We keep saying this everytime we write but we wish we could be posting more frequently on our beloved Notworkrelated blog. The truth is we’ve both been so busy in our workrelated lives! This shouldn’t be an excuse! The reason we started this blog was for us to have a platform through which we could discuss and showcase what we get up to away from work. I guess with all the traveling out of our system (well for the time being at least) we have had to crack on and get back into our lives as photographer and designer.

So for a little update here’s what we’ve been up to…

Helen photographed Andre Bonomi, new Aston Martin shareholder for an Italian editorial feature at head office in June.

Helen has already visited Dubai, Spain, France and Germany this year with top client Aston Martin. She’s been photographing lifestyle and documentary imagery on launches, at motorsport events and various VIP visits to head office. It’s been a busy year for Aston with it being their Centenary year and so there has been lots to photograph! Not to mention their big celebrations in London this coming weekend. It’s free to the public on Sunday to witness Aston Martin’s biggest line up of iconic Aston Martin cars in history. Lets hope the sun stays good for us!  You can find out more here.

Bruno Senna leads the GT Pro class in car no.99 at this years Le Mans 24 hour race. Needless to say the gridwalk was a fantastic experience!

Unfortunately David doesn’t get to play quite so much with the Aston’s but he does often find himself joining Helen as a photographer too which is nice as this means we get to work with each other! And we have just both returned from the Goodwood Festival of Speed where we were shooting for Tag Heuer as a joint venture so he does get some of the perks!

David in the meantime has started a job! Nooooo! We cried! But there are a few responsibilities on our shoulders including a new house which we should be moving into soon. We’re moving to a lovely village on the cusp of the Peak District and within reach of the glorious city of Mancheser which is going to be our new back yard! Well actually the Peak District is more our back yard but it’s good to have Manchester only a 20 minute train journey away.

He is now working at Havas Lynx, a global agency leading the way when it comes to marketing and design. He’s in the design team putting ideas into reality. It’s a great platform career wise, plus it means we get to meet more people from Manchester!

So in between relocating and finding ourselves new contacts for work and play we took a little trip to Wales recently and opted for the less popular but perhaps more spectacular hike to the top of the Glyders in Snowdonia. We were greeted by glorious weather right before this ongoing heat wave began luckily for us as it rains often in Llanberis. We took the £1 bus up to Pen-Y-Pass where the path begins opposite the Pass car park alongside the hostel. We rarely passed anyone heading up this side of the mountain a refreshing change to tackling the masses of hikers who take on Snowdon every day.

Our ascent took about 2.5 hour or so with a few breaks to take in the views and to enjoy Mrs Roscoe’s homemade fruit cake! Its easy to loose the path because it isn’t well trodden however there are pink markers on the rocks every so often so if you do miss it navigating back onto it is easy enough. Approaching Glyder Fawr at 999m is fun, it’s a little like scrambling over giant rocks in Planet of the Apes. The landscape is amazing up here, the rock formations huge making us feel like midgets! We met more hikers as we ventured across to Glyder Fach (994m) and found the cantilever stone perched on top of more rocks. Some fun to be had there!

We looked out across to Tryffan and Devil’s Kitchen, perhaps routes that are taken more frequently although only in good conditions. As it was still and sunny this was the perfect day to hike around these peaks. We’re always reminded of the dangers when we see rescue helicopters flying around!

We took the path down to the Pen-Y-Gwryd Hotel where we enjoyed drinks in their historic and Everest themed bar. The only downside was the hour long wait for the bus back to Llanberis, but at £1 each its a bargain really!! Although this isn’t the Himalayas there is so much exploring to be done in this part of Wales either by foot or bike. We’ve enjoyed many hikes directly from Helen’s parents cottage in Llanberis and also bike rides around the Snowdon routes. It’s a part of the country that should be on everyone’s visit-list at some stage in their lives and especially for those who love the outdoors.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

We left Sisters early and passed through Bend via another Safeway to get some fresh fruit and veg. We didn’t stop in Bend but have heard many a good thing. Our aim was to get to Crater Lake and take the Cascade Lakes Highway en-route. We passed the 3 Sister mountains and took a right off Highway 97 to get onto the route. This is a scenic drive indeed, we drove passed Mt Bachelor and stopped at Sparks Lake to photograph the lush meadow and reflections. We stopped for lunch at another named Crescent Lake, before getting the highway onto Crater Lake.

We came into Crater Lake Park from the south end and drove around the west rim road…Wow!! This place is amazing, the lake is huge and reflects everything around, we couldn’t stop enough to photograph it. It is now a caldera and was Mazama volcano which lies beneath the lake, each time we stopped we read a little more information. The weather was great for us too which also meant even more tourists were out to join us.

After some touring around the rim and more photographing we made our way to Mazama village campsite, it’s not really a village more of a resort for camping and or looking for lodges. It is a nice place though and we paid $19 for a tent spot, it’s also popular passing through point for the Pacific Crest Trail. When we settled into our camp spot we chatted to our friendly neighbours who gave us plenty of firewood, we enjoyed dinner, took showers ($0.75 for 4 minutes and they close at 8pm) and all wrapped up we drove back up to the rim to shoot some long exposures. We were chuffed to see the Milky Way out there too.

The following morning after a pretty good night’s sleep we got up early at 5.50am, packed and we were on our way by 6.25am so we could watch the sunrise over the Lake and do a morning hike. This time we took the eastern road towards the lake and stopped off at some beautiful spots along the way both towards and away from the lake. Again the weather was perfect so we just took advantage of good light and conditions. We found a lovely spot for some breakfast, and then took the 5 mile round trip hike up to the Mount Scott peak which is the highest point in the park at 8929ft. This is the highest we have been together on a hike and as the first people to be up there for the day it felt pretty good. We took in yet again the fantastic views before making our way back down and to the car. On our way out of Crater Lake we stopped at a few more vantage points before eventually making our way to the exit of the park. This was most definitely a very rewarding part of our journey so far.

Next on our list was to get to Florence, backtracking a little bit in terms of heading north again but we wanted to reach the Oregon coast at a certain point. This is where the Dunes are and we didn’t want to miss those. After a long drive we stopped in Eugene at the Fifth Street Public Market for a drink and a place to charge our laptop and batteries. After 2 hours we continued onto Florence and found the campsite Jesse M Honeyman 3 miles after leaving Florence. Again paying our honesty fee, we found a camping spot, bought some wood and set up camp. After long a friendly camper came along to borrow our axe, and after realising the wood was damp and a fire would be unrealistic he invited us to join him and partner Shelby for drinks and a warm fire. Thanks to them we were nice and toasty that evening.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)