Skip to content

Rachel Sarah

Photographer, Videographer, and Writer.

Archives

  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • July 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • September 2018
  • August 2018

Meta

  • Log in
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
  • Blog
  • FAQs
  • Contact

Tagyoutube video

Read More
By : Rachel Sarah June 28, 2019June 28, 2019

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.

drone Castle Rock of Triermain Read More
By : Rachel Sarah April 22, 2019April 25, 2019

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 badger rock climbing Read More
By : Rachel Sarah April 12, 2019April 15, 2019

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.

Deer Scotland Read More
By : Rachel Sarah January 30, 2019December 7, 2021

Don’t feed the deer

You know when a simple comment leads to an adventure you didn’t quite expect? 

  • All Stories42
  • Adventure29
  • Business2
  • Climbing3
  • Ethics1
  • Freelance7
  • Photography24
  • Self6
  • Travel14
Follow Rachel Sarah on WordPress.com
Rachel Sarah on Twitter
Rachel Sarah
17 Aug
Rachel Sarah
@rachelsarah_m

Psyched to be this month’s @TGOMagazine Creator of the Month 🌞 twitter.com/tgomagazine/st…

Expand reply reply retweet retweet favourite favourite
Rachel Sarah
15 Jul
Rachel Sarah
@rachelsarah_m

heading back to reality after a whirlwind of back to back shooting, finishing in a beautiful bothy in the highlands working on such a rad short film project 🛹 ⛰ #filmmaking pic.twitter.com/P0tDUM9EPD

Expand reply reply retweet retweet favourite favourite
Follow @rachelsarah_m
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Rachel Sarah on Instagram

rachelsarahm

Freelance filmmaker + photographer 🎥
Vegan 🌍 | always with a camera in hand

Rachel Sarah 🌱
Sometimes an image or video perfectly depicts the Sometimes an image or video perfectly depicts the experience. Sometime, not so much. It was pretty wild, the wind was throwing us about and holding the camera (and myself) steady was near impossible. Only a few of us went up on deck outdoors, as the fierce Patagonian winds and dark jagged peaks above, swirling in cloud, reminded me where we were and the nature of this place. It was actually one of my favourite moments from this job. 

- one of the final shots vs the raw footage. I knew as soon as I got up there and started getting thrown about in that wind I needed to switch to 100fps to give me the best chance of having salvageable footage but, even slowed down, it’s taken some post-processing and stabilisation to get these shots steady. I really love moving image, even if it sometimes takes a bit of magic to make it work 🎞 🌞
Said goodbye to the solstice, looking out to paste Said goodbye to the solstice, looking out to pastel skies over the mountains and the sea, before waking up on my thirtieth birthday to the most beautiful cloud inversion. Gentle rolling clouds scattered in the valleys, just enough breeze to keep the midgies away- only getting about an hour of sleep doesn’t really matter when everything else aligns 🌞 

📸 @michael.fleming
In my free time I like long, slow days in the hill In my free time I like long, slow days in the hills. A backpack full of camera kit and lots of time to capture the light in just the right way. No stress, no summit goals, just the aesthetics and feel of where I am. It’s an antidote to the often fast-paced (and slightly panicked) run and gun style I’ve adopted when solo shooting on jobs.

But @michael.fleming likes light trail packs, counting kms and trying to do things fast. His long legs suited to trail running and speed. It’s really hard to find compromise when we are away together, because we have such different approaches to how we enjoy the outdoors. But we managed it just perfectly this week as we moved both fast and slow on the Snowdon Horseshoe at sunset. We scrambled, ran, but carried my a7r with a pancake lens to stop now and then to photograph our little adventure. Michael counted the kms and tracked our progress on his watch whilst I just watched the light fade from golden hour to blue hour as we sleepily ran back down, headtorches on and slightly aching feet. 

And we also rescued a really tiny baby mountain goat, reuniting them with their mum, which was, honestly, the highlight of the entire evening 🌞
I’ve spent a little while mulling over my feelin I’ve spent a little while mulling over my feelings and realising that I feel guilty when I do things and share things like this that bring me joy, which makes sense for a lot of reasons, but also just isn’t a sustainable way of feeling and being anymore, so I’m working on embracing the happiness that travel and creating gives me once again 🌞

- shooting for @flashpack in Patagonia earlier in the Spring.
Chasing the sunlight up Little Tryfan last night, Chasing the sunlight up Little Tryfan last night, getting used to some gentle slab exposure and testing my head game for air beneath my feet. 

Slowly but surely that little voice in my head that tells me that I have to be always going flat out is getting quieter and quieter.

Finding this balance is realising it’s completely acceptable to be building this business in a slower, more chilled out way, so I have the time to take care of my body, and spend time with people who bring the joyful and fun part of me out. Instead of the sad, stressed and anxious Rach that seemed to appear more and more over the last year. 

And what joy it is to be back climbing again, finally, after so long struggling with my body, and my confidence on rock. I’m nowhere near wholly comfortable with either but I’m really trying. 

📸 @michael.fleming
Your eyes may be drawn to the boat, but mine are o Your eyes may be drawn to the boat, but mine are on @swimjim58, the little swimming dot, as he set off on his biggest challenge to date last year. So many things stood in the way of Jim getting in that water that day - physical, mental - but he got in, and he swam.

I don’t really think people (myself included) really understand the mental fortitude and reality it takes for people with chronic pain and illness to go about their lives so much of the time, let alone do big physical challenges like this. 

I would often film Jim sitting on his sofa, and he’d be in pain, just sat there. But in the coldness of the water he sometimes got a respite from that pain, not always, but sometimes. 

I really hope that this film, Under The Surface, can help more people understand the day to day reality of chronic pain, as well as exploring men’s mental health and the stigma around men being able to share about their struggles. 

It’s in the edit this summer (like all my projects seem to be!) and will be released this autumn 🎥
First time I’d been on a glacier, first time I’d even seen a glacier. I was a little overwhelmed to be honest, there are a lot of conflicting feelings of awe, and eco-anxiety. 

More and more, I’m finding it easier to slip into feeling like I am this tiny, insignificant person, looking up at events, at a future that feels impossible to change or affect positively. But I’ve also been talking to myself a lot, talking at the inner pessimist to remind myself that small things do have impacts, and it’s better to do something, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, than absolutely nothing. And that experiencing joy and doing things for yourself is not a betrayal, it is simply a necessity to keep going. 

Tiny group of people on the bottom right for scale. Shooting for @flashpack in Argentina.
My eyes were welling up a little as we drove furth My eyes were welling up a little as we drove further and further away from this view. I remember so vividly that feeling of standing there, looking across the landscape and remembering that only a day or so ago we had been up there in those mountains, up in the swirling of the new snow, unable to see the mountains clearly as we stood at the base of Fitz. I was so in awe, up there in the mountains, but also a little disappointed that the autumnal Patagonian weather had sent snow our way and eclipsed the peaks from view all day. But that’s just the nature of this job, it isn’t always going to be the perfect conditions. 

Stood at the roadside, looking out at the mountains, hoping to be back here one day, but feeling so privileged and lucky that my job brought me here this year. A real pinch-me moment in my career. And also a turning point in my own mental health this year as I still continue building myself back into feelings happiness and joy. 

- on assignment for @flashpack in Patagonia, Argentina.
Sometimes interviewing Jim was like looking in the Sometimes interviewing Jim was like looking in the mirror. Maybe me back in the past when I talked a bit more about difficult things, difficult memories. Throughout filming and, even moreso in the edit of this film, I am admiring in the honesty of Jim, sat there with a camera in his face with me behind it, headphones half on half off with tears in my eyes as we shared stories about times we didn’t want to live, and times where things felt hard, and then times that felt a tiny bit better, and then bad again, and then better, until you’re together on a beach in Jersey and we are filming together the night before he attempts his hardest swim to date with a fresh injury that threatens the entire challenge. 

I’m really excited but also nervous to finish this film. How can you distill these fluctuating joyful and painful feelings into a film? I’m going to try 🌞 

- from Under the Surface with @swimjim58, a documentary collaboration with @samwalkeruk
Load More… Follow on Instagram
Proudly powered by WordPress - Theme: Coup Lite by Themes Kingdom