From solo treks across the Arctic to bikepacking, backcountry skiing and finding quiet moments in her garden, photographer Anna has built a life around the outdoors. As part of the team behind FINDRA’s On Our Terms collection, she brings her own adventurous spirit and perspective to the brand. We caught up with Anna to talk about finding joy outside, trusting your instincts and making time for the things that make you feel most alive.
Hi, please tell everyone where you are based and what you do!
I’m a photographer based in a tiny village in West Dorset, although my work takes me absolutely all over the place! I have a background as an adventurer and am lucky enough to still work a lot in the adventure and outdoors industry, amongst other areas - I thrive on variety!
What’s your favorite way to spend time outdoors?
I couldn’t pick just one - I love hiking, camping, bikepacking, horse riding, surfing, backcountry skiing, swimming, kayaking… Each one scratches a different itch! I tend to go through phases of being obsessed with one, then a few months later move onto the next. This past spring was all about surfing, then a summer of cycling and bikepacking. I usually spend a month in the Arctic over the winter photographing backcountry skiing too!
Can you share your favourite, memorable outdoor adventure or experience?
In 2019 I spent a few months trekking across Arctic and Northern Scandinavia by myself. I went up to twelve days at a time without seeing a trace of another person or even civilisation. It was one of the most rewarding and empowering things I’ve ever done - it helped me make peace with myself and taught me just how much I could rely upon myself and my intuition.
How do you manage to find a balance between being active and life’s other responsibilities i.e. work and family?
I’ve spent years creating a life where being active (and outside) comes hand-in-hand with my work. Jobs often take me to beautiful places, and the nature of the photography I do means I’m often scampering around outdoors. In the last year, I’ve worked in Scotland, Wales, the Lake District, the Agafay Desert in Morocco, the Swiss Alps, Sweden… And good fitness is required for a lot of those places (Swiss Alps, I’m looking at you!)
Is there anyone in particular that inspired your love of the outdoors?
I think a place, rather than a person: I’m part Swedish and growing up, we spent all of our summers in Sweden. We’d stay in a cabin on a small island that belongs to my mum’s family, or we’d be on the coast with my grandmother. Either way, we would be outside constantly. Canoeing, fishing, swimming in the sea, cooking sausages over fire out on the rocks, cycling everywhere. Come rain or shine, we’d be out there! That aspect of Swedish culture has absolutely stayed with me into adulthood.
What role does nature play in your mental well-being?
It’s simple: time in nature is fundamental to positive mental wellbeing. It doesn’t have to be time in nature in a grand way though, I don’t need expansive mountain views or to be in the sea every day… Just simple and quiet nature; it’s what prompted moving back to the countryside. All I need to quiet my mind is a bit of time pottering in my garden or greenhouse, or taking the dog for a gentle walk through the rolling hills or along the river. Even just sitting on my favourite fallen tree in the field opposite my cottage with the sun on my face, listening to the birds and the river flowing past.
What’s the one piece of gear or clothing you never leave home without on an outdoor trip?
My super lightweight and simple reusable coffee filter. It only weighs 15g, folds flat, attaches to your mug with three little legs and means you can have fresh coffee wherever you are. I take freshly ground coffee on all my trips because in my opinion, there’s nothing better than being able to sit and enjoy a proper coffee with an epic view.
When did you discover FINDRA?
I think around 2017! I was going up to Arctic Norway and Sweden and got a Marin top. It was the perfect layer for a trip like that (and had so much use in everyday life afterwards too). I love that FINDRA is woman-founded and doesn’t just apply the “shrink it and pink it” approach to developing outdoors clothing for women, but understands what women want and need.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
To not let other people’s fears or prejudices stand in your way. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve told someone about a project or adventure I’m starting to plan, just to be met with negativity. They’ll give reasons why they don’t think it's possible, or reasons why it’s not a good idea, but unless that person actually has relevant experience and knowledge, it’s most likely their response is coming from their own fears or limited beliefs in their own capabilities. And that’s not useful for me.
On writing this blog, what do you feel is the key motivational or inspirational message you would like to highlight to our followers that would inspire them to get outdoors more.
Doing something purely for the purpose of finding joy is absolutely reason enough to do it. Spend time outdoors in whatever way brings you happiness and means you’ll get out at every opportunity, whether that’s finding beautiful bodies of water to dunk yourself in, charging down mountain bike trails, or sitting quietly by the sea with a flask of tea - all are completely valid ways of getting outdoors!
Find our more about Anna and her work at annablackwell.co.uk or follow her on Instagram at @annablackwell
Sunday Inspiration
Favourite Place
My all-time favourite place is Lapland. I travelled there for the first time in 2016 when I completed the Kungsleden, a 450km trail in Arctic Sweden, and it’s been a constant in my mind ever since… so much so that it’s inspired me to go back up there almost every year since. It’s the most beautifully stark landscape that is somehow peaceful and dramatic at the same time. You can’t help but feel tiny and insignificant when you’re there, but in an almost miraculous way. Even just thinking about it now makes me want to pack my rucksack and wander off into the mountains to hike, camp, sit quietly with my thoughts and be awed and inspired by the landscape there. I’ll be back soon enough though, on two skis and pulling a sled full of winter kit!
Favourite Poem
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver. People often reference the last two lines, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” but for me, it’s the whole poem. It’s lines like, “I do know how to pay attention… how to be idle and blessed” that make me reflect on how much I value slowing down and being present in nature, rather than constantly hustling my way through life. This poem makes me stop and think about how best to live my life, not necessarily in a fast-paced, exciting way, but in a quiet and intentional way.
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean —
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
Favourite Song
It’s one of the most iconic songs in the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, one of my favourite films ever. I’ve watched it countless times, but it still inspires such a powerful sense of wanderlust in me. It makes me want to be bold, to take risks, to be scared and take the leap anyway, to experience the richness of an adventurous life…
