Cover story!

Photography from my trip down the Karnali river in November goes into the July/August issue of Action Asia as a cover story.

This one was a challenge! I wanted to shoot the action from the raft, so I took specialist underwater housing equipment for the camera and spent eight days rafting the Karnali, which is Nepal's biggest river. Huge thanks to everyone onboard, especially Pat for getting me down the river and James, for smiling! You can download a PDF of the full article here.

“Flip N’ Strip is next and just as we’re pulling through the worst of the whitewater, I look up to see another raft right next to us. They’ve lost control and seem to be going down sideways. I aim the camera at them and perfectly on cue they flip over onto their side. They’re in a state of chaos, mid-capsize, when miraculously the next big wave flips them upright again. It’s a perfect near-catastrophe and everyone onboard is screaming with delight at how close they came to disaster.”

Jump

The Last Resort in Nepal is home to one of the world's most exciting bungee jumps. They invited me to shoot a new set of marketing pictures for posters and flyers etc. The challenge was finding someone who was prepared to look at the camera and smile while jumping off a very high bridge. In fact it proved near impossible. Step in Emily Polar. Being an adventure photographer herself, she knew exactly what to do to get the poster shot. And more importantly was happy to do it! Jump backwards, look at the camera and scream like crazy. Oh, and wear some pretty striking leggings for effect!

Lizzy Hawker promo shots for North Face

While working on my last project at Everest base camp I also had the great fortune of spending some time working with inspiring Lizzy Hawker. Lizzy is an endurance athelete and world record holder for the ‘Everest Mailrun’, a route taken by those carrying letters to and from expeditions at Everest base camp before the opening of Lukla airstrip in 1964. The route is a dizzying 319km from Everest base camp to Kathmandu. Lizzy already had the record with a time of 71 hours, which she has now successfully beaten with a new record of 63 hours! Her principal sponsor is The North Face who needed some new photography of Lizzy in action. Here's some of the shots...

Silver lining

The day before I arrived at Everest base camp the weather changed dramatically. Clear skies washed over white and I initially thought my project was over. Then when I started to explore the glacier during a fall of snow, I realised base camp had adopted a stark beauty which I had not seen before. See the full series here.