Hi Guys, great to do your shoot the other day. Good luck and see you on Saturday.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Cheryl and Dave - Good Luck
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Cheryl and Dave
Good luck with your preparations. You looked great today! Enjoy these and the rest are on the way.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Back from Sinai!
Sun set at the end of a long day.
Even the camels get tired!
YES.
Class of 2008!
Finish line and second time round for Richard.
Approaching the finish
End of tour football match.Another successful Sinai trip has passed and all made it through to the end. Most suffered in someway but making it to the road was again the high point for everyone. Here are a few shots, other can be found at www.junglemoon.co.uk/youthexpeditionsinai2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Training Weekend
We only have two weeks before departure and the training weekend went so well. There was a bit more "chill time" this time round which really allowed the group to bond and get to know each other. Here are a few of the shots from the weekend otherwise you can view them all at www.junglemoon.co.uk/sinaitwii08
Happy viewing!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Published in the Sunday Times
Check out the Sunday Times 13th April for the article and photos on the MDS. Its a good read and pics are great! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article3725024.ece
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Marathon des Sables 2008
Wow! What an event. I covered it as a photographer this year and loved the whole experience. Worked endlessly each day and took over 5000 shots. Hopefully you should see some of the results in papers and mags over the coming months, Sunday Times this weekend! Watch ITV 3 on May 13 for an account of the race and 6 British runners! Here is my favourite of the week.
I will post a link to more later today.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Youth Expedition Sinai 2008
Our 2008 Exped now has a justgiving site so go to www.justgiving.com/sinai2008 and sponsor these brave people!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Away
I will be away until 7th April but will post some Marathon des Sables images here when possible.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Digital Woking
Digital Woking is a project to photograph Woking in the dawn of the digital era. The results will be exhibited in October and a book will be produced of the best images. Here are the first few from the Canal Boat Show this weekend.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Outdoor Shoots
Friday, February 29, 2008
My Favourite
And another from The Lightbox - This is LA who was absolutely exhausted on this occasion. And she was not alone.
The Lightbox is Great
"The Lightbox is a cool place". This morning Horsell School brought 180 of its pupils for a talk about the expedition and they loved it. Here are some of the favourite images.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Youth Expedition Sinai at The Lightbox - Woking
This project took up much of my year in 2007. I am so proud of the young people who took part in this project and to date has been the most successful expedition I have been involved in. Below is the information that is accompanying the images at The Lightbox
Expedition Information
"Last summer, a group of young people from Woking and surrounding areas became the first group of British teenagers to cross the Sinai Desert, Egypt. This photography exhibition is to showcase their achievement over the three-week period.
The aim of the expedition was to raise £100,000 funds for the Child Bereavement Services of the Woking Hospice. Many in the young group were recently bereaved themselves and had already had to overcome the challenges of dealing with the loss of a parent or in some cases a sibling.
The team of nine 13 to 18 year olds, led by expedition organiser, Mark Gillett and a team of experienced adult leaders, trekked 150km across the Sinai from West to East carrying their gear on their backs. The terrain was unforgiving and the heat relentless, with daily exhaustion becoming the norm but this did not deter the group. The day would start at 5am with wake up, breakfast and packing to be on the move before sun up. By late morning it was time to rest up during the heat of the day when temperatures of 52 to 57 degrees were recorded. Finding shade was essential, as this would bring the temperature down by about 10 degrees to the mid forties.
After 14 days the team finally made it to the road. 150km later, although dirty and worn out, there was so much joy on their faces. News had also reached the team via satellite phone that their fundraising goal was also on track, which was the icing on the cake. It had all been worth it. They had no other contact with home.
The job was not over yet, though. On returning to Dahab the youngsters had a Bedu youth centre to renovate as part of the project. This would take them another 5 days of hard graft in temperatures of 40 degrees plus. The final result was amazing as they transformed two rooms (“changing rooms style”) with the help of local Bedu children. The end of the expedition was marked with a football match at the youth centre.
This was more than just an ordinary fund raising venture; the young explorers showed determination way beyond the norm and came together as a team to reach their goal. They endured incredible conditions but found an inner strength they did not know they had. It was also a very emotional experience for everyone involved and friendships have been formed and will last for a lifetime.
Photographer, Mark Gillett’s stunning images documenting this extraordinary trip are on display here in the lobby of The Lightbox from Thursday 21 February to Sunday 2 March. He hopes that the exhibition will inspire other young people in the area to realise that they too can achieve their goals in the face of adversity".
Saturday, June 09, 2007
The Scillies – No matter the weather
I have just returned for my second visit to the Scillies in 6 months.
Last October was my first venture to these beautiful islands off the coast of Cornwall. As a boy my family visited Cornwall on many occasions spending holidays with an aunt I Penzance. Most of our trips were to local beaches like Porthcurno and Kenneggy. St Michaels Mount was also a favourite. We visited so many places over the years but one memory that stayed with me and that has become synonymous with Cornwall was that of the helicopter pad that we passed daily on our family expeditions to various parts of the tip of Cornwall. My parents could never afford for us to take a ride on the chopper to the Scillies but they did tell us how lovely it was and that they spent their honeymoon there. My aunt Rene had also been before and I remember stories about Tresco that place with the same name as a local food store!
Everyday we passed the pad, we would look out of the window to see if the chopper was taking off or landing; our necks craning for a better view and the three of us fighting in the back seat to get the best sighting wondering what it was like on those tiny islands off the coast.
There was a boat to that we watched from my aunt’s window. It was called the Scillonian. A scruffy looking ferry with a crane on which left daily at around 10 in the morning. Not nearly as exciting as a chopper though.
Penzance was and still is a lovely town and we stayed in Newlyn, a little fishing bit of the same place really just a bit further on. I would fish daily off the quay and watch the Scillonian and Chopper and dream of the day I would get to go to the mysterious isles.
35 years on, I booked a holiday to the Scillies and could not wait. As with my family we could not really afford the extravagance of the Helicopter plus we had booked to camp and not stay in one of the lovely hotels. We booked a campsite on Bryher.
We drove down to Penzance and booked our car into one of the car parks. This was all arranged with the campsite owners, which made it so easy. We showed up at the dockside, off loaded our camping gear and canoe, and then parked the car. From that point it was sort of all done until we arrived at the site.
The crossing pretty much lived up to its reputations. It was very bumpy and lots of people were hanging over the side of the boat heaving and hoing!. Never the less we arrived two and a half hours later on St Mary’s. We sailed through the islands for a bit and the raw beauty of the place already left me awestruck. Stuck in the middle of the Atlantic (or as good as) these islands are almost Caribbean like but a little cooler. We passed beautiful long white beaches with so few people on. The sea inside the shelter of the islands was eerily calm and it was a pleasure to sail through after the main part of the journey.
Finally we docked and disembarked. Our kit was transferred for us as we had labelled them with the final destination. We waited about an hour and jumped on to our shuttle to Bryher. As we arrived on this little island the tractors and Landrovers came scurrying down the beach to help with luggage. The only hotel, the Hell Bay Hotel had landrovers collect the luggage of guests and the campsite had tractors!
Our time on the Island was spent watching the children play in the fields, in the trees, on the beaches with the freedom and independence that we grew up with 40 years ago and just took for granted. Now this is just not possible back in leafy Surrey. My daughter will go the to the tennis club, gym or stables for her activity and we will pay gargantuan amounts for the pleasure. Yet they are so much happier just being.
It was not just about the children, though. The islands are truly wild and unspoilt. I ran daily around Bryher that was about 5 miles if I stuck to the coastline. And plenty of hills too. White beaches surround all the islands and the flotsam is just some of the most awesome you will find anywhere. For photography or bird life the isles are second to none too. Everything works too. There are boat trips, seal watching, puffins, sailing boats to hire but none of the boarding or marketing that you would get on a normal beach. You just ask where you can get whatever and there will be someone with a little business that sells it. Failing that you can just be lazy and watch everyone else.
There is a shop too that services the campsite and locals. It has pretty much everything you will need so loading up with food before your arrival is not really necessary. Its worth checking if it will be open on arrival though. Bank holidays are not good!
If you require a pint from time to time there is the Fraggle Rock, which is the only pub on the island. The food is good too and a local band often plays ring the evenings. Its not quite the cuisine of the Vine Café which is the only other eating place on Bryher. It’s a large shed like building in the middle of the island but you need to book for an evening sitting. During the day though, you can get cakes and tea without too much trouble.
Well, that was the first trip. Going back in the May half term seemed like a great idea. The weather should be better going into summer and a little warmer. Well that what we thought. I arranged a trip back with my 7-year-old daughter and some friends. The start was pretty much as in October and our arrival was swift and without problems. I texted some other friends to say what a great time we were having and that they really should have come with us. They were very jealous!
That 1st evening the weather closed in and the wind got up, the rain started falling and the wind got stronger. And stronger. By 6am our tent was wet inside but not too bad and it was blowing a Hooley outside. This Hooley decided to turn into gale force 8 by 8 am and as I stuck my head out of our very wayward Millets summer tent, I was really wishing I had bought my mountain two man geodesic. Out of the 12 other tents on the site there were only four left standing and we were one of them. Thank you Millets!
I still decided to do what everyone else was doing and move our gear to the community centre to dry out and sit out the storm. Emily was first then I returned for the kit. When I got back my tent had flattened too!
With over twenty refugees in the community centre the camaraderie was really quite unique. Everyone sorted themselves out into areas and just got on with camping indoors. It had now been confirmed at gale force 10! Wow!
The storm faded that night and by the second morning the sun was beginning to appear! Again the children all found mates and began to run happily in the fields and down to see Billy the goat. While they were playing I decided to go down to check out my canoe and set it up for a ride. When I got to the beach it was gone! I could not believe it. We had the wettest of nights; I had carried 30 kilos of kit and my daughter to the community centre. My tent was no longer and now my canoe had been stolen! I just laughed. I then asked one of the local boatmen who told me he had seen it blown away in the gales but I did not believe this at first. This is a 40 kilo sit-on-top 3 seater tank of a canoe! He could see it on an island over a mile away where is had washed up onto the rocks. I could not for one believe this had happened and two that I would be able to recover it. Well I did and it was sin fine shape with the paddles still tied to it.
Our week continued and was a beautiful time. Emily did not want to return and neither did I. Since I have been back my mind has only been on getting back for my next photography commission as soon as possible. I am now booked to go back in two week’s time. I can't wait.
Last October was my first venture to these beautiful islands off the coast of Cornwall. As a boy my family visited Cornwall on many occasions spending holidays with an aunt I Penzance. Most of our trips were to local beaches like Porthcurno and Kenneggy. St Michaels Mount was also a favourite. We visited so many places over the years but one memory that stayed with me and that has become synonymous with Cornwall was that of the helicopter pad that we passed daily on our family expeditions to various parts of the tip of Cornwall. My parents could never afford for us to take a ride on the chopper to the Scillies but they did tell us how lovely it was and that they spent their honeymoon there. My aunt Rene had also been before and I remember stories about Tresco that place with the same name as a local food store!
Everyday we passed the pad, we would look out of the window to see if the chopper was taking off or landing; our necks craning for a better view and the three of us fighting in the back seat to get the best sighting wondering what it was like on those tiny islands off the coast.
There was a boat to that we watched from my aunt’s window. It was called the Scillonian. A scruffy looking ferry with a crane on which left daily at around 10 in the morning. Not nearly as exciting as a chopper though.
Penzance was and still is a lovely town and we stayed in Newlyn, a little fishing bit of the same place really just a bit further on. I would fish daily off the quay and watch the Scillonian and Chopper and dream of the day I would get to go to the mysterious isles.
35 years on, I booked a holiday to the Scillies and could not wait. As with my family we could not really afford the extravagance of the Helicopter plus we had booked to camp and not stay in one of the lovely hotels. We booked a campsite on Bryher.
We drove down to Penzance and booked our car into one of the car parks. This was all arranged with the campsite owners, which made it so easy. We showed up at the dockside, off loaded our camping gear and canoe, and then parked the car. From that point it was sort of all done until we arrived at the site.
The crossing pretty much lived up to its reputations. It was very bumpy and lots of people were hanging over the side of the boat heaving and hoing!. Never the less we arrived two and a half hours later on St Mary’s. We sailed through the islands for a bit and the raw beauty of the place already left me awestruck. Stuck in the middle of the Atlantic (or as good as) these islands are almost Caribbean like but a little cooler. We passed beautiful long white beaches with so few people on. The sea inside the shelter of the islands was eerily calm and it was a pleasure to sail through after the main part of the journey.
Finally we docked and disembarked. Our kit was transferred for us as we had labelled them with the final destination. We waited about an hour and jumped on to our shuttle to Bryher. As we arrived on this little island the tractors and Landrovers came scurrying down the beach to help with luggage. The only hotel, the Hell Bay Hotel had landrovers collect the luggage of guests and the campsite had tractors!
Our time on the Island was spent watching the children play in the fields, in the trees, on the beaches with the freedom and independence that we grew up with 40 years ago and just took for granted. Now this is just not possible back in leafy Surrey. My daughter will go the to the tennis club, gym or stables for her activity and we will pay gargantuan amounts for the pleasure. Yet they are so much happier just being.
It was not just about the children, though. The islands are truly wild and unspoilt. I ran daily around Bryher that was about 5 miles if I stuck to the coastline. And plenty of hills too. White beaches surround all the islands and the flotsam is just some of the most awesome you will find anywhere. For photography or bird life the isles are second to none too. Everything works too. There are boat trips, seal watching, puffins, sailing boats to hire but none of the boarding or marketing that you would get on a normal beach. You just ask where you can get whatever and there will be someone with a little business that sells it. Failing that you can just be lazy and watch everyone else.
There is a shop too that services the campsite and locals. It has pretty much everything you will need so loading up with food before your arrival is not really necessary. Its worth checking if it will be open on arrival though. Bank holidays are not good!
If you require a pint from time to time there is the Fraggle Rock, which is the only pub on the island. The food is good too and a local band often plays ring the evenings. Its not quite the cuisine of the Vine Café which is the only other eating place on Bryher. It’s a large shed like building in the middle of the island but you need to book for an evening sitting. During the day though, you can get cakes and tea without too much trouble.
Well, that was the first trip. Going back in the May half term seemed like a great idea. The weather should be better going into summer and a little warmer. Well that what we thought. I arranged a trip back with my 7-year-old daughter and some friends. The start was pretty much as in October and our arrival was swift and without problems. I texted some other friends to say what a great time we were having and that they really should have come with us. They were very jealous!
That 1st evening the weather closed in and the wind got up, the rain started falling and the wind got stronger. And stronger. By 6am our tent was wet inside but not too bad and it was blowing a Hooley outside. This Hooley decided to turn into gale force 8 by 8 am and as I stuck my head out of our very wayward Millets summer tent, I was really wishing I had bought my mountain two man geodesic. Out of the 12 other tents on the site there were only four left standing and we were one of them. Thank you Millets!
I still decided to do what everyone else was doing and move our gear to the community centre to dry out and sit out the storm. Emily was first then I returned for the kit. When I got back my tent had flattened too!
With over twenty refugees in the community centre the camaraderie was really quite unique. Everyone sorted themselves out into areas and just got on with camping indoors. It had now been confirmed at gale force 10! Wow!
The storm faded that night and by the second morning the sun was beginning to appear! Again the children all found mates and began to run happily in the fields and down to see Billy the goat. While they were playing I decided to go down to check out my canoe and set it up for a ride. When I got to the beach it was gone! I could not believe it. We had the wettest of nights; I had carried 30 kilos of kit and my daughter to the community centre. My tent was no longer and now my canoe had been stolen! I just laughed. I then asked one of the local boatmen who told me he had seen it blown away in the gales but I did not believe this at first. This is a 40 kilo sit-on-top 3 seater tank of a canoe! He could see it on an island over a mile away where is had washed up onto the rocks. I could not for one believe this had happened and two that I would be able to recover it. Well I did and it was sin fine shape with the paddles still tied to it.
Our week continued and was a beautiful time. Emily did not want to return and neither did I. Since I have been back my mind has only been on getting back for my next photography commission as soon as possible. I am now booked to go back in two week’s time. I can't wait.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Porthcurno A Distant Memory
Photos at www.junglemoon.co.uk/porthcurno
Porthcurno brings back many memories of my childhood holidays but most of all for its steep beach and great climbing rocks. As a boy this is all I needed in the summer months to keep me happy. Long steep climbs back to the car park at the end of the day dragging our buckets and spades up the sand whining about how much we had to carry, my brother, sister and I would follow mum and dad back to the car. The most powerful memory I have, though, is of my brother launching himself off the large mountain of a free standing rock on the left as you walk down onto the beach. He landed badly and bit through his tongue. Ouch! This beach was now on my list as one of Cornwall’s most dangerous. Not because of the huge swell, or undertow, but that rock that so violently assaulted my brother and playmate! So, it was with these memories that I revisited Porthcurno this half term (October) and with lots of excitement too – as well, of course, a huge respect for its dangers.
We booked a small two-bedroom apartment at the top of the Porthcurno Hotel, which was a delight, except for the mountain of flies that we had to clear on arrival. It overlooked the bay – with a little craning of the neck, of course – and gave us a good base with which to explore. It was in fact nearly 30 years since I last came here so I was expecting quite a bit of change. I was also wondering if that rock was still there or had been covered by the sand.
My first outing just had to be to the beach and as I walked down with my wife and daughter I was sort of apprehensive about what I might find or how different it would be from my memories, being all too aware of how things seem so different when you revisit them as an adult. It was the same. I was so pleased and that rock was still there too. I could see my brother standing on top of it again ready to jump; everything was just how I left it all those years ago.
There were changes, though, but in culture rather than anything physical. The beach had become sort of trendy. Not with shops or boutiques that have ruined so many of our resorts but the people. It was full of surfers and body boarders and it was vibrant. There were also young families and plenty of twitchers with their tripods, telescopes and note pads. However, this was now a surf beach. It may well have been back in the seventies but given that I probably did not even know what surfing was, I certainly would not have known if it was frequented by surfers. This was so exciting and the surf was up too. It was like being a boy again. We had not packed our boards on this holiday but I had brought my camera (my job) and ALL my lenses. I was in heaven. I could not get up to the apartment quick enough to get it all. I ran up the beach, thinking of those cries to mum and dad and how easy it seemed now I was a “grown-up”. What a wimp I was back then. Through the car park and up to the hotel, I was there and back in 7 minutes flat. 30 years ago it would have taken 15 minutes just to the car park!
I sat on the beach taking pictures for the next hour or so until the light faded and retired to the only beach café for an espresso to finish off the afternoon. I was a happy boy again. The café sold everything it should from pasties to post cards but most importantly it sold good coffee and was run by what seemed to be a delightful family.
The week went by and Porthcurno gave me so much joy. As much because of the memories as what it has to offer today. It is a simple and truly unspoilt corner of Cornwall that leaves you breathless with its beauty. When the big breakers were coming in families stood on the shore in awe of what they were witnessing. I have not seen so many digital compact cameras in one place other than in a camera store. I have also not seen so many breakers that size before.
We visited the Museum, which enlightened me greatly on the laying of cables around the world during the empire days and was a fascinating place. My 7 year old daughter loved it too so it must be good. She played on most of the bits of equipment that she was allowed to and she genuinely got a lot out of the excursion, again only meters from our apartment. Emily (my daughter) and I hiked up to the Minack Theatre in pouring rain on one day. We reached the top soaked to the skin but laughing and proud of our climb. I cannot believe my mother and father never took us there back in the 70’s. They were also with me on this trip and I quizzed them on their lack of judgement.
The theatre is the work of one determined person, Rowena Cade, who built and financed it from 1931 to 1983 when she died. It is an open-air theatre on the side of the cliff with what must be one of the most beautiful stages in the world today. It is open with productions showing from April through to September.
All in all Porthcurno is a must. I will go back soon, and probably many times, if only to give my own daughter the childhood joys that I experienced without the draw of theme parks, shops, malls and all those other commercial trappings of our time.
Where?
Porthcurno is a small village in a steep valley 9 miles west of Penzance on the Lands End Peninsula. 2.5 miles to the west is Lands End and to be honest this place has been ruined. Go there to see it and make your own judgement but IMO its not good.
There are some lovely places to eat in and around the area. Penzance is now a vibrant place with quite a café culture. You can get just about all you need there and it is still a very active town. Definitely worth a visit.
From London it will take around 5 hours by car
All in all Porthcurno is a must. I will go back soon, and probably many times, if only to give my own daughter the childhood joys that I experienced without the draw of theme parks, shops, malls and all those other commercial trappings of our time.
Where?
Porthcurno is a small village in a steep valley 9 miles west of Penzance on the Lands End Peninsula. 2.5 miles to the west is Lands End and to be honest this place has been ruined. Go there to see it and make your own judgement but IMO its not good.
There are some lovely places to eat in and around the area. Penzance is now a vibrant place with quite a café culture. You can get just about all you need there and it is still a very active town. Definitely worth a visit.
From London it will take around 5 hours by car
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