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grateful to be home after a whirlwind film shoot in Austria. Two days of being up in the beautiful mountains, being creative, documentary style. Lots of watching the clouds rush through the mountains and settling in the valleys. pic.twitter.com/ZGh63i4ebV

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started today with a pretty beautiful view 🌞 pic.twitter.com/NtdRDxxw84

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good morning 🌞 pic.twitter.com/ShCU6mAabr

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so, yesterday @frit_tam launched his crowdfunder so help support the Glide for Pride project + film - it’s a little bit scary asking people to support a project but this is so needed + there is an incredible story to share in this film 🌞 indiegogo.com/projects/glide…

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Hi Scotland-based climbing/ mountaineering Twitterers! I'm looking to speak with a badass mountaineer/ winter climber (any grade, don't care!) in their 50s/60s/70s. Lives in Scotland. Still able to get out into hills (in any capacity) - Identifies as a woman or non-binary....- pic.twitter.com/FUOBzpmqu7

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Rachel Sarah on Instagram

rachelsarahm

Freelance 🎥
Intersectional vegan 🌍 | creating films, taking photos, + running around the mountains.

I’ve landed back to reality this morning after a

I’ve landed back to reality this morning after a dozy 3am start and lots of fluorescent airport lighting. I’m excited for a bath. And to really get stuck into my documentary again, as my never-quite forgotten deadline looms.

The last few days I’ve been up in the mountains shooting as the filmmaker for a campaign for @jackwolfskin - for an all women’s hiking trip in Austria, set to launch in the Spring.
When the email landed in my inbox I was excited, surprised, and a little proud (and reminded that I probably should update my website…) that projects like this are coming along, ones where I can meet and connect with new people who love and care for the outdoors, as well as spending time with some familiar faces 🌞 - thanks to @mariecheng27 @amira_thewanderlust @sarahpour @naturellymichaela @margreen_s for allowing me to stick a camera in your face on steep inclines and windy ridges, and to photographer @samisauri 📸 for being the talented other half of this week’s creative team.

Now, seriously. Time to edit, and then no work for a bit. Rest rest rest. Feeling extremely grateful, thinking back to last year Rach worrying if I could even make this freelance creative thing work.

Filmmaking can be accessible - just simply make a

So something pretty rad happened this year, and I’ve wanted to mention it a few times and here I finally am 🌞 - we are currently on day 4 of 10 of an incredible project that I started solo planning and shooting in February of this year - a challenge undertaken by Andrew, whom I have spoken to at least once a week for the last 8 months, as we plan this challenge and film together. And, then, in the summer, it was picked up by a broadcaster and commissioned! And transformed from a small self funded project into a one hour documentary in which I could hire creatives to help me! Hire! Actually hire! I think that is actually one of my favourite things about being funded! Paying my talented friends to help me create something like this.

So, here we are, in the beautiful Scotland, as we follow a group of cyclists as they cycle 100 miles every day for 10 days. 1,000 miles. 65,000 ft of ascent. It’s brutal, it’s beautiful, and it’s pretty damn exciting. My first commission and longest film yet. And it will be out in the next couple of months so I’ll let you know where you can watch it 🌞🎥 @stephenjreid @itsadamcampbell @jonathandoylemedia @roxannagbaz @paddisonandrew

A few times these last couple of weeks I’ve had

A few times these last couple of weeks I’ve had to take a deep breath and remind myself that ever since I picked up a camera I have been looking toward this, this point: feeling comfortable saying no to contracts that didn’t feel right, being confident upping my prices, and genuinely happy with the quality of my work. Meeting and working with new, wonderful people and brands.

But those moments are fleeting - most of the time I’m incredibly critical of my work, my progress, and even at my busiest I’m already worrying that everything will suddenly drop off and I’ll be left with a winter of no work and no money. Freelance is funny. But at least I’m happy I’ve finally started to charge for travel days this summer. Small steps.

- a moment that almost looks photoshopped, from my first day in Chamonix as I wandered around shooting b-roll.

Last week, whilst doing a Q+A at the @teambmc Wome $Last week, whilst doing a Q+A at the @teambmc Women in Adventure 2022 launch, I talked about last year’s film Uncomfortable being my first step into wanting to be a filmmaker. And how that all feels a million miles away now. Somebody asked me “what do you do now?” and I joyfully answered “I’m a full time freelance filmmaker!!!!!!” and then the next question was “so how did you get to this point, what advice would you give?” and I hesitated. Because my reality for the year and a half has been partly joyous, but mostly never ever, ever, ever switching off. Everything is film, everything is photography, everything is projects and traveling. I go to bed writing emails in my head and I am always planning something when I’m driving or showering or packing. My job gives me the outdoors, connections, creativity. Things most people dream of but I’m also looking pretty haggered at the moment. My skin and my hair is dry and unhealthy, some friendships have fallen by the wayside and my relationship is strained because I’m either not there physically or not there mentally. It’s not aspirational to be honest, but it’s reality and it’s how I’ve finally started to land some dream work after the fear and blank calendar that was Covid. Even when I fractured my arm I found a way to continue working at almost full speed. I love what I do so much, it’s my passion and my exercise and my social life and career all in one. But I am very aware that I need to very soon take a bit of a break, or have a series of short breaks. I feel like this is one the the reasons I haven’t posted much over the last months - I don’t necessarily want to promote this as a sustainable lifestyle because I definitely need to tweak it a little. So to anybody looking at me over the last year or so thinking “woah, she’s doing a lot.” Yes I am. But as I listen to my body a little more, I will now start to slightly ease off the pedal to avoid burnout. To charge more for projects because I now have the confidence that I’m worth it. And then, maybe I can apply the pressure again a bit more when my hair is a bit softer and when my back muscles come back ♥️$

One day I’m stress crying about all the things I $One day I’m stress crying about all the things I have to do and all the places I have to drive. The next I’m on a midnight walk, and so focused on shooting the moon that I trip over a huge boat wire on the beach, saving the camera with one arm, sacrificing the other to the pebbles. The next I’m having a beautiful yet slightly painful day, shooting an incredible @bgh_uk weekender on the sunny Devon coast, mostly one-armed because that left arm just doesn’t really move very well... aaaaand before I know it I’m back at home, post-hospital visit, trying to completely reorganise my life and get shoots covered because I have, in fact, fractured my arm and can’t drive or use my arm for a good few weeks. Whoops doesn’t quite cut it 🙃$

Playing with movement, looking out at the evening

Playing with movement, looking out at the evening light that filters through the clouds and mountains and water in the west coast of Scotland. In making my love into my job I have forgotten how to play and experiment. I’ve left it behind out of fear and pressure to perform and get better. And also, social media really can be creativity killer - because why experiment and get out of your comfort zone when you know what gets the best engagement?

But this recent pressure is a funny thing. The more pressure and stress I’m feeling, the more I am actually settling into who I would like to be as a creative - the idea of quietly creating is just wonderful. Not sharing as much. Playing and experimenting more. Letting myself learn.

There was a simple, deliberate camera movement as I took this photo so the mountains would merge with the sea, and I think this just somehow encapsulates how I felt that evening last week, looking out from the west coast, listening to the sound of the waves, and letting those shapes and sounds wash over that small moment of reshaping myself.

Wild Swim Jim in 2 minutes. Wild Swim Jim is docum

Wild Swim Jim in 2 minutes. Wild Swim Jim is documentary film in progress, exploring acceptance after injury, men's mental health, and what it means to be vulnerable as a man in the outdoor endurance swimming world.

The film will follow Jim as he attempts his longest swim so far: Jersey to France, whilst also telling the story of how he got there.

We go back to the time before Jim found swimming, where he broke his back in a work-related accident. Jim finds solace and rehabilitation in endurance swimming, learning to walk again through his swimming, and starting to build a new career as a swim coach in the process.

Men's mental health is a topic that is not often explored in film form, especially in the wild and endurance swimming world. Jim's openness about the wiggly line that is recovery (because what is recovery?) is something that will resonate, that will hopefully help others in dark places, to feel comfortable with sharing and asking for help - and not just those in the swimming community ❤️

GOODBYE FOREVER! Well, not really. But it feels we

GOODBYE FOREVER! Well, not really. But it feels weird to wake up again today, my second day not filming for Glide for Pride. After 11 days following the ray of sunshine that is @frit_tam on his skate and cycle around England, I’ve dipping out for a couple of weeks to do some commercial work in the beautiful Lake District and the Highlands.

And - full transparency- it is incredibly important to me to show the reality of (my current place in) filmmaking, of (lack of) funding, and everything what that means for me and my schedule. So far we don’t have funding for the trip and so, of course, I have to leave and take on paid (rad) work throughout projects like this!

I’m a bit worried I’m going to miss capturing things, but I’m also really excited for @frankie_dewar to come out into her own whilst filming and supporting Frit, and the wonderful @georgeholdenmedia who is covering some of the time I’m away. I have no doubt both Frankie and George’s artistic eyes will actually add a breath of fresh air to my style of shooting, too.

A temporary goodbye to Glide for Pride and a hello to these new work projects which I’m also pretty stoked for 🌞

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