The Saltwater Songlines Podcast

You can watch this Episode on Vimeo:

Part 1 - 20.13 - https://vimeo.com/910284028/

Part 2 - 33.33 - https://vimeo.com/910289722/

Raymond Besant is a wildlife cameraman and photographer from the Orkney Islands in Scotland. He regularly films as a long lens cameraman for both the BBC and National Geographic, in far reaching locations such Arctic Norway, Gabon, and the Tibetan Plateau. In this conversation, we spoke about his experiences out in the field with animals, and the quiet, still, sometimes ‘un-nerving’ quality of the landscape that opportunes the difference between simply ‘looking’ and truly ‘seeing’; the ‘paying attention’ that is essential to his craft. We spoke about the rare and precious moments of connection with an animal, of the respect, honour and privilege of having an animal settle in your present enough to groom themselves, in one case a wolf mere meters away on the high Tibetan plateau. We also spoke about the essential nature of guidance in the field, of experienced trackers and the research of, and collaboration with, scientists, as together, a team seeks to bring the visceral behaviour of an animal body in its ecosystem, to a wider audience, through the engaging immediacy of film. Most recently this way of working has found its voice in Raymond’s collaboration with Project Seagrass in filming seagrass meadows of the Orkneys, and the information of both visual beauty and data, that might assist policy makers in preserving, managing and encouraging these meadows in the face of development, agriculture, wind turbines and salmon farms. Please join us as we dive in.

Brief Bio

After graduating from the Robert Gordon University with a Bioscience degree (Hons) Raymond embarked on a career as a press photographer for the Press & Journal newspaper in Aberdeen, his interest moving towards photojournalism and people, leading to travels in Europe and Africa as well as documenting stories closer to home.

His work now focuses his first passion; nature. His debut film,’The Flying Dustbin' documented how the Fulmar, a seabird related to the Albatross is affected by plastic pollution in the North Sea. He filmed, produced, edited and narrated the film which won two awards at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Montana and a finalist at Wild Talk Africa in 2009. 

Raymond specialises as a long lens wildlife cameraman, filming a wide range of programmes for the BBC Natural History Unit and BBC Scotland. He has filmed as one of two principal cameraman on 'Highlands - Scotland's Wild Heart' with Maramedia for BBC Scotland and 'for two years went up  freezing mountains, camped on uninhabited islands and walked through ancient woodlands filming Scotland's most charismatic birds and animals’. 

With a long list of credits regularly filming for both the BBC and National Geographic, Raymond’s work has taken him to the Norwegian Arctic  and Wadden Sea in western Denmark filming wading birds for ‘Wild Scandinavia’; to the rainforest and savannah in Gabon filming elephants; filming with Grey Seals and principle actor underwater in the Orkney Islands for 'The Outrun' feature film Brock media; the Shetland Islands, Scotland, Greenland, Zambia, Sri Lanka, and the high Tibetan Plateau, filming behavioural sequences of animals that include orca, otters, dolphins,  wildcats, wolf, chirru, reindeer, red deer, and a wealth of bird species, together with seagrass meadows and kelp forests. He has also filmed sequences of extreme weather and storm conditions and is a CAA certified drone pilot with a commercial licence, and a PADI Rescue diver qualification in scuba diving.

Raymond has published two books, 'Naturally Orkney’ and 'Naturally Orkney - Coastline’. Both are available on his website.

Every time I see a portrait made by my colleague Carlos Alejandro, I am humbled. The truth is, the breath is swept away from me. The very essence of the human being, whom Carlos has portrayed, is present. Carlos refers to this, as witnessing, as seeing someone's Story. As Carlos stands in himself, the one being photographed, experiences full space to be present with and completely inhabit themselves. You get the story; you see the Soul. This is Humanity. And it makes me weep.

In this conversation, Carlos and I also spoke about education; what happens when an individual - a child - is seen and invited, as their whole self, with the specific luminous gifts of their particular constellation of Intelligences, into the Room. Into the 'educational' setting. When the All of them is included. And their fullness is welcomed and encouraged.

Carlos also makes images of the sentiences in nature. Birds. Trees. The land itself. What happens when we listen to these presences? What opens out? And what changes . . .

I loved this slow marination of conversation with my colleague Sandrine Harris. Delicious as molasses. We wove our way through exploring Marrow as fundament and vitality, spoke of how the journey through trauma restoration and recovery takes time, and is a both a field of support and eventually an invitation to rediscovering pleasure and curiosity, playfulness, and the capacity to once again receive. We meandered through the ephemeral nature of making images in the ecosystems around us. And we remembered how all of these things, exist together in a space of deep integration.

Stephanie Gottlob is a somatic movement artist who spent over three years travelling in her Van, immersing in various Biomes of remote locations in North America, Canada, and most recently in the Marine Biomes of Mexico.

In this second recorded conversation, we speak more deeply about her experiences of scuba diving in the Yucatan, Mexico.

I’d read Stephanie’s write up and viewed her stunning images from her dives, and I wanted to open out several fields;

Time-Motion-Space as a single phenomenon whilst submerged;
A sense of ‘requiem’ and ‘lament’ within the sea;
'Why is depth so compelling; what kind of holiness is down there?'
’One must accept and merge with her surge in order to enter’.

And of Stingray: ‘A mysterious beauty. Featureless wonder. A kind of pureness. Pure awareness of the Other.’

Stephanie has generously offered to email those interested, her write ups and images, links to her films.
She currently has no official website.
Email: stephanie.r.gottlob@gmail.com

I wanted a Cathedral of Light. And I wanted a Sea Grotto. I wanted people to walk into a vast galleried Space of towering Light, and I wanted them to be ensconced within a teal oceanic cave of endless shushing waves on rocks. I wanted both. Could I have both? On the same website? Apparently, I could. Enter Christina Paul. Listener to my depths, uplifter of all that I have walked. Her artistry in hearing and translating my vision into luminous pixels that my body felt real made me weep. A home, for my soul's work. Christina was once - still is in truth, a Therapist. Her magic lies in the listening, the questions, the process that she created and named as 'Brand Spirits'. Through this lens - and others - she who is steeped in Sister, excavates the glory of your wholeness. Unapologetic. True. Luminous. She is my website designer. And I'm so excited for you to meet her.

Welcome to my second conversation with Melbourne based Wholistic Osteopath and Doula, Emily Morter. We spoke together about the body as Country (meaning ‘sentient landscape’), and how it is to experience oneself, to be listened to, heard and met from the place of Body as part of the Land. To move and work from a place of listening to the spaces within the body, rather than the fluids of the body; those spaces as both connector, and as a container of consciousness. We spoke about dorsal Practices, inspired by the work of Alexis Pauline Gumbs in her most recent book ‘Undrowned’, and the ways they offer us stability and a different way of experiencing ourselves move through and inhabit space. We merged into the territories of Mud (one of my favourite places of all), as protector, generative field, composter and place of release. Please enjoy our rich conversation.

Rather than simply an esoteric, erudite field of the human being coming into its anatomical form, embryology underlies and supports everything that we will become, how we move, how we express ourselves, and how we regenerate. During this conversation with Melbourne Wholistic Osteopath and Doula, Emily Morter, we explore these areas along with their subsequent pathways of the birthing and post birthing journey. Emily Morter has been been providing sensitive, compassionate health care to her community for almost 20 years. She believes that you don't need fixing; your miraculous body can adapt and find healing with support, listening, attunement and encouragement. Her work guides you to meet your body in its dynamic complexity, trust your inner knowing and capacity for change, and respond to life with ease, strength and adaptability.

A journey into the echoes of sand (or soil) as earth's connective tissues; in relationship with our fascia.

I recorded this meditation for my community several months ago. Deep replenishment for you. Lay down your fluid form; and enjoy.

I encountered Freya's glorious ochre paintings on Instagram. My heart blew open. I deeply wanted to speak with her, about her experiences of Place and of co-creating her paintings with the land.

In Freya's words, 'I was born on precious Menang Nyoongar Land in Western Australia; this is my home. Despite being Non-Indigenous and therefore lacking a direct ancestral connection to my home land I nevertheless experience a deep felt sense of belonging to place. My life is centred in exploring and celebrating the deep roots that connect us as humans to our mother, the land. It’s my belief that intimate connection with the earth is integral for our wellbeing and that of the land herself. My art practice and the paintings that I create are this exploration in motion, full of curiosity, play and listening. Each painting is a collaboration of collected natural pigments (paint) found in my immediate environment, water that flows through country and my body as a paintbrush. However foremost, it is the spirit of place dancing through all of these elements that I see as the true artist.'

Freya's work can be seen on IG @_freyajoy_

From Donegal, Ireland, Easkey is a surfer. She is a five time national champion surfer who has surfed waves globally, including very big waves; Easkey is the first Irish woman to be nominated for the Global WSL Big Wave Awards. 

As a marine and social scientist, Easkey holds a Doctorate in Environment and Society. 

Named an ‘Agent of Change’ by Surfer magazine in their special Ocean Edition, her work is deeply influenced by the ocean and the lessons learned pioneering women’s big-wave surfing in Ireland and the sport of surfing with women in Iran, which led her to be invited to give an inspiring TEDx talk: Just Add Surf. Her ground-breaking journey to Iran in 2013 introduced the sport of surfing to women and local communities and is featured in the award-winning documentary film, 'Into the Sea'. Passionate about facilitating creative & collaborative processes, together with gender equality and fairness, she founded Like Water, a platform to explore innovative ways to reconnect with who we are, our environment and each other, through water. 

Easkey draws on the sea as an active metaphor to dive deep into the power of presence and embodiment of natural cycles. She designs and delivers international summits and global leadership programmes specialising in experiential learning, nature connection, immersive embodiment practices, community engagement and social impact, including the annual Wavemaker retreat in Portugal and Move Like Water retreat for women. 

She is the author of ‘50 Things to do by the Sea’ and her recent book ‘Saltwater in the Blood.’

Easkey is a one off, wild hearted and free spirit. She’s ridden some of the biggest days in Ireland; no audience, no blue skies, no golden sands, just her and a crew she trusts. Doing something she loves; chasing cold water mountains.

I made this Meditation as a free offering with a small group of my dear community. Walking gently through the ecosystems of the body, in quiet tenderness, nourishing you in replenishment and rest.

I experience the body as part of the living breathing One we call 'Earth'. She is, more accurately 'Sea' this being 2/3 of her body, like ours. Her tissues and our interior ecosystems are entwined; interdependent.

As we sense the felt and visceral relationship of bones and rocks, of sand and connective tissues, of our interior waterways, our right relationship with all sentience opens - and deep listening unfurls. Peace prevails ~

Find a place to settle - or listen while you walk. Enter the cathedral of the body.

Dr Samantha Clark is a Writer and an Artist living in The Orkneys. I was first drawn to her mesmerising art work because of its luminous fluid field;  interwoven undulating netscapes and endless circles painstakingly drawn over layered paintings that include silver and aluminium. The effect is hypnotic; a living surface of the Dreaming. And then I read her book, The Clearing, and was compelled by her streaming wonderings in quantum physics; time, space and memory. Thoughts and open ended and way-finding questions that echoed my own recent readings. In this conversation, we reflected on the way our species has way-found and woven itself across our globe; along coasts as long migrations where land and sea speak in constant conversation. 

Stephanie is a somatic movement artist who has spent the last three years travelling in her Van and immersing in various Biomes of remote locations in North America. In our conversation, we speak about her recent journeys to Marine Biomes in both the USA and Mexico. I asked her, from the presence of Ocean herself, several questions. Stephanie shares her experiences of the Marine as a place 'almost another planet itself' and its stripping away of our usual senses; how Ocean asks something of us before we can enter her, how we have indeed, been away so very, very long, from our origins. This conversation is a little longer than usual ~ settle in . . .

From Leisa, ‘I’m full of curiosity about the world in which I live and am passionate about making change, however small, to help conserve the planet and all that live upon it. For decades now I have been volunteering for organisations that are working to protect the environment. Initially with Friends of Fogg Dam in the Northern Territory protecting a wetland and for the last 7 years I’ve been a turtle conservation volunteer with Turtle Care Sunshine Coast collecting research and actively protecting the endangered Loggerhead turtle.’

I learned so very much from speaking with Leisa; from protecting Turtle nests, through Sea Turtle migrations, their endangered status, educating and inspiring the public, and more. So much so, that at the end of our conversation I lay on my bed and wept; 'what have we done?'. I invite you to listen and immerse with us as we follow the journey of this most ancient of Mariners.

Speaking with and listening to earth; the slow practice of hands, heart and presence.

Yasuna Iman, is a multidisciplinary artist developing a visual abstract language on handmade paper and wood, using rust, maple, botanical pigments, and other raw materials sourced in the natural world. She creates sculptural paper wall pieces called Paperscapes from hand foraged maple fibers, as well as Earth maps, textured paintings whose stratified surfaces emulate the bird’s eye view of imaginary landscapes.

Born and raised in Paris, France, she graduated with a B.A in Art History and Archeology from la Sorbonne in 2016. Self-taught artist, she currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

We had such a fun time speaking about the life within Yasuna’s sculptural Paperscapes and Earth Maps on wood. We walked the unravelled pathways of what it means to be immersed in suspended time, to create something both alive and evolving with one’s hands, and to sense the pulse of moving sentience flow from land to body to slowly created form, to be witnessed and felt by another. And of course, we spoke of the release of her new Body of Work, Bare.