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Jack Anstey
Traveler, photographer and graphic designer based in the United Kingdom
"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences"
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun”. – Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild.
Photography and videography have become one of the most popular ways of expression and their true potential is yet to be discovered. One of the best things about landscape photography is what actually happens behind the camera while you are traveling to mind blowing places. Nevertheless, one does not have to rush it, once you start walking the path truly enjoying the views, those special moments worth capturing will literally surround you.
While exploring his home country hiking and camping, Jack Anstey (@jack_anstey) discovered his passion for photography. Although he has been to many EU countries already, he still enjoys really much the beauties of the United Kingdom.
Nature has inspired Jack in an unbelievable way and today his photography is inspiring thousands of people to explore all the amazing places he has visited.
Having studied graphic design enabled him to create unique pieces of art and today his style has become extremely recognizable and celebrated by the community. It was clear to me that having an interview with Jack would be totally worth it because there is so much wisdom in his photography. Luckily, he certainly delivered some inspiring and didactic words!
In order to known better who is Jack as a traveler and photographer I asked him 11 questions. The following was the outcome.
Welcome Jack! A beautiful landscape from the Peak District National park was your first post in IG. You posted this picture the 17th of January 2016 and 3 years later you are inspiring thousands of people to go outdoors and explore! What motivated you to grab the camera and start documenting your travel experiences?
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved the outdoors. My earliest memories are of exploring the fields behind my house, climbing trees, and building ramps for my bike. I got my first camera aged 14 to photograph me and my friends skating, and since then I’ve loved capturing moments and sharing them with others. As I got older I began taking more trips and spending more of my time outdoors; I discovered mountains, wild camping and starry night skies – my eyes were opened to the incredible beauty of the world, and of course I had my camera by my side to capture it all.
I’ve lived in the city and spent time in the hustle-and-bustle of modern life, but I’m finding more and more that it’s the simple things that keep me grounded and at peace. Fresh air, sleeping outdoors, and incredible views are all things that help keep me humble and grateful. It’s in nature that I feel most comfortable and refreshed, and I take every opportunity I can to get away and spend some time in the wild.
Photography has taught me to appreciate the world around me and to look at my surroundings in a different way. It’s taken me to places I would never have dreamed of, and enabled me to experience things that I never would have otherwise. It’s been an incredible ride so far and I’m excited to see what the future holds.
You have been to so many amazing places already, such as Iceland for instance. This country always seems to amaze visitors. In your case, what country has impressed you the most?
Well, there are many beautiful places out there, however, nothing feels like home. The truth is that the UK and Scotland for instance have a lot to offer. In Scotland, for instance, I would say that Skye is one of my favorite places. The landscapes there are just gorgeous and full of possibilities, specially if one is a photographer.
A few years ago I spent a week on the Isle of Rùm, in the Inner Hebrides. It was my first time traveling to Scotland, and it really opened up my eyes to the beauty of the British Isles. Rùm is an island with only around 30 inhabitants (although it boasts 900 wild Red Deer), and at little more than 10 miles across it’s quite a small place.
Prior to this trip I’d made several trips to the Peak District, Lake District, Snowdonia, and the Brecon Beacons, but this was the first trip where I really felt like I was in the wild; rugged remote landscapes, without footpaths, roads or civilization. That island, and that trip will always be special to me, and it’s somewhere I’d really like to go back to at some point.
One can find a lot of beauty in UK as well. The Highlands are extremely beautiful as well. It is just one of those places where you can travel to become one with nature.
I recently traveled to Spain as well, Valencia actually caught my attention. The people, the food, and the environment are really nice. It is one of those places I am looking forward to visit soon.
Besides your photography, you are also working as a graphic designer in a 9 to 5 job. Where do you find the time to travel and how do you sustain a life full of travels? There are any tips you can share with us?
Because I have a 9 to 5 job working as a graphic designer, I really need to take advantage of the weekends and try to maximize those hours in order to travel and take photographs. So, this basically means that in order to visit a location abroad I would have to leave the same Friday night and try to come as close as possible to that spot I want to capture. Overall, saving money along the weeks in order to invest it afterwards in my travels is essential. In addition, when I travel I aim to keep it as cheap as possible, which usually means sleeping in the back of my van or wild camping in the woods, whilst eating some basic pasta + pesto cooked on a gas stove and sipping port round a campfire.
Yes, I’ll often get jealous if the people I’m away with go and get a pub dinner every night, but I’d always prefer to be going away 3/4 times a month and roughing it a little, than one trip in relative comfort.
Traveling in a group is the best way to minimize costs, and this is one of the other main reasons I’m able to travel as much as I do; splitting the cost of fuel, food and accommodation four ways means you can effectively do a weekend trip to Germany for less than £100 each.
Knowing with some time in advance what places I will be visiting allows me to organize and maximize my time along the trip. In addition, planned with enough time in advance, it is also helpful to reach hotels, hostels, or other companies in the tourist sector in order to pitch them my services. Many of these organizations need to update their portfolio, which can be used for their website or social media platforms. Approaching and negotiating this in advance also allows me not only to safe money in accommodation for instance, but also to create new clients, keep developing my own portfolio, and ultimately to earn some extra money while I am traveling.
I believe that having studied graphic design is allowing you to create really special photos. What helped you to develop your photography and reach such a characteristic style?
I guess that this is different for each of us. I believe that there is not only “one way” to develop your own style. It is a long and changing process, what really matters is to constantly learn new things and practice as much as possible every day.
Studying graphic design has allowed me to see landscapes in a different way. When I am taking a photo I am thinking on many things at the same time. In addition, I have been following accounts that share mainly “moody shots” for a while now, so I guess that seeing others people work has influenced my own photography as well. It is really interesting to learn from other photographers and try to understand how they approach their own art as well as editing process.
However, I don’t feel like I am focusing on one specific style because I always try to maximize the quality of my photographs. I always try to do what is the best for each photo regardless of the current characteristics of my style. You develop your style with each photograph and along the way you find patterns and “best ways”. By adopting and using such findings in your own photographs, one can ultimately develop a style.
To me it is really interesting to know what is your approach when it comes to planning your trip and finding your ideal locations, specially because you have a job which requires a lot of responsibilities. How do you even manage to find time for photography?
I find inspiration from a number of different places. Instagram and the Internet in general play a big part in this regard. If I see a place I would like to visit I normally save the picture and I do this per country creating collections. Eventually I’ve got a pretty extensive map of locations saved, with places all over the world, which really helps when planning trips.
However, I also love the sense of adventure. Nothing beats the feeling of discovery and exploration – I think this is something that rings true with almost everyone. So I also spend a lot of time studying Ordnance Survey maps, or trawling through Google Earth for landscapes of interest or places to walk.
The 3D feature on Google Earth is really useful, if you position yourself in a specific point you can almost imagine yourself there. The 3D feature gives one a good overview of the land and you can work out what are the best spots for photography. Overall this is an excellent tool to “be there” and even get to know before hand how your compositions would be like.
Is there any tip you can share with all that young talent out there trying to become “influencers” through landscape photography?
First I would say that you have to post consistently and daily. You don’t want to post too much, try to maintain quality. Maybe if you just started an account in IG you can post once or twice every three days, but try to post as regularly as you can. I think that the maximum one can post in Instagram is twice a day. If you post three pictures a day people may see that as too much. Personally, I would be tempted to unfollow someone who is posting four or five times per day.
I like to post once a day usually between 3-5 GMT. From experience I’ve found that engagement and attention seems to run on momentum, try to catch a wave and keep riding it as long as you can.
Secondly, it is important so create a theme and a style.
You want to create a style for your work so people can know what to expect from your art.
If you share relevant content, normally people want to know more about your work and who you are as an artist, but also as a person. So, for instance, if you are regularly traveling people may want to know what are your next destinations or what are you up to.
Thirdly, being social and talking to people in IG is highly important as well. You have to engage liking and commenting the work of others, but it is also essential to be part of the community by engaging in conversations for instance. Try to meet people also. For instance, if I am going somewhere and I know that I have a contact in that specific location I would always try to reach him to see whether we can hang out together and help each other out.
One thing that I realize is that I follow accounts more when I feel that I know the person. So, be yourself and try to put yourself there as well. Try to look at your own account from someone else point of view and ask yourself: “Is this the kind of account I would like to follow?”
Use hashtags to try and maximize exposure, if you’re starting out try to focus on some smaller local tags that might increase your reach before stepping up to bigger tags and feature tags. Tagging feature accounts in your images is also a great way to get your work out there and increase the chances of being featured.
Finally, don’t get caught up in any ‘cheat’ ways to grow quickly – engagement pods, likebots, bought followers/likes. Whilst you may think this is a good way to grow, it doesn’t create an interested and strong following, and ultimately you’ll end up regretting it.
What do you like the most about your current journey in photography and social media?
In my case most of the times I travel with other people. So, although I don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to do “solo travel”, I can say that I really like Instagram’s community and all the good things happening there. Being part of the community and traveling with people is something that motivated me to keep using Instagram. I really enjoy the social experience of it.
I love being out and seeing new things. Of course discovering new places is a wonderful thing. I would still be doing it even without capturing moments along the way. There are some places I really want to travel to, seeing all the amazing pictures that the community shares on Instagram is so inspiring.
Even if I decided not to travel long distances, traveling around Scotland, The Lake District, and a lot of the UK based spots would be still on my list. I really enjoy being outdoors, camping, hiking and being out there surrounded by nature. Actually, while doing all these outdoors activities I discovered my passion for photography as well. The “outdoors” came first and photography came second.
Imagine yourself at the beginning of your professional career as a photographer. What four pieces of advice would you give to yourself?
I just can get three? 🙂
So, number one, shoot as much as you can.
Number two, interact with people. There was a long time when I would be doing stuff for my own and sometimes I found no people to travel with. For me traveling with people is important. Just message and find people, specially in Instagram. We should not forget what Instagram really is: is a SOCIAL network. People use it because they want to be social. I have met people I travel with through Instagram. So yeah, a good advice would be: speak to people more!
My third advice would be: try to do as much as you can. I used to think of stuff as if it was too far away or that some things would require too much effort. For instance, Scotland is a 10 hours drive from my place and I used to think that it was too far, that going there for a weekend only would be a waste of time. However, if you have a group of people wiling to do it and you put the effort you can go a lot further than what you may initially think…We have been to Germany and Paris in a weekend and we drove the entire way. These are long trips but they are certainly doable.
Don’t limit yourself by what you think is achievable and push beyond what you think.
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art?
I would say that @brahmino is my biggest inspiration. His story telling and what you can get through his images is so strong. His style is so varied and yet is so deep and rich all the time. He is so well rounded and practiced that he is able to capture emotion and narrative in any scenario, I think that is something I’d aspire to someday.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
I’d really just love to travel a lot more, there’s so much out there left to be discovered and I’d really enjoy going to some less frequented locations. I’d love to go to the US, visiting Yosemite, Zion, and the other great National Parks. That said the UK really has a lot more to offer than most people believe: I’d really like to spend more time in the Highlands of Scotland, and get to the Outer Hebrides.
Can you fix the world in one sentence?
Just try to be nice to each other.
