Photo Essay: Mapping Dissent at UCSB

Thursday April 13 was a powerful day. 

I was invited to help document an event at UCSB where art and activism in the form of written and then spoken testimonials gave voice to often silenced and marginalized people in our society.

Personally, it went a long way at much more deeply humanizing my own perspectives about other communities within our larger population, communities that I do not have much personal experience with.  

The strength of these individuals to gather these testimonials, to share their voices in the public sphere, gave me hope for our society and humanity. 

all images ©Bennett Barthelemy - artistic concept by artist and activist Lorena Wolffer, action by community members

California Redux: A photo essay

Returns are always interesting... 

I have not "lived" in California for some time, so diving in again these last two weeks has been engaging. Good people, sweet locations, some very cool shared explorations of deserts, oceans, cliff faces, backountry trails... 

Lots to be thankful for in this wild life.

Spanish Quixotry: A photo essay

There are certain things about a place that make it unique. Some places seem to have just a bit more of that magic...

The Alicante region of Spain is one for me. A combination of accessible history, grand architecture with plenty of Arabesque flourishes, craggy landscapes, slices of Old World culture - all in constant collision... Early March blooms of almond trees in 24 degree celsius heat, chicken blood sausage tapas and vino tinto rioja, ruinas across ancient terraced olive groves...

I never really got what the word quixotry meant until I landed here... That glimmering sheen of god rays strafing the Bernia Ridge, a late night drunken wander during Carnival through the tiny streets of Sella,  howling levantes swirling though the trees keeping me awake - there is a wild and surreal sort of luster that makes many moments here feel impossibly possible...

I will miss it.

all images ©Bennett Barthelemy

Latest Feature: Backcountry bouldering

Niko sending at So High...

My latest feature came out in Ojai Quarterly yesterday. I really like getting to still publish in a print magazine with glossy pages, no electron fade... Getting rarer and rarer these days. I am waiting not so patiently for a small resurgence of quality, image driven publications in printed form before the presses and ink manufacturers all go under too...

This was a fun project to work on with a very strong and dedicated climber in Southern California that has a strong penchant for wild and remote and highball first ascents. I have followed him out on a few occasions and often just getting there feels akin to climbing a runout trad route on tiny gear and loose rock... One approach I managed to pull a 100 pound sandstone flake onto my head and nearly sever my man parts and femoral artery on a backcountry mission trying to keep up...

Smashed fingers, crunched ankles all seem fairly standard fare for Niko and he still keeps climbing hard and putting up FA's despite his somewhat common and normally sidelining injuries... I am looking forward to getting back and having another adventure as it seems Niko has struck a bit of bouldering gold again with another remote find hidden in the folds and chaparral...

Niko's new guidebook should be wrapped up before too long sharing lots of exciting boulder problems in So Cali...

images and writing ©Bennett Barthelemy

Bike Lanes In Copenhagen: A photo essay

Copenhagen is often is ranked as one of the top 10 healthiest cities in the world... It also happens to get ranked as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world time after time. Coincidence? Some 300 kilometers of bike paths in the city currently with plans to continue with paths approaching some 500 kilometers...

 I spent an hour out - during a snowstorm, a few nights ago in the City capturing a few images of cyclists that seemed less than deterred by challenges of cold, snow, darkness, traffic...

If only some of our US cities could see the wisdom in this and expedite city planning moving forward to realize this too. Minneapolis seems to be leading the way...

The fossil fuel industry is compounding challenges with climate and climate refugees, health... Why not a push to provide the infrastructure to make the needed shift in the urban and suburban landscapes? Cars are so yesterday...

Christiania Bikes are iconic - designed and built here, often loaded with family members...

A bike lane some 2 meters wide...

Electric bikes for rent in front of the Osterport Train Station...

Photo Essay: 10x more with 10x less

"What is life if not the shadow of a fleeting dream?" Umberto Eco

Jumping continents this new year to the Old World I am having deeper experiences as an immigrant and tourist, not quite resident and feeling my sense of nationality eclipse further as the geo-political arena spasms in a miasma of insecurity and doubt.

I am asking more seriously the questions about what is needed to survive...

In a small sense I can relate, ill-prepared, with my numb fingers and toes I walk in the blustery Copenhagen wind - my winter kit is left in Spain because to move luggage costs more than the flight. Work stacks in a distant and untouchable future and I coast on a very slim margin. I think of the thousands of refugees with their lives in their pockets and small daypacks, some housed in metal shipping containers in Serbian snows whose whole existence is still in question as invisible borders and countries unknown weigh in on their fate. Thankfully as a US citizen, in terms of mobility, I am relatively untouched so far by travel bans and other fear-driven policies. For now I am taking advantage of this privilege for I doubt this will be the reality much longer.

This winter season has been a good excursion into exploring what is available and engaging experiences with an eye to economy and contrasts. Selfishly coveting my still useful passport and the $32 flights to hop between Northern and Southern Europe. Finding rain and rainbows and steep and sharp limestone, luxury of a $3 bottles of quality Tempranillo and fresh breads while tenting in the Spanish mud. Then back to driven snow and below zero urban runs, gourmet meals with small mountains of cast off and rescued organic produce from food sharing programs etc - baked lettuce with a clementine reduction, rosti with celery root and Trinidad moruga scorpion peppers from the Netherlands. Moorish castles and Danish Kastellets contrasted with high rises the shared horizon... the temperate Mediterranean coast meshed with the frosty-wet Baltic breezes...

Continued rough translations, migrations of language, currency and endothermic stresses... Transiting past and current lives, living history across borders... Finding deeper, unexpected richness and sharpness in this moment of shared experience.

Here are some of my favorite images/memories from the last few weeks...

all images ©Bennett Barthelemy 2017