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Rachel Sarah on Twitter

Anybody using the @rodemics Go Wireless II with their A7Siii? Really stoked to get a decent dual input for my video work, love my original Go, but read a review about it not being compatible with Sony a7siii? @rodemics or anybody else, are you able to clarify? pic.twitter.com/kvEKlD5SdD

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not usually that comfortable being in front of the camera myself, preferring to hide behind it. but sometimes, at golden hour, I make an exception 🌞 pic.twitter.com/SFYRRPPltZ

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Follow @rachelsarah_m

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Rachel Sarah on Instagram

rachelsarahm

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

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 🌞

Slowly getting into a rhythm - waking up and slowl

Slowly getting into a rhythm - waking up and slowly making coffee. Shooting, driving, stopping, shooting, flying, driving. I think back to all the years I wasn’t doing this - and I don’t regret it one bit. All of those years not knowing what I wanted to do just makes me appreciate it all the more, even if I do sometimes feel a little late to the party. I think about back to back shifts at different hospitality and retail jobs, office 9-5s, and everything in between, every job and then the one I have now. So much luck and privilege involved in in happening, and so much work and risk, too.

It’s weird to be with @frit_tam and not be shooting together, this time it’s Frit cycling around winding country roads, trying to rollerblade through horrifically dirty underpasses, just having a proper adventure. I’m just along for the ride, camera in hand and drone in the sky. And I couldn’t be happier.

Just a huge thank you for everybody’s support of Frit so far. It’s been an anxious filled few months trying to find sponsorship and trying to plan everything, and though the stress isn’t exactly over, being outdoors and on the road really is something special 🌞

As a teenager I grew up in the countryside. A no-b

As a teenager I grew up in the countryside. A no-buses on Sunday, traffic stops to let the local ducks cross the road type of village.

When I was around 15, one of my friends, who was secretly queer, outed me to our friends. A photo of me kissing another girl went around the school and people zoomed in to “see if there was tongue”. It is a complicated story with me angrily outing that girl straight back, which lead to her eventually getting bullied out of school.

Like, fuck. It was a defining time in how I suppressed and dealt with my confusing sexuality and how I fit in, in a small bigoted place. I have never really spoken about this before as it’s something I don’t really like to remember but now, nearing 30, I see how much this all damaged me, how it damaged my romantic relationships. I am in such a happy relationship now, but a large part of me feels deprived and angry at how much I have struggled to connect with women on a romantic level because of how scared I was of really being myself.

I still have a bit of a block when it comes to my sexuality. Queer enough to be a called a dyke at school, but not feeling or presenting Queer enough to be part of the LGBTQIA+ community. My early experiences of not belonging is one of the reasons I am so excited to make this film with Frit, telling LGBTQIA+ stories in England so that other teenage Rach’s might see themselves and feel like they do fit in, but also one of the reasons I’m incredibly worried about how to do this film justice. I know the world is very different than it was 13 years ago, but it’s still such a difficult place for those in the LGBTQIA+ community. With so much nuance and variety and SO MANY stories out there.

This is a post I’ve wanted to write for some time, and there’s so much more to this story that I just can’t write right now, but will be when I have the headspace.

I don’t think, as a filmmaker, you HAVE to have an emotional connection to the film you’re making. But I’m recently finding that it’s something that is very, very important to me.

p.s. I know if teenage Rach could see her badass climber filmmaker self, she would be so stoked.

📸 @emily_nicholl_

It is so beautiful working with those you're close

It is so beautiful working with those you're close to, but it's also hard work. I'm cherishing these memories filming with Frit and Frankie for Glide for Pride as they settle into their new home in Sheffield.

Honestly, all three of us are pretty frazzled. And so are a lot of the creative people I'm working alongside and speaking with at the moment. As the world opens up more, diaries are filling up, all kinds of anxieties are rearing their heads, Whatsapp messages, audio notes and calls swing between efficient planning, supporting each other, with the odd grump at one another, followed by another supportive message and trying to make sure we give each other enough space to take time out from planning. Personal blends into work and there’s a point where no conversation isn’t permeated by project talk.

The balance between being close and also working together is a hard one to navigate sometimes. It's knowing when to give space and when to keep pestering because something needs to get done - and it's not always getting it right because everything changes with moods and stress levels and a million other things. It's never going to be perfect but that's the point. I already know that two months filming together will bring a lot of challenges but also a lot of joyful moments, too 🌞

- a mixture of photos with some film stills. I really enjoyed exploring @frit_tam and @frankie_dewar’s new home for compositions and details to show this part of Frit’s journey 🏠

The Ice Mile - the start of the journey. I am so e

The Ice Mile - the start of the journey. I am so excited to be working on this project over the next 12 months - a documentary film exploring endurance swimming and community in the UK outdoor swimming world, whilst following Becca during her year-long training as she trains for her Ice Mile.

We began filming in March 2021 and will continue to follow Becca as she navigates massive life changes - finding employment post-covid, moving from Sunderland to the Lake District, and being able to see her swimming community once again after a year of swimming in solitude.

The film seeks to explore the beauty of the UK, from high up mountain tarns, to the deep lochs of Scotland, and also show the hard training that goes into endurance and competitive swimming.

We are currently looking for film sponsors! 🥳

Director and Producer - @rachelsarahm
Director of Photography - @jessielphoto

Here’s to a whole year of being in the water and learning more and more about what it takes to create and connect and collaborate 🌞

“It is a privilege to educate yourself about rac

“It is a privilege to educate yourself about racism instead of experiencing it.”

#silenceisviolence

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