Buttermere Crummock meetup

My year end Mali Meetup in the Lake District…

From Carr Mill Dam to Buttermere in the Lake District, these past two years have been quite the adventure. I thought it was time to tell the story of the meetups and what they mean to me…

Challenge yourself, this was my original thought when it came to start vlogging. To set out pushing myself and my photography further than before. Someone said I might be good at vlogging… Haha, well I try my best… (James, John, Dave, Gary and David) It’s a great way to annoy other photographers (JOKING) and to not take the ART all to serious, but I do, I do take my photography very serious. The photography comes first and foremost above all. Youtube was a great way to build an audience to see my work, an outlet for my passion. I quickly discovered it’s a lot of fun filming the emotions I go through when trying to grab the elusive shots of the landscape. Straight away I knew I loved it! I loved the method, the story, the adventure and the resolve. In my case the photography.

This was the beginning of building Mali Photography on Youtube and now my facebook group Let’s Create, the next step was inevitable.

Meetups! Workshops! Gathering like minded photographers to get together and forge a day of socialising and laughs rounded off with hopefully some great shots from the day and location. I’d been thinking of doing the gatherings for sometime. Mike, Liam, Jackie and me where chatting on a local photography group. Each of them saying they just didn’t get out enough and they where not getting what they personally wanted from camera clubs and other forms of photography gatherings. I remember the lightning bolt hitting me and without thinking I organised my first Mali Meetup that week!

A local affair, Carr Mill Dam. Me, thinking it would only be us 4, I created a meetup on facebook… 4 or 5 turned into 12! Even a couple of Pros turned up. I couldn’t believe it, a very successful shoot and we had some laughs! Yip, I made a vlog of it and I’m so glad I did. What a evening that was. From here on in, I knew I could make this a success and it was something I had to do, I just knew this was right and I could bring people together for more than photography. To share the landscape and get excited about capturing it, excited about photography but more, to have a social connection that didn’t exist inside the 111010’s of a computer. Thank you to all who came along that day…

Onwards to the next meetup, and the next and the next! August 2020 will be 2 years of creating the Mali Meetups! I thought it was only a year… WOW! It’s been so much fun. I’m knackered, but worth it.

Buttermere and Crummock water in the Lake District would mark the end of my meetups for 2019! What a place to round it up. Words cant describe just how special this location is, we all had a blast. Lots of you decided to join me at 7am to set off in pouring rain and harsh stormy conditions, I’m so glad you did because the conditions changed and got better throughout the day. Unbelievable considering the river, torrent of water running down Honister pass.

The year ahead fills me with excitement and I have the plans ready for the next meetup. Not much notice for this one. As I explained in the vlog from Buttermere and Crummock, I have to consider my family and fitting time in around a busy life. Oh and my own photography. After all, I do love getting out on my own and just taking my time to see and soak up the landscape around me.

I also would like to point out, I have a few workshops lined up for the back end of Feb and leading to the end of April, these will never be filmed and I will be there to take people on a Mali style learning course from composition to final post production. So if your interested drop me a message and keep your eyes open on the website. Mostly one to one’s and small groups of four people per group workshop. So just drop me a message for more details.

Here’s the last meetup of 2019 and below the images I got from that great day. Thank you to everyone for coming on a Mali Meetup and a huge thanks to all the comments and support you have given me along the way. It means the world to me, thank you.

Sithee at a meetup soon!

Thank you again for reading, watching and joining me, Sithee!