National Geographic Traveller – May 2016

I love what I do. The freedom photography allows and the opportunities and people it introduces us to is something we continue to be amazed by.

While visiting family out in California last November I woke up to an email from the Art Director of National Geographic Traveller wondering if I would be interested in shooting a long weekend feature in the Lake District scheduled to run in Spring 2016. Now I’m thinking, it’s 6am, you’re probably still half asleep/dreaming or more than likely it’s spam, so my finger hovered over the trash icon.. “Colleen, look at this email, is that legit?” – No response (she’s not a morning person) Anyway I decided that google would help me decide the validity of the sender and lo and behold, it was 100% legit!

Aside from initially thinking, they must have made a mistake (I still think that but shush) I was blown away that I would be contacted with such a request. If you ask anyone that knows me well, my dream job, in recent years at least, has been to be a travel photographer for National Geographic. That infamous yellow border has always drawn me in, and to have the opportunity to contribute, is something I’m extremely grateful for. In truth I always considered it an illusive goal but one I’m proud to have now ticked off the list and hopefully build on moving forward.

I had a blast exploring the Lake District and surrounding areas and managed to spend a bit of time with my Dad and his new camera (I think he thought he would sneak a few of his shots in, sorry Dad). I spent a few days getting to know the locals and hearing (and seeing) just how badly affected the entire region was hit by the floods at the tail end of last year. I love being able to break up wedding season with other projects and travelling, well that only sweetens the deal!

I’d always been told how beautiful the Lake District was, but it’s something I couldn’t truly appreciate until I was there hiking through the rolling hills and making friends with a few wooly locals. Thanks again to Chris and the team at NG for the opportunity and I hope the feature can go a little way in capturing that beauty in print. The May issue hits the shelves on April 7th.

Big thank you to Sarah from Cumbria tourism for all of the help and advice and special mention to the team at Keswick Distillery, Ullswater Steamers, Lindeth Howe and the Blackburn brothers at The Old Stamp House.