A couple of years ago in one of the regular (it seems) Q&A’s I get asked as an ‘out there’ photographer to complete for various magazines and websites, I remember saying that I couldn’t see myself dabbling in the moving image thang inspite of the (at the time) new influx of HD movie capturing SLR bodies washing, almost tsunami like through the camera market. ‘No way,‘ I said, still photography and movie shenanigans were two things I couldn’t see mixing. ‘Focus on one,’ (and see if you can make a living from that) I thought.

You too can ride descents like this, vicariously through the magic of the moving image.
Well, things have changed. Kind of.
No I havent swapped the trusty Leica M8s for a new Canon 5D mkII.. but the 3 week expedition-like bike trip in Nepal I just shot gave me the opportunity to have a play with a GoPro HD movie camera too. It just seemed like the hours of carrying our bikes up vertical mountainsides at ungodly altitudes leant themselves to capturing the experience on film and to adding a narrative to the escapade, not least to add something extra to the forthcoming show I’m doing at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival’s bike night on the 19th Nov. Yeah, I accept that the newfangled moving image has a place in capturing some things stills can’t, and puffing and panting, expletives and endless blowing dust-laden wind are just some of them.
So if you’re at all interested in my Tarantino wannabe debut project then you can see the 3 minute teaser of what will be a fuller edit from the “riding to Tibet on some very narrow, rocky and downright scary trails” adventure here. You’ll need to enter the password “Nepal” to see it.
So when I find a spare three days to continue editing and learning the ropes of yet more software (this time Final Cut Express) then I’ll see what else I can muster from the adventure footage… watch this space.. or just come to Kendal.