Pennine Lines w/c 4 March 2024
One of the things that’s always drawn me to photography, specifically British landscape photography, is the alchemy of creating something out of apparently nothing. Or to put it another way, how it’s possible to craft a composition which allows you to find some sort of beauty out of a scene or location that you might otherwise walk right past without giving it another thought. Any idiot can take a passable photo of an epic location in amazing light, but the greater challenge is in creating order within the frame from the chaos of the world around us, to allow it to be understood and appreciated.
Pennine Lines w/c 18 December 2023
There’s a saying or rather a sentiment expressed in climbing which we hear time and time again, offering comfort to anyone who’s just failed on their project, or fallen off something, other otherwise taken an ego-bruising; “Never mind, just come back on another day, it’ll still be here next time”. This works great, until we hit one of the rare instances where something isn’t there next time.
Pennine Lines w/c 26 June 2023
This was one I actually had lined up to feature in Grit Blocs once I’d got some shots of Ned attempting this at the end of a long day mopping up some other photos for the book. It would have at the very least got a mention in the Swivel Finger section, or there was a chance it could have bumped that problem out entirely, as it looked superb, and as a long-standing project carried a bit of gravitas. In the end I visited once more with Ned but again we left empty handed, and in fact it took Ned until this April to seal the deal.
Pennine Lines w/c 19 June 2023
When you've lived in the same place for a long time it's easy to fall into complacency and routine. Now, I'm not saying routine in climbing is necessarily wrong, and in fact I'm a strong believer that building a relationship with a place, with a crag or venue, can be a very a positive thing. Generally speaking it's got a lot going for it instead of the fashionable but consumerist approach of just flitting around picking off low hanging fruit. However, I am as guilty as anyone of falling to the trap of frequenting the same places each year almost by default.
Pennine Lines w/c 22 May 2023
This week I’ve returned from the Isle of Skye to find that climbers’ access to one of the Churnet’s finest crags, Wright’s Rock in Staffordshire, has been completely removed. Anyone following this development can’t have failed to notice the accompanying handwringing and gnashing of teeth online on the state of climbers’ disrespectful behaviour; the fact the Churnet apparently gets busy with climbers up from London, or that everyone climbs stuff when it’s damp, or that the rock and crags here simply can’t cope with this level of traffic.