Midnight Sun

August 17th, 2011 • Around the World
Tags: Adventure, Borea Adventures, Digital, Documentary, expedition, hasselblad, Iceland, Jennifer wilcox, medium format, Ocean Paddler Magazine, photography, Sea Kayaking, Travel, West Fjords

Last summer I traveled to the remote West Fjords of Iceland, (a trip organised through Ocean Paddler magazine), to participate in a couple of sea kayaking expeditions with the Icelandic company, Borea Adventures. I flew from Scotland to Reykjavik, Icelands lively capital city, shortly after flights had resumed after the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruptions. The local shops were trying to make the best of the economic crash and the volcano with the slogan: “Don’t mess with Iceland, we may not have cash, but we’ve got ash”. I had to laugh, a country with some wit and humour.

After a short stay in Reykjavik, I flew to Isafjordur in the West Fjords, where I was greeted by the friendly staff of Borea Adventures. We spent the following day preparing for the expeditions, organising gear and getting to know one another. The next ten days were spent at sea, one organised expedition and one customised. Although we covered almost 300km of coastline by kayak, we barely touched all that Iceland has to offer. The  quality of the light this far north gave the landscape an almost indefinable quality, making every view a picture postcard.

Borea’s boat, the Aurora, also offers kayaking and adventure trips to Greenland. Whales, polar bear, walrus, arctic fox, icebergs, midnight sun…

And then there’s winter.

These are some of the photographs I took during the summer 2010 expeditions.

(Many thanks to Borea Adventures and Ocean Paddler magazine for the experience. For more information about organised or customised adventures with Borea (land or sea, summer or winter), you can contact them directly through their website: http://www.boreaadventures.com/).

Big smoke

September 25th, 2010 • 1 comment Around the World, Cycling

Now this is well off theme, but my latest adventure took place – nowhere near a mountain or wilderness of any kind – but in the heart of the British capital, London.

I had an exhibit showing at the artcrank poster show, so in an effort to mix it with the cycling community at large I bmx’ed it into central, threw the bike in the bike van and settled in for the surprisingly painless journey of 5 and a bit hours. My first challenge was finding the venue away down near Shoreditch, so a bit of meandering through friday night traffic in the dark provided quite a shot of excitement. Those roads get hell of a busy. Venue found, I got a beer and went outside to take some photos when i heard the unmistakable howl of the teenwolf. There they were a bunch of couriers from Glasgow down for the messenger event London calling. They filled me in as to where the party was and with post-exhibition activities sorted I set about the social mill. The exhibition ended at about 12ish, everything had gone well, so me and show organiser and my host for the night Chris Verbick headed of in search of a warehouse deep in the east end where the messenger chaos was in progress.

Now, I’ve not been a messenger for a long time now, I got so bored of riding the streets and the seemingly pointless tail chasing that defines life in the heart of hive that i developed a serious distain for city centres in general. In developing this complex I had completely forgotten how much fun weaving through traffic in a group of bikes can be, the bmx however is not designed as a primary form of transit and requires some physical commitment to keep it close to the wheels of more suitable bikes. Still I had a great buzz sliding in the gaps and holding onto taxis for a little extra boost when i fell off the back. The streets at this time were alive with bikes, i have never seen so many fixed wheels in one shot before and it is safe to say that the so called (fixie – culture) is in full chat down south. The warehouse we were seeking gave itself up through sound – amongst a swathe of identical industrial carbuncles – and what a warehouse it was. Man, this place was RAD! full of amazing murals (some of which were banksy’s) a full on sound system, lasers and lights, live tag-team hip-hop, dark corners full of tired / minced couriers hunched over tables and a giant pizza oven which set off the stark urban vibe with the sweet smell of pine smoke and cooking dough. We had a fine time although all off us were spent, Niall Dobbie (ex weegie courier) had cycled from Glasgow on a fixie and was in fine form despite his trek. Along with Brian Dunsmore (Westcoast messengers) we spoke of travelling the world, latest adventures, family and the state of old friends all conducted in un-cooth Glaswegian style over a bottle of Glenmorangie. Thoroughly well oiled we left to find Chris’s flat, rumbling along thin singletrack canal paths through the industrial veins of the city, I felt at ease with a city I have always had a healthy dislike for before.

So will i be buying another track bike rolling up one trouser leg and riding the traffic for fun? The answer would have to be no. I would rather spend my time in the peace and solace of the un-civilised hills…

Bressay wandering

September 7th, 2010 • Around the World, Hill walking
Tags: bleak, Bressay, Shetland

The MacDonald clan ventured north for a family wedding that lasted for 3 days and spanned 4 separate locales, it was wild and great craic but not so conducive for keeping my fitness up in readiness for Tour de Ben Nevis and Relentless endurance races. I took the opportunity of a lull in the festivities to walk the bits of Bressay I had not ventured into before.

The south east coast of the island comprises the largest area of un-settled wilderness, littered with old villages, sheelings and military outposts it’s clear that this area was not always as empty and bleak as it is now. The coast is intricate with imposing, ragged cliffs rising up over 100m and although the island is small it takes quite a time to thread your way around the cliff edges. Although this area is pretty much devoid of any human activity now it remains a thronging and bustling place, sea birds dominate, screaching, swooping and playing on the thermals, thankfully the bonxies weren’t in dive bombing mode this time of year so walking near the cliff edge wasn’t as dangerous as it could be. How folk survived out here through the winter being openly exposed to the north sea is beyond me. Even in the fine weather i experienced the salinated wind is persistent and wearing. I still have to make it up Ronas hill which is the highest peak of 450m so it’s a definite must for the next visit. Shetland is very different from mainland Scotland, the people and the land have and unwavering, distinct individuality that is rich and engaging. I can honestly say that there is nowhere on Earth like it.

The Howick Tannery

May 20th, 2010 • 2 comments Around the World
Tags: abstract exploration, Howick tannery, lorraine ishak, midlands meander

After 3 weeks in my tent in the Drakensburg mountains it felt adventurous to be heading into civilization.
Ash and I ventured with wide eyed excitement along the dirt roads  towards the small town of Howick.
Our mission; to find the rumoured tannery in the industrial outskirts to purchase some sleeping skins.
(Old faithful the thermarest having given up the ghost with an unidentifiable slow puncture)

This place blew me away.
Stepping through time into a bygone era of thick smells and grime. It reminded me that adventure and exploration can be found in the oddest corners, in this case;  between the animal rescue centre and the taxidermists.

In this tiny tannery skins are processed as they have been since the middle ages, hand sorting, dipping, tumbling, stretching and fluffing. They work mainly with sheep and cow skins, but you can bring in any road kill /dead pets  that take your fancy.

The folk that work there are smudged black and striking, like Dickensian characters, probably with  Victorian pay and working conditions  to match.

Any hoo; I’ve just realised that this is in the Zulu lands, not Scotland or even outdoors. Oops. Promise some mountains
next time ..

Patagonian Wanderings

May 11th, 2010 • 3 comments Around the World, Camping, Hill walking
Tags: Argentina, Camping, Chile, Patagonia, trekking, walking

It’s ironic really. You save all your pennies, finally book the Big Trip and fly out to Patagonia for four months of trekking through landscapes you’ve spent years reading about and dreaming about, and what happens? You time your trip of a lifetime to coincide with the best Scottish winter in 20 years…. Sounds like you guys have had a cracking winter!

Not that I’m complaining you understand.

Patagonia was still everything you could ever hope it would be. The landscapes really are as varied as they are magnificent: you can be walking among perfect towers of granite one week and boiling pools of mud and volcanoes the next. Sometimes surreal, often majestic and always beautiful.

I was down there working primarily on a landscape photography project (the exhibition opens next week in Keswick if anyone’s interested) but I thought that I’d try my hand at some video too, partly to try to broaden my horizons from a creative point of view, and partly because it was a great excuse to stop and put my bag down from time to time. Misha suggested I post the result on here so, well, here it is….

I hope you enjoy it.