Pennine Lines w/c 25 March 2024
|| Still mixed || April Showers Arrive Early ||
Glowing Gritstone on 5x4" Velvia || Burbage North
|| Focus On... ||
One Year On
OK well it’s still raining a lot, but at least the dry spells between the rain have been a bit sunnier this week, so I suppose that’s all progress in the right direction. We’ve actually had some pretty decent gritstone conditions this last week, if you could pounce on ‘em. As I always say; when it’s not raining this is the best time of year on the grit.
The other thing I have to get used to recognising at this time of year is the Pennine Lines birthday, being exactly one year since I launched this whole thing. So firstly a huge thanks to everyone who’s signed up for the weekly email and supported this, everyone who’s bought prints, or ordered Grit Blocs, or just mentioned at the crag that they liked something I’d written or messaged me to that effect. It means a lot to me, and as long as people are supporting this I’ll keep doing it - as anyone who’s climbed with me on Remergence buttress will testify I am nothing if not consistent.
Pacific Ocean Wall, an after-work hit || Climber: Tom Briggs
It’s been rewarding to try and carve a space for some reflection on climbing, for writing and photography away from the increasingly insane social media video clickbait treadmill, a space to sit and read something. Based on feedback it seems a few things I wrote chimed with people over the last 12 months, so in case you missed them at the time, here’s an abridged “Grittest Hits” list of a few weekly emails you might have missed:
An early one - The art of the after-work session
Will Bose’s Raven Tor 8C
Wright’s Rock Access
(thankfully the situation has improved since writing this, slightly…)
Ned’s Nth Cloud Project
Extinction of the local eliminate
Climbing for survival in the modern world
Smiling Buttress 10yr anniversary
Stay Classy behind the scenes
N Of The Affair || Climber: Ned Feehally
From the beginning on Pennine Lines I have been really keen to make space for landscape photography adjacent to climbing. I think it’s important to see and experience climbing venues in contexts outside of directly going out and sieging your project then leaving, as I think it all then pays into the bank of emotional investment people make into these spaces. So when things get a bit tasty on access and conservation you’ve got a larger pool of people willing to stand up and make their voices heard and look after places. That’s the theory anyway.
Large format film photography, no mater how incongruous this approach seems in today’s world, is something I’m passionate about anyway. It’s not for everyone, but it is for me. Going out and shooting images on colour 5x4” film in particular is probably something of a dying art these days, bar a few nutters who are adamant on continuing with it, and/or who managed to fill a freezer with the film before it skyrocketed in price. Either way, I’m proud to be one of those nutters. I didn’t spend this week with my film processor in bits spread across the dining room table trying to fix it for no reason.
But it paid off; the processor seems - tentatively - to be working again. I have a fresh box of E6 chemicals here, so I can start to chip away at my developing backlog again. Until the moment I pull those sheets of film out of the developing tank, heart in mouth, I’m content to be able to make a few more of my previous batches of film from this summer and the end of last winter in the Peak available as new prints on the website to mark the one year birthday of Pennine Lines. The Burbage image at the top of this email is one of those shots from last summer. There’s also a few from Northumberland in the Coast page too. As I said above, I’m hugely appreciative of everyone who ordered prints, particularly over the Christmas period, as it all helps to keep this insane niche film photography waggon rolling - cheers!
|| Supported By ||
This last year it's been great to partner with Beta who were enthusiastic about Pennine Lines from day one - huge thanks to them for their ongoing support.
|| Recently Through the lens ||
Some black & white action from Gardom’s and Doll Tor - colour will never catch on!
|| Fresh Prints ||
One winter and one summer image this week, brand new to the Print Shop.
