail to give is a tunnel effect with the contrast and juxtaposition on life and death.

This is the end of the step part of the trail but we still have some ways to go.

In this shot I wanted to show that even though the hard part of the trail is over there is till some ways to go. We might be close to the top but the journey isn't over. I also wanted to show progression and give a sense of achievement while stretching out the trail as long as possible and keeping the horizon at eye level and keeping the view hidden by trees.

This is us approaching Joe's bench. A place to come and reflect on life, enjoy the view, isolation and be at the top of the trail over looking the city.

This shot was real emotional for me almost as if his spirit is here waiting for all who come to get away from trials and tribulations of life. I wanted it to seem isolated and kept the shot as wide as possible to show us the reward of the hike as well as the comfort of the bench and keeping it the main focus by keeping It in the eye line.

This is Joe's bench with memorial now scribed into it forever. Joe was a dear friend of mine and his message is powerful and full of hope and Empathy. 

I this shot I wanted things to look bright as happy despite looking at a death memorial. I also had a hard time reading the bench so I poured my water bottle or it to make it more legible and give it some contrast from the background. I also like how the water drips down the sides, I feel like it gives it a more sympathetic look. It was also hot and I only had a few seconds to take the shot before the water dries up and would blend the color of the bench back into the background.

This is the climax of the story the view from the bench. Over looking the whole city as far as the eye can see. 

This shot is pretty self explanatory. I did try and make the houses and roads all meet at the same vanishing point to make this shot seem even wider then it is. I also tired to make my shots progressively lighter to show the joy of the journey and the sense of reaching peace.  

Joe has gone on quite a hike and is on his way back down the hiking trail.

I wanted this shot to be clean and bright and give a sense on enlightenment. I also wanted to trail to look long and disappear into the tress. I like how the trees almost look like a dark cave giving us the sense that we are heading back down the rabbit hole to the craziness of facing reality. I tired to use symmetry to balance this shot. Nature is the greatest architect. I tried to keep the foreground objects in focus to make the trail seem as long as possible.

Joe is on his way back and the incline is real, also the view is nice.

In this shot I wanted the trail to look really windy so instead of having the trail in the middle 

I moved it over and also tried to keep the foreground more in focus to make the shot look deep and the trail long. I also like trail disappears over an edge. I thought there was good contrast to represent the happy feeling of being on top and there the sad feelings of being in the dark or the bottom. 

We are almost on the end of the journey we can see the ground is about to level out bringing us to the bottom of the trail. 

In this show I was trying to make things more balanced with the trail and the shadows. Heading back things are more 50-50 black and white as opposed to the beginning of the trail when things were less optimistic and darker. Also I wanted to trail to come back to the middle to make us feel more grounded with less of a vanishing point.

Joe has reached the end of his journey, the hike is over time to go home. 

I tried to keep things balanced with a lot of texture and some contrast.

I wanted this shot to be a happy and optimistic, even though we are at the end of the trail we can look at the beginning of the trail to remind us that the End is just the beginning.