One of the main reasons I started blogging was to form some kind of catalogue of inspirational things I come across. Being a great believer in the emerging ‘open source’ way of working, I like the idea that keeping an open sketchbook allows much opportunity for collaborative work and solutions to come forward. With this in mind I’m going to make more of an effort to post ‘in homage’ to the things I feel are worthy of mention, starting with the work of Jimmy Chin.
I don’t think it’ll take you long to realise why his work is worthy of mention, but for me, what comes through is his personality. I get the impression he is never trying to impose himself on the situation, and therefore the result is something which both un-contrived and beautifully effortless. In this day and age it’s great to see such strong content that relies so little little on digital manipulation. Check out Jimmy’s website and blog.
After ten years of living an almost completely urban life in the city of Glasgow, 2009, for me, was the year that I emerged from the cocoon to discover the majestic Scottish wilderness. Perhaps it could be same for any of the world’s great wildernesses, I don’t know any of them well enough to know if they have the same depth, but something of the way the landscape and people have woven together through time, is truly magnificent. It is said that the Scottish mountains are amongst the oldest in the world, and the poetry, the music and the people, even to this day, move forward with echos of this ancient history. It might be foolish to try and convey this – like describing the taste of one of the finest single malt whiskies – but here are a few things that speak to me the loudest against this backdrop. I’ll let you peel back the layers:
I’ve been working on putting up a blog and forum for High-8, an organisation recently formed to share stories and information about trips into the scottish wilderness. Like many parts of the world, Scotland is a fantastic venue for outdoor sports. Over time, I hope High-8 will become a great resource for activities like gorge walking, for which there is little information available and for which Scotland remains a relatively uncharted territory with huge potential for the sport. We intend use the forum to explore possibilities in photography and film making, as a means to inspire and bring the amazing places and experiences to a wider audience. If you do take part in this kind of thing in Scotland, then please do get involved. Here’s some pictures to wet the appetite:
I have finally succumbed to the temption to post a link to this video of Catherine Destivelle climbing in Mali. I visited here several years ago but not to climb. This is an impressive piece of footage which melds climbing, culture, a 1970’s style narrative and tight shorts into just 10 minutes >>
Here are some pictures from the last few months adventures around Scotland. Hopefully the images capture the moments. All taken on Film on my Olympus OM20. Should be getting my digital SLR back shortly [my sister pinched it to go to California - bum deal for me or what!?! Hopefully she'll come back with some good pictures though]. I’ll be interested to see what kind of photos I get out of the digital when I get it back [if I do !!].
