Sharing, respecting and protecting skateboarding and the outdoors for all. In skateboarding, a 'land' is to complete a trick successfully. And this land, the outdoors, skateboarding and adventure, are for everyone. Rachel Sarah's short film 'A Land for Everyone' follows adventure photographer Hannah Bailey and skateboarder Lyndsay McLaren while they explore the Scottish Highlands.
As women who grew up in Scotland, Hannah and Lyndsay's teenage selves never imagined a career in skateboarding would be possible. This adventure is a nod to their childhoods and the journeys they have been on ever since.
The short film follows Hannah and Lyndsay through the wild, winding roads of Torridon as they explore the belief that "respect, protect and share" applies in the outdoors, skateboarding, sport, the land and everyday humanity. As we revisit and reclaim the highlands and lowlands of their youth, their goal is to challenge perspectives, combining their love of adventure and the outdoors with their passion to protect it and invite more people into these spaces. A Land for Everyone proves that you don’t have to fit the stereotypical narrative of how a skateboarder or outdoors person looks or acts to embrace everything that the land has to offer.
A Land for Everyone is supported by MPB.
"I never thought I'd be a gearhead when it came to camera kit, but here I am now, with enough camera equipment to kit out a small filming team. My office walls are lined with lenses and I'm used to juggling my different cameras.
But on this project, I stripped all of the fuss away and went with my favourite run-and-gun filming setup—my Sony A7 III and the versatile Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS. When anybody asks me what is my favourite documentary-style setup, my answer is always this simple combination. It's light and it's easily stabilised, which is exactly what I need for a project where I was running around shooting handheld. On a few special occasions where Lynsday disappeared off to skate in the distance, I got the tripod out—my Manfrotto MVH500AH—and switched to the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II.
I worked hard to try and not rely on the DJI Mavic Air 2, as it's far too easy sometimes to get lazy and let those beautiful drone shots take over a film. And it's never reliable in the Scottish winds that you'll get your drone back again! But a few times it went up, just when it needed to, to create some of those shots where Lyndsay and Hannah just looked so tiny in the mountainous landscape." — Rachel Sarah
"I was stubborn about only shooting film and labelling photography a hobby and creative outlet at the beginning. I think I was afraid of putting pressure on it, in case it took away the enjoyment and creativity.
But after shooting only film, in 2017 I won the Women’s Sport Trust photographer of the year award, and I knew to take my photography to the next level I would have to embrace digital.
Like Rachel, I now shoot on Sony and I love it. Right now, I’m on the Sony A7R III, but eyeing up the Sony A1. On the road for A Land For Everyone, I wanted to have a variety of lenses to capture the surroundings and projects, while still travelling light. So I relied on three lenses, the Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GMto get the eyes' perspective, it feels connected and down to earth and I wanted to bring people into the landscapes and on the journey with us. The Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN E helped me to try and capture the vast open wild, putting the focus on the mountains and environment. And the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM was with me for portraits and patterns—I never go anywhere without it!
Before we hit the road, I didn’t overthink the shot list for A Land For Everyone as it was about capturing the organic adventure and the environment as we went. That’s where the production side of things was important. But there was one shot on my mind, and that was the Glen Torridon push shot which we captured on the final day on our way out of Torridon. Collaboration was key to this project, so I borrowed Rachel's Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens and snapped Lyndsay pushing through the Glen, with Beinn Eighe and Liathach towering over us. That was a really special moment and this has been a project close to our hearts which we are so happy to share with people." – Hannah Bailey