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Anthony Pease: packing yet more outdoors into a life behind the lens

Anthony Pease: packing yet more outdoors into a life behind the lens
To get the inside line on the outdoor lives of our Adventurous Ink subscriber community, we caught up with bike and mountain sports photographer Anthony Pease, aka @anthonypease_photography
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Why do you enjoy spending time outdoors?

I enjoy everything about the outdoors, the varying geography, the difference in weather, the change in seasons, the smells, the wildlife and of course all the enjoyment you can have whilst carrying out your favourite outdoor activities.

The best bit is the by-product of all this, it helps to keep me fit and recharge my mind.

What was your route into the outdoors? Is it a lifelong thing, or more recent?

I have always enjoyed being outdoors over spending time inside, even when I was a child I would spend time building tree houses, dens and making fires. I was often told off for making fires, my worst moment was when I lit a fire in my tree house at the age of 9, not a great idea looking back!

What are your go-to outdoor activities?

Mountain biking, road cycling, hiking and snowboarding are without a doubt my go to activities but I do now and then dip my toe in many others. Cycling of any description is my favourite though, with mountain biking being at the top. That said, I actually spend more time on my road and gravel bike due to the distance I can cover in a smaller amount of time.

How does your outdoor life fit with everything else in your day to day routine?

I spend a lot of time pointing my camera at others, either chasing them in the car or following them by bike and foot, unfortunately this often means it leaves less time for me to enjoy the activities I want to do. Add family life and renovation work on our new home, I snatch what time I can when I can. I try to get away on single night bikepacking trips whenever possible and drift off into the hills for day hikes.

Luest Cym Bach bothy

Tell us about your most special outdoor moment last year

Last year was mostly taken up with work and renovation of our new home. Saying that I had a great packrafting adventure with Tirio in Snowdonia and managed to finish the year off with a bothy trip in the Elan Valley. Although much of my time was taken up with restoring our old farm house, I did keep sneaking off to an area on our land which has been named the “Wildnerness area” With a fire pit, pit oven and log seating rustically nestled under a canopy of trees, it has become my go to area when I need to leave modern day behind for an hour or two.

Iceland with a one year old!

Time spent outdoors with my young lad is always special too. I just want him to be introduced to everything I love doing so he can experience it and over time decide if any of it is of interest to him. I think the biggest memories with him so far are taking him caving at the age of two, hiking to a glacier in Iceland with him and most recently his face when we sit around the fire pit. He absolutely loves being with me there cooking our food etc. 

Do you have any adventure ambitions?

This July myself and a friend are bikepacking from Lands End to John O Groats in Eight days, we will be sleeping outside and carrying everything we need for the week. The route hasn’t been finalised but its looking likely that we will need to cycle over 200km a day.

I am also looking forward to four day packrafting course with Tirio where I will gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to carry out my own adventures using these amazing rafts.

Where’s your preferred outdoor playground, and why?

I love where I live in Wales and it feeds all of my outdoor needs. Saying that I absolutely love the French Alps. It draws me back once or twice a year to snowboard, cycle, hike and explore with the family. I just can’t get enough of the mountains there, the scale, the variation, the beautiful meadows and food.

Do you like to share your adventures on social media, or prefer to enjoy them purely in the moment?

I tend to enjoy the moment and post afterwards, sometimes I will post a photo when out or do a short live stream but mostly I am just too engrossed in the moment.

Who’s in your adventure crew?

I have many but my biggest over the years has to be @billbobaggins468 until he left me for the Alps (I haven’t forgiven him yet) @mattpage24 and @mtbhuw are some local cycling heros that I enjoy spending time with. I think this year though it will all be about my 2019 adventure partner @frewdog74.

Bothy life with Ant

How long have you been a subscriber to Adventurous Ink?

Maybe 12 months now?!

What motivated you to sign up?

I had ordered a few things from Gather and kept noticing the Adventurous Ink subscription. I watched the social media posts for a while as I am a serial purchaser of indie mags and anything containing outdoor adventure. Once I realised they were getting hands on material I hadn’t heard of before I knew I had to join.

Which was your favourite Adventurous Ink publication, and why?

I really enjoyed the Ernest Journal and of course Sidetracked is awesome, saying that I am currently reading the Anna McNuff book which is feeding my adventure cycling needs perfectly.

Have we inspired any memorable adventures or moments?

There was a lot of water based adventure literature last year and along with my packrafting trip it has inspired me to look into more trips involving the rivers and lochs of the UK.

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If like Ant you want to make the most of your life outdoors, check out Adventurous Ink for a monthly dose of wild inspiration. Batteries not required!

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