Portrait Gallery
This profession has taught me that trailworkers are among the best people you’ll ever meet. They are people who care deeply about the land, aren’t afraid of hard work, and are willing to eschew the conveniences of modern civilization to pursue a profession with discomfort and low pay.
So, in 2021, I purchased a camera and started bringing it to my Trails job in southern Colorado. I wanted to capture the energy of the crew: the diverse and quirky personalities; the ruggedness and gentleness; the common ethos underlying it all.
Since then, I’ve photographed and interviewed over one hundred trailworkers across eleven states. These people are not just subjects. They are my colleagues, my friends, and my heroes.
I anticipate this portrait project being a lifelong endeavor. Others will decide whether its primary value (if any) is aesthetic or archival. For me, the excuse to spend one-on-one time with people united by experience is reason enough, and I’ll keep at it.
Whatever brings you here, I hope you can see what I see—stories etched in smile-lines, clues smudged on cheeks, and spirit glimmering in eyes.
Trailworker Liv Madrid said it better than I could have. “They believe in something. You can see it. Trail workers’ eyes, they're always…glowing. There’s something crazy that they found in the woods.”
All photos by Joe Gibson.
