‘Hot, cold, wet or dangerous!’
Explorer Levison Wood chronicles his travels in ‘Encounters’, a new photography book that provides a compelling visual record of a career spent at the extremes
People often ask me to explain the point of exploration in the modern world. The term evokes archaic images of moustachioed Victorians in pith helmets and khaki shorts, planting flags and wafting maps.
They ask why, in the age of Google Earth and Instagram, should anyone bother? But I would argue that the duty of the modern explorer is as important as ever: to document a moment in time, not just for posterity, but also to share stories from far-flung and remote places.
These moments teach us about the world around us and enable us to see what changes are happening right now – both the good and the bad – so that we can act and do something about it. Jacques Cousteau, the French marine explorer, once said: “When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.”
I have been fortunate to witness firsthand a great many global changes across more than a hundred countries over my career as a writer and filmmaker. Wherever I have travelled, I have always carried my camera, photography seeming a natural add-on to the creative process, and a wonderful addition to that duty of documenta
tion. When I left the Army a decade ago, I began a humble photography career, with the occasional snap being published in guidebooks and travel supplements. It was a hobby and a passion that I enjoyed, and I took great pleasure in learning the technicalities and art involved.
Before my television career began, I led numerous expeditions around the world. I drove 10,000 miles through 27 countries, from England to Malawi, photographing people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa; I rode on horseback across northern Afghanistan and climbed mountains in Iraq; I walked across Madagascar, trekked in the Arctic and scaled volcanoes in Patagonia.
I took my inspiration from the fascinating world around me – not just the places I explored, but the incredible people I met along the way.
Whenever I was back home in the UK, I trawled through art galleries, devoured exhibitions and stared at the pages of an enormous stack of coffeetable books that I had collected. I was mesmerised by the work of the grea photographers of our time – Don McCullin, Steve McCurry and Sebastião Salgado – and dreamed of following, however modestly, in their footsteps.
In the winter of 2013, I was commissioned by Channel 4 to set off on a tremendous adventure, to walk the length of the River Nile. I spent my savings on a brand-new Leica M240 camera with a single 35mm lens and, almost a year later, came back with several thousand images from that incredible continent.
Since then I have embarked on many more long walking journeys, covering the length of the Himalayas, all of Central America, the Caucasus Mountains and most of the Middle East. The majority of the images featured in my new book, Encounters, were taken on those long expeditions to remote places. They were often captured under difficult circumstances: at high altitudes, in inaccessible valleys, in jungles, deserts and war zones. I found myself working in extremes and it was usually very hot, very cold, very wet or very dangerous. More often than not, it was a combination of a few of these at once.
The trick, of course, is getting to the locations in the first place. A photograph is not simply a button pressed but the sum total of months of planning and preparation. It is the result of money spent on visas and permits, local fixers, guides and vehicles – be they camels, dugout canoes or, in some cases, battle tanks on the front line.
The images I have captured in places such as Syria and Iraq were, in effect, the result of many years’ experience living and working in war zones.
Photography, for me, is a passion. It’s about living your work; pouring your heart, soul (and usually wallet) into a project. It’s about taking risks and choosing a life that defies the norm – not for the praise or the glory (and certainly not for the money), but for the deep joy of what it is to experience true freedom. It’s about having the ability to
A photo is not simply a button pressed but the sum total of months of planning
share unusual experiences with those for whom such places remain inaccessible, because it is in those places that true wonders lie.
We live in turbulent times, exposed to news reports that so often seem to be full of despair. We are constantly subjected to information overload, attached to our phones and forever online. The digital revolution, and the ease with which we can now travel, also means that the world seems to be shrinking at a rapid speed, changing beyond all recognition.
With the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, the fragility of our existence has been exposed. We appear to be more vulnerable than ever to social disruption and economic meltdown. Traditions are being forgotten, cultures homogenised and war continues to rage.
And yet, in many ways, humanity has never had it so good. Technological advancements in healthcare, food and infrastructure mean that many of us live longer, eat better, and have access to new and ever-improving medicines. Child mortality across the world has been reduced. Poverty, although still widespread, is nowhere near as rampant as it was only a generation ago. There is less violent death and more international co-operation.
Now, more than ever, it’s important to retain perspective, to seek out a balanced viewpoint and ignore sensationalism, without agenda and without self-absorption. That is what my images aspire to do: to show the truth of change, in all its complexity.
Wherever possible, I have sought to offer a mirror image of my experiences, showing the beauty in humanity. The world is full of interesting people, and I have found that most of them are good, kind and hospitable.
Everywhere I travelled, people took me in, fed me and looked after me – often in the most unlikely of places and under the most unusual of circumstances. This book is a celebration of exactly that: encounters with strangers. It is my way of saying thank you.