Book Review: “Stories” by Nicholas Reichard
Maine-based photographer, storyteller, and thru-hiker, Nicholas Reichard's latest book, Stories, released by Reichard Studios, is an intimate story of personal struggles the artist experienced from the spring of 2015 through the fall of 2018 while hiking the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail. Not a photobook in the traditional sense, this beautifully designed book is a hybrid journal photo-diary that contains polished narrations, observations about life, and honest revelations about his transition from a sedentary young man with dyslexia, to an accomplished thru-hiker, and to becoming a father who is balancing his art, family, and real-life responsibilities. All achieved by his natural curiosity to tackle the unknown in a real, visceral way.
Reichard didn’t begin his journey hiking 6,500 miles over three years like traditional thru-hikers. In 2015, the artist found himself disillusioned with life: he was overweight, unemployed, and dissatisfied and knew he needed to make a drastic change in his life. With little research and huge ambitions, he decided to trade his digital camera for a Hasselblad 500c, put his sleeping bag in his backpack, and took off to tackle “the hardest and grittiest endeavor” he had ever attempted. The worst-case outcome would be a defeated ego, but the best? A life-changing journey into the green tunnel of the Appalachian Trail.
Stories by Nicholas Reichard
Reichard Studios, Spring 2021
Format: 9x11.75”
200 Pages
Perfect Bound, Linen Cover
Foil Stamped, Tip-in
Printed with LED UV ink in Canada
Edition Size: 500
ISBN: 978-1-7366904-0-6
Available for purchase here!
“The first few days were absolute hell, except much colder” Reichard recalls. He seriously doubted his ability to continue very early into his adventure. Little did he know that this authentic lack of confidence would become the first pages of Stories, to be released six years later. Though as the days passed, he found not hiking, but photography, to be the thing that kept his feet moving in front of each other as he hiked north. He shares that, “capturing the beautiful moments of a thru-hike seemed too obvious. People rarely ask what it was like on an easy day. How do I show people what it’s really like out here? So I started capturing the moments that felt real, intimate, and gritty-the moments that no one else seemed to capture.” When he finally reached his destination after hiking 2,190 miles over 196 days he didn’t stop there. He decided that he was now going to tackle the Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail the following years. But how did he go from being an inexperienced traveler to becoming one of the select few to become nearly a triple crown hiker? Well, that’s the whole point of Stories, and explaining the crescendo of events and thoughts that have brought him here would defeat the purpose of the book. It is best read from cover to cover as you gasp, laugh, and cry with him as he finds life purpose, love for his wife, and discovers he is about to be a father.
Printed in Canada, this 200-page photobook is beautifully designed. The first thing you notice upon picking it up is that it’s heavy - the foil stamped text combined with the inlaid printed image is surrounded by a linen cover makes it feel like an elegant, modern-day photo album: both professional, yet intimate. When you open it you are immediately presented with a two-page black and white low-contrast spread that shows a hiker’s face in a state of exhausted triumphant pain, surrounded by clouds and looking off towards the distance, towards the rest of the pages you are yet to see.
As you begin to view and read, you quickly realize that there are a ton of stories printed on its 80lb endurance silk paper, and at first, you think to yourself, “is this a photobook?”. Was the opening spread a challenge to the reader to revisit their preconceived notions of what to expect? Before picking Stories up I wasn’t expecting to be reading more than I was viewing and I have to admit, I wasn’t sold. However, like most books that I love as I pushed slowly through the introduction, I was reminded that it was just setting the stage. As I progressed through the first 20 pages of stories and creatively combined black and white images I quickly became invested as my pace picked up and my interest peaked. I couldn’t stop reading, I wanted to know what was going to happen next on Reichard’s journey. Though this was a book about photography, the photography itself was just an anchor for the stories, and vice versa. By themselves, these stories and photographs wouldn’t have the impact they had on me and work perfectly together. The artist, on his first try no less, has created something that is an original rule-breaker out of authentic creativity.
Within his book, Reichard has captured the spirit of adventure in a way that speaks to the hearts of its readers. It’s a tale that tackles life choices, life experiences, and where life simply takes you. It’s not always pretty, it’s not always fun, but it’s captured on black and white photographs that are less fine art and more fine adventure-ography. It’s autobiographical of both the artist and the spirit of the open world, that when combined together create something that is unboastfully honest and an instant classic. And although the photography presented is just a small portion of what he captured on his travels, it captures the moments that made his adventures emotionally real. Left out are vibrant sunsets, wide-open views of the sierras, and cliche mountain top peaks. What is included are real personal black and white photographs of zero-days in cheap motels, his trail family that became actual family, and even the first day of his daughter’s life. As a whole, it renders the concept of a hybrid photobook journal into a movie that is easily played in our minds as we dive through each page. It doesn’t preach, but it does show the way for its viewers to embark on their own life-changing adventure and journey towards self-discovery.
GALLERY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nicholas Reichard is Maine based writer, photographer, and filmmaker. He grew up in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, and is proud to be from the midwest, even though he will probably never move back. He obtained his B.F.A. in Film & Television from the Savannah College of Art & Design in 2012. Since then he has photographed his life journey over the course of three thru-hikes across the United States, traveled to 14 countries, and began a photobook publishing house, Reichard Studios. Though he is an artist, his favorite job in the world is being a husband father.
Connect with Nicholas Reichard on his website and Instragam.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Michael Behlen is an instant film addict and the founder and publisher of Analog Forever Magazine. For the last 6 years, Behlen has become an obsessive community organizer in the film photography world, including launching the independent publishing projects PRYME Magazine and PRYME Editions, two enterprises dedicated to the art of instant film. Through these endeavors, he has featured and published 200+ artists from around the globe via his print and online publications.
He has self-published two Polaroid photobooks -“Searching for Stillness, Vol. 1” and “I Was a Pioneer,” literally a boxed set of his instant film work. His latest book, Searching for Stillness Vol II was published in 2020 by Static Age. He has been published, been interviewed, and been reviewed in a quantity of magazines and online publications, from F-Stop and Blur Magazine to the Analog Talk Podcast. He loves the magic sensuality of instant film: its saturated, surreal colors; the unpredictability of the medium; it’s addictive qualities as you watch it develop. He spends his time shooting instant film and backpacking in the California wilderness, usually a combination of the two.
Connect with Michael Behlen on his Website and on Instagram!
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