Last weekend was Kendal Mountain Film Festival and my uni managed to get hold of some tickets for Friday’s events. We trundled down in the minibus and arrived in Kendal for 9:30am. I’ve been to Hawkshead and Coniston, but Kendal was new to me. As it whizzed by out the window, I thought it looked really cutsey, and just the sort of place my parents would love to visit.

Upon arrival in Kendal, we had a look at the programme to see what we fancied watching. I was one of three Wildlife Media students there; the other six were from Adventure. The films were certainly more angled to them – there was a distinct lack of animals involved – but I was there more for the general experience.

One film I saw was called Headache, and followed a group of cold water surfers on a trip through Europe, in an attempt to find the best waves. Although I couldn’t get overly excited about the sport of cold water surfing, it was incredible to watch such a visually explosive documentary. The style of the film was similar to what I’ll be trying to replicate throughout my degree, so it was very inspiring to see what a truly groundbreaking film looked like.

There was such a buzz at Kendal that day. We had a look round the stalls and saw adventurers, both young and old, swapping stories and gazing awestruck at the kit for sale. It would be a lie if I said I was adventurous; at least, compared to the people around me I was far from ballsy. Put simply, I’d rather get the chairlift up a mountain than climb it.

It was fascinating to watch from the sidelines though, and the trip has inspired me in a slightly different way to most of the people there. I certainly don’t feel motivated to fling myself off a cliff any time soon, but it was really great being in such an enthusiastic and excited environment. Ultimately, I will be spending the majority of my career outside with a camera, so although I’ll pass on trying out the adrenaline sports, I still love the outdoors, same as the mountain climbers and bungee jumpers. In many ways, we are one and the same, adventure and wildlife enthusiasts.