A Cumbrian photographer is taking people to some of the Lake District’s wildest places via YouTube.
Glenn Chapman, 50, of Grange, has built a large YouTube fanbase by sharing his adventures wild camping and hiking alone across the Lake District.
Taking on everything from the Wainwrights in all weathers to sleeping – without company – on haunted fells, Glenn’s channel has become a place for fans to go with him virtually on his wild trips.
He said: “I started the channel in 2018 to document my walks because I’m getting a little older and my knees are getting a bit more squeaky and I wanted a way to document them so I can go back and have a look at them when I’m an old man.
“So I started putting videos out there and it just seemed to gather a little bit of attention and it’s just evolved from there. I think it just resonated with quite a lot of people who are doing the walks up here or who have spent a lot of time in the Lake District mountains but can’t do it anymore because they’re older.
“I do get a lot of messages through the channel from people saying they’re kind of vicariously living through the channel now because they can’t do it themselves anymore.”
While camping or hiking alone is scary for some – for Glenn, it’s a liberating experience that makes him feel alive.
He said: “It’s probably one of the most liberating things in the world actually. Sometimes I take my dog Finn with me, but when you’re out there on your own and things do go wrong, it’s on you to sort it out.
“But I guess it taps into that kind of primal aspect of your life and of who we are as a species taking us back to survival. We live in a relatively easy world, certainly in England, its all houses and jobs and commuting and we live a relatively simple life really.
“So going out to nature and connecting with it on your own is such a liberating and exhilarating thing to do. I think everyone should get out out into nature and wild camp at some point in their lives if they can.”
Despite travelling all across the globe to places like Nepal, Switzerland and America, Glenn says the Lake District has something special that makes it stand out.
He said: “I’ve lived quite a lot of places and I’ve been to Switzerland and Nepal and I’ve seen all these amazing mountains and been to South America as well but there’s just something about the Lake District
“It’s so hard to put your finger on it, its weird its a little bit the landscape of course, the mountains aren’t the biggest or the sharpest, or the scariest, but they are still impressive. It’s the culture its everything its even the walls, I love the walls – It’s an amazing place.
“But I have struggled with the channel thinking I need to go to the Peak District, Snowdonia and Scotland and even overseas but I’m in the Lakes! It’s so hard to get in the van and want to go anywhere else when there’s all this on our doorstep.”
On top of his intense excursions into the mountains, Glenn also has a full-time job in IT and runs his own photography business under the same name as his YouTube Channel, Black Crag.
He said: “It’s a constant battle to juggle everything really, because the photography and IT are essentially both my full-time jobs.
“I get up really early to work on my photography business or the YouTube videos and then I’ll start my full-time job throughout the day and when I finish that I throw some food in and then just work till about 11 or midnight everyday.”
Glenn added that after working hard to create videos for a few years that he is now starting to make some money from the channel and is looking to start seeing his video creation as more of a business.
He said: “I’m starting to make some money but it’s not much. It really is like you’re on a wing and a prayer really, its a promised fabled land of riches and money but there’s nothing tangible when you first start, its just very slow!
“I have had a lot of growth in the last month or so. I put on a video of a solo mountain camp that was the worst night of my life and it went a little bit crazy and it has gone across the pond to the Americans and they’re all loving it! But it was a really shocking night to be honest.
“I would love to go full-time with the photography and YouTube stuff and I am striving for it. A lot of people do think I already do it full-time and they tell me I’m so lucky to go around the Lakes taking pictures but it is actually a lot of work, but it is certainly rewarding.”
For his camping videos, Glenn said he has to take both camping and filming equipment up mountains where he mainly uses a go-pro to record his adventures.
He said: “It’s a lot of gear to take up and it’s a lot of weight. The camping videos are just me talking to my go-pro whereas my Wainwrights videos are a bit more of a series and take more time to film and edit. I’d definitely say the camping videos are easier to film though.
“But the main thing keeping me going is the feedback from people that are watching when they say they absolutely love it.
“Over time I’ve had loads of people that have got in touch saying things like I’ve inspired them to get out when they’re not outdoorsy or into physical exercise and that they’ve now started the Wainwrights and got out of the house and that it has completely transformed their lives.
“It’s that sort of stuff that gets me through when it gets tough and I’m thinking, why am I doing this? You know, I’m not getting paid for it and it’s a lot of work. The I get a message like that and that’s it, it’s just lovely.”
Alongside his following on YouTube, Glenn also has an impressive following on Instagram where he shares his photography.
He said: “It was my dad that bought me a 35mm SLR camera when I was 14, it wasn’t a point and shoot it was right in at the deep end.
“I just played around with it really just didn’t know what the hell I was doing with it, you know, learning by trial and error
“For quite a few years I put it down to one side with a lot of things going on at work and I had a young family and I just forgot all about that side of things.
“But then there was the digital revolution. I remember picking up my first digital camera in 2003 and that just reignited the passion and I remembered I really enjoyed doing it and the creative process of it all.
“So in 2008 got a digital SLR and that was it and the big revolution for me was probably in about 2017 when I went on to Instagram and it was like you can really reach a lot of people on this platform and people that appreciate your style of photography there as well.”
Glenn has now sold his photographs all over the county including to Michelin star chef Ryan Blackburn, who has six of Glenn’s photographs displayed in his restaurants The Old Stamphouse and Kysty.
In the future, Glenn hopes to complete the Cumbria Way with a twist and take on more multi-day hikes and bikepacking for his YouTube channel.
You can find his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@BlackCrag
