Female filmmaker, often at sea, always exploring. Founder of Wanderlust Action Films - the adventure
These shots deserve their own post. I am by no means an but my word I can understand why you would be! The magic of capturing what the eye can’t see, blows my mind - every time. And I thought the stars my eyes could see were spectacular!!
The first pic of is up there as one of my favourite photo’s I’ve ever taken!
24hours of a micro adventure with
Jay is the photographer that first recommended me to the OM team. Without that I wouldn’t have had half the adventures I’ve had. Such a beautiful soul and skilled photographer. So grateful to have known you buddy, rest easy. All my love to Jay’s family ❤️
Jay McLaughlin 1979-2023
We are extremely sorry to announce that our dear friend, colleague and OM SYSTEM Ambassador Jay McLaughlin passed away yesterday.
Many of you will have met Jay at our events, or be aware of his work through the campaigns and projects he created for Olympus and then OM SYSTEM. He was an unforgettable member of our family, a passionate and dedicated photographer to the last, who never stopped documenting his experiences in his unmistakable style. Jay lived every single moment of his life, even when he knew it would be cut short – and we will always miss him.
Our thoughts are with Jay’s wife Edina, and his family and friends.
🌿
This week I’m asking every day for a birthday gift... in the form of a donation in honour of this beautiful soul. Those of you that share this little Instagram journey with me will have seen that 4 months ago (today) we lost Alice Lucie Abbott, aged 35, mum to .and.winnie 🤍
She was taken by inflammatory breast cancer that took over her body. She was taken far too soon and fought for every second of her illness. I don’t want birthday wishes, or post likes honestly, because the one person I want to wish me a Happy Birthday was stolen from us. What I would love is the cost of a glass of vino to be donated via the link on my profile to
Please, help fund research into secondary breast cancer and provide support for those struggling with a terminal diagnosis.
🍷 To Alice
Waiting for waves / surfers to catch them
Ageing is a privilege: A couple of self portrait’s to document what 35 looks like a few days before a 36th lap around the sun. (Turns out it looks like you only have one eye Ellie…)
But, as the negative thoughts of ageing crept in and I slowly zoomed in on the emerging wrinkles… I caught myself and then grief hit me in the chest again: AGEING is a PRIVILEGE Ellie, because some of us don’t get to grow old.
This birthday I’ll be celebrating it without my bestie; Alice Lucie Abbott. She would have turned 36 one month today. She was taken too soon, (four months ago tomorrow) by Stage 4 Inflammatory Breast Cancer. It is a real piece of evil. Watching her slowly be taken by that cruel disease is something I wish I could shake from my memory.
October is breast cancer awareness month, as well as my birthday, so I am actually asking for presents - please donate the cost of a glass of Rosé to - a small charity that is raising funds to research and provide support to those diagnosed with secondary breast cancer.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/inmemoryof-alicelucieabbott
I’ll be posting a lot about this this week, this year, this lifetime. And anytime I catch myself bitching about my age.
🍷 To Alice
Is this or is this not the cutest beach brolly you’ve ever seen?!?
There’s a new wave of beach shade in Australia in the form of portable cabanas but I’m going retro.
Thanks to making my day last week discovering they stocked 🤍
Side note, this little beach spree made me think of Alice, she bloody loved a fringed parasol. I know she would have wholeheartedly approved of this purchase. It seems when I’m faced with a ‘to buy or not to buy?’ Question that’s often when I hear her voice pop into my head: ‘It’s an investment Ellie’
Thinking of you in the sun and the shade, every day 🤍 .and.winnie
Playing with colours and long exposures. I love this washed out look. It looks how I feel after a day in the sun. Think I’m gonna go old school and actually get some of these pics printed BIG 🤍
Impermanence is one of my favourite words. In other words nothing is permanent, good or bad, with every passing moment there is change. I love this notion because not only does it help you if you’re in a slump because you must think ‘this will pass’ but it also helps you to be present because, by the same token, this too won’t last forever. Enjoy every moment of the good times and know that the s**t ones won’t last for ever.
S**t me that’s wise for a Thursday.
I think about Alice every single day, without fail. But there are those days when there’s something to celebrate, or something I need advice on and I have to stop myself in my tracks from tapping her name in my favourites list. She’ll stay on that list forever. Wish I could debrief her on today. I need her words of wisdom. I just need to tap in and ask myself ‘what would Alice say’ it’s in there somewhere. 🤍
Perfect for a paddle
An inspiration for so many generations. Rest in Peace Queen Elizabeth II 🤍
Editing a video tutorial for .cameras today. For this film I’m in front of the camera, not behind it! Which I really enjoyed BUT being producer, director, presenter and teacher is a lot of hats to have on and the edit is a slightly tricky one largely because I spend most of the time being hyper critical of myself 🤣
📸 shot by
Spot the drone op!
Sun’s up (surf’s not!) drone’s up! First morning in my favourite spot spent well 🤍
Good morning Australia. Ten years to the day since falling in love with you! Happy to be back. Off for an explore today, camera in hand 🤍
A wonderful adventure!
In this beautifully made 6 minute film, OM SYSTEM Ambassador Peter Baumgarten takes us for a journey on the water and shows just a few of the exquisite image...
How fortunate I am that I get to call this my job. How grateful I am to .cameras for sending me on adventures like this where I get to explore and meet incredible photographers who get snaps like this of me at work. Such a pleasure filming Peter Baumgarten - link to the film in my stories. Let me know if it has you itching for an adventure!!
Cheers to Ten Years (almost to the day) that I bought my first ticket to Australia and fell in love with a country that just keeps on giving! See you in 24 hours 🦘
5 weeks at sea got me up at 4am to witness our first sighting of land and the sun rising behind it 🌅 3rd pic for my non-posed real reaction to very nearly being off this boat 🎉
Snaps of me credit to
Porthole views for 35 days. Quite the adventure. Swipe to the end for demonstrating
Two more nights left at sea. Here’s hoping for a couple more moments like this 🤍
The Art Of The Possible is SUBMITTED to Banff!! (So I am currently sat daydreaming about my Canadian road trip to pick up my award... throwback pic to my last one.)
Real talk though - I am under no illusions about winning anything, the competition is FIERCE, showcases the best of the best adventure films. I am crossing my fingers for a short list (but also know that’s a long shot!) so I can make the excuse to go along to the festival and see which of this years adventure films kick my ass whilst simultaneously inspiring me to do more.
This has been a major goal of mine, to shoot my own feature length documentary and submit it to this festival, and so for me just finishing it, which has at times been an uphill struggle, is a win.
Two weeks til east coast sunrises 🤍
New Moon time. I think about Alice every day but on the changing lunar cycle I always have a little chat with her and go looking for the moon. Like it somehow still connects us. This new moon is in Virgo, her rising sign, I would have told her this is a special one. I can’t actually do any manifestation or lunar ceremonies myself nowadays, haven’t for a while because I lost all enthusiasm knowing I can’t manifest my friend back. And these rituals didn’t save her from the bastard that is cancer. But I hope they helped her and brought her peace at times. I know I’m glad we did them and I’ll keep them going, saying hello to the moon and thinking of you always, my lunar goddess of a friend.✨🤍🌙
Went through all our old messages tonight, for the first time properly since she died. Apt as Virgo is ruled by Mercury, planet of communication. Her Virgo rising nature shone through in all the pics she sent showcasing the beauty and dedication she put into her home and family.
I’ve become obsessed with clouds since being at sea. They paint the sky and create their own landscape 🤍
Working hard or hardly working? I don’t think I even know the answer to that one anymore. Bow life.
Endless sunsets
Imperfect pictures. How I wish I’d spotted the dolphins sooner, or that I hadn’t been stuck behind a mast before they disappeared from view, or that the focus had been sharp on the one with its head out of the water. BUT what a moment. 2 Dolphins and their little bird pals dancing in the sunset. Picture perfect or not it was a perfect moment. ✨🐬
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Purple haze with 💜 largely revolves around two things: the sun and food. The Sunsets on this adventure have been pretty bloody special.
![Next week The Art of The Possible will be submitted to and Kendal Mountain Festival] - it has been a goal of mine for a...](https://img4.medioq.com/425/134/638723354251347.jpg)
Next week The Art of The Possible will be submitted to and Kendal Mountain Festival] - it has been a goal of mine for a very, very long time to enter a feature length documentary film to these festivals!
We are just days away from completion but it’s taken me a long time to get this film together and honestly I’ve struggled with it. Over 100 days have been spent on putting this film together since sept 2020 - from filming the training, to the exped itself, to the editing process.
I was so inspired when I met the lads Kayaking the length of Britain, all battling various injuries, and I knew I had to tell their story.
The reality is though, it was a challenge, as with anything of this scale. There were fallouts, there were make-ups and there were break-ups. So, watching the footage back moment by moment was something I kept putting off. However, watching it back has reminded me of all the wonderful moments and the incredible achievement of the whole team and I am very proud to have been a part of it.
Shooting, directing and then editing is a hard task, especially when funding falls on its arse and you’ve got to simultaneously juggle creating a film on your tod whilst working on other projects to fund it, not to mention dealing with the other s**t life throws at you. But I knew I had to still tell this story because if there’s one thing I learnt from hearing talk at the Kendal Mountain Festival] last year it’s this: the films purpose HAS to be bigger than YOU !! Stay true to that and you won’t go far wrong.
The purpose of this film is to show people what you can do if you set your mind to something, how obstacles you face can be overcome if you find ways to adapt, how anything is within The Art of The Possible.
Double rainbows and sunbeams ✨
I love interviews. It is one of my favourite parts of my job. Getting to know people, finding out their story and having a good old chat (preferably barefoot dockside) makes me tick. A series of images here from a film we are in the midst of shooting for
Behind the scenes with the women. Shot by and featuring right hand gal
Sitting here looking at the moon rise over the ocean thinking about Alice and what I’d tell her if she were here, that so much in my life is going so well at the moment, I have a wonderful boyfriend, an incredible job … and yet that one person I want to tell it all to isn’t here anymore which seems unfathomable to me even now. There is this huge gaping hole in my life where my friend used to be and it will never be filled. I don’t want it to be frankly. My analysis is this: grief is about learning to live with the hole and trying not to fall in.
Full moon rising over the ocean for you Al, just like we used to visualise. 🤍🌕✨
I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of taking shots of the sunset over the ocean. (Ask me again in 4 weeks once cabin fever’s kicked in) But really it is my favourite place. So much beauty in something so simple.
Isle of Wight wanderings back when I was on land, wishing I was at sea. Now I’m at sea… but I don’t wish I was on land! I do wish my favourites were out on the ocean with me though. It’s quite the place.
Two months today without Alice. How the world keeps turning without her in it is beyond me. It’s a strange concept. In searching through images, attempting to bring her energy to life in my mind, I found this picture. Ralph was a wee baby and I had just got my drone. I seem to remember questioning whether it was a good idea to fly my new drone over my best friend and her young baby but Alice was keen and all about getting that shot! 🤣 Snapped some land based stills of baby Ralph too but when Alice she got her proper camera she blew my attempts out of the water. Creative genius and mother/Photographer extraordinaire.
🤍
That time mid-shoot we decided to take a dip in Loch Ness. It was 3° and damn ... it felt good! (Afterwards!) Swipe for the post swim selfie as proof - smile says it all!
Capturing the crazy 📸
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Mad English girl goes on a Koala bear hunt. #koalas #koalabear #koala #noosanationalpark #noosaheads
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