The Wanderlust Issue #19

Welcome to Issue #19 of The Wanderlust, my monthly zine where I share what I’m up to, encourage you to dance, wander and explore and discover amazing new creative talent. I delve into my photo archives, share snippets from my travel journals and drop in the odd freebie. So if you know someone who you think might like this, feel free to share it with them.

A very happy, albeit belated, New Year!

I’ve come into this new year with a slower, more restorative approach than I usually do. I bought myself the Goodbye 2025, Hello 2026 journal from Selina Barker and have been embracing her philosophy of Slowanuary. So I’ll be spending the rest of January planning my year and getting out in the wild on as many sunny, crisp days as possible for walks and visiting some spots for the Scottish Snowdrop Festival. Quite a shift from my usual January to do list.

I’ve partnered with Good Mood Prints to sell my photography. This marks the start of some of my long term goals being realised, with all the work I’ve put in over the last 18 months (while Neon Gray has been on ‘pause’) starting to finally become visible. There’ll be more exciting things to share on this in the coming months.

Time to read: 4 mins

Time to dance: 3 mins 53 secs

In keeping with my slower pace this month, I’m not planning in lots of things to see and do over the next 4-6 weeks. Instead, I’m looking across the year and starting to research and pull together ideas for some key trips we’d like to do.

• We’ve really enjoyed our past trips to York, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Bath and Oxford and want to make visiting a new city in the UK a yearly thing. On the short list so far are Leeds, Bradford and Cardiff.

• A trip to either north Wales or the Yorkshire coast. We may even be able to tie this in with one of the cities.

• The last Scottish islands we visited were Mull and Raasay (via Skye) back in 2019. Islay and then Lewis and Harris have long been top of the list to visit next and will need to be planned well in advance to be sure of a spot on the ferries.

• Trips and days specifically planned for photography projects. This is something that I haven’t dedicated any time to in far too long. I’ve always prioritised breaks and holiday time first. That’s changing this year!

Good Mood Prints are an online gallery and art print shop based in the UK, supporting artists and photographers from all over the world to get their work seen and give buyers an opportunity to have affordable art on their walls, whilst also supporting the creatives who made it. Since partnering with them to sell my own work, I’ve come across some incredible talent and now have a list of prints that I’d love to have on my walls. Here’s a few favourites.

• Beth Hoeckel was one of the first to catch my eye. A collage artist working with vintage papers, she creates a wide array of artwork including the piece that became the cover for the Future Islands album ‘Singles’ which I’ve always loved. Wildflowers is another current favourite.

• I saw Angus Vasili’s work at the Glasgow Print Fair last year so it was great to see his work at Good Mood too. I love the layers and textures in his pieces. Some Other Place and Balance are just a couple of favourites.

• Vitor Costa’s bold Conceptual Stains series grabs your attention with minimalist blocks of colour. It’s hard to pick a favourite from them all but this piece had me clicking through to his profile.

• Intentionally rotated upside down for effect, Le Vieux Port by Kenzo Ejiri is part of a series that brilliantly illustrates how something normal can look completely surreal with the right viewpoint.

I’m taking you back to October 2018 and a foggy morning exploring the forests of Sequoia National Park in California. It was relatively quiet and we found ourselves alone in some of the groves. The thick fog created so much atmosphere and made the trees look even bigger and more mysterious. It’s one of my favourite conditions to photograph in. The landscape takes on a monochromatic feel with lots of layers and texture, pulling your eye through the scene. A lucky day for a photographer.

A little low key number to ease you in to the year from Flecks.

Don’t fancy a boogie? Then chill to this from Rival Consoles. I just came across them yesterday and I’m loving everything so far.

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