Staying safe in the UK mountains: a beginners guide to weather resources
The more I’m out in the mountains, the more I realise how little I know. So, these past weeks and months I’ve been burying myself in the world of mountain safety.
Hunting for Vegan Food in Amsterdam
The Challenge:
Visit and review as many veggie places as humanly possible in just two and a half days.
Staying (and singing) at Clink78, London
Once karaoke started, the mood really changed. More people piled into the main bar area, people were talking more, signing up for the karaoke.
Machu Picchu was not what I expected
Aguas Calientes is this small place nestled, hidden, in the mountains. And that’s all you can see – Mountains. Towering all around you. It might have been claustrophobic if it wasn’t so beautiful,
I lost my drone on Rainbow Mountain
Since my ankle injury I don’t really run anymore, and that’s at sea-level. So it’s pretty safe to say that running at over 5,000 meters wasn’t really something I was hugely equipped for.
But, I ran anyway. Darting about the hillside, thinking every rectangular grey rock was the drone.
The (hailstormy) journey to Rainbow Mountain base camp
Half an hour in. The blue skies disappeared again. And suddenly the wind changed – hard, howling. Hail rained down on us. I thought about putting the camera away – wet smudges obscuring the lens. I wiped them away and kept shooting, running up and down the group as they hiked up.
Mountain Biking in the Sacred Valley
We didn’t really know what to expect so when we started spotting snowcapped peaks out of the windows, the excitement started to build. Mountain biking? Here? With views like this? Yeeeeeeeees!
Acclimatising and drone flying in Cusco
It was chilly. The light was perfect. I saw this orange city in a completely different way than I had before, the roofs all creating this golden quality that just worked with the morning light and the mountains in the background.
Photographing the Amazon Jungle
You know when you don’t even have to wake up early, but you do anyway because you have it in your head that you want something? That was me. I had this vision of getting the perfect jungle video and photos, with the golden hour sunlight filtering through the trees.
Eating too much in Lima | A gastronomical tour
As well as our shot, we had a ginger Pisco drink made for us, and wine served at the dinner table. Safe to say this set the tone for the rest of the trip: alcohol, and plenty of it.
Touchdown in Lima
“The jittery nerves I’d been feeling in the days leading up to the trip just disappeared as I looked out of the plane window.”
“Your photos make people happy.”
– something that was said to me recently. And it’s only just starting to sink in what photo and video means to other people
I’m heading to Peru on a travel photography job!
This morning I’m heading to Heathrow Airport, boarding a plane, and heading to my very first international photography job!
Stay in
Perhaps it’s time to enjoy the little things you might forget to enjoy sometimes and remember that rest might be what you need, however much you fight it, and try to do too much.
Be alone
The beauty of solo travel, of backyard adventures, of being able to take yourself off into the wilderness to switch off for a while – to focus on creation, reflection, and a few hours of peace.
A solo trip to the Langdales | Photojournal
Self portrait practice, accidental summiting, and too much time looking at lambs.
Vegan at Disneyland Paris | Summer 2019
I’ve compiled a very quick list of places at Disneyland Paris I would recommend – easy to screenshot or glance at when you’re working out where to find vegan food.
El Chorro | Escalera Arabe – Suiza
Escalera Arabe – Suiza. The day Michael got stuck up a 6c slab.
El Chorro | #carrotsforpower
Imagine getting up at 07:00 for a day of climbing and only having decaf coffee available.
El Chorro | hiring a car for climbing
Even if you drive well and have no accidents, you could lose your deposit due to a rogue rock or pothole.
Don’t let one thing define you
Experimenting through so many things helped lead me to this point, knowing a little more about who I am by not defining myself as one thing.
Blindly enjoying the natural world
Blindly enjoying the natural world just isn’t an option for me anymore; sustainable life choices and travel have become intrinsically linked and I’m wondering how I can do more. There’s more to ethical living than veganism.
Trad at the Castle Rock of Triermain
We thought that golden hour was falling a little flat. How wrong we were. I sent the Mavic up and it captured what my own, high viewpoint eyes couldn’t quite get: an even higher sweep of the two valleys, the misty hidden mountains in the background, and the stillness of the air.
Bouldering has taught me that stubborness pays off
The sun dipped lower and lower. I fell, again and again.
And then, I just… got it.
Failing to rig a climbing photography rope
Other times you build one anchor, realise it’s in the wrong place, then build another that’s so bad you don’t want to use it, and just go home.
Why you should travel solo
I am putting more value into being alone. Not just accidentally, but to actually go out and seek aloneness.
Being creative when you don’t want to be creative
Staying inspired is not a passive process. It’s not something you wait for. It’s something you go looking for – you chase it. You do it even when you don’t feel like it.
Sport climbing & saying “I got you” and “nice” an awful lot
When they’re climbing, they trust you to catch them, to keep them safe, and you’re trusting them not to do something too risky, or dangerous.
Different perspectives
So, I packed up the camera bag and we headed out. Out into rain, heavy skies, small breaks.
May the mountains turn to dust
It’s for them, those we don’t know, will never know, will never meet.