Last Saturday I got to hang out with YouTuber Greg Snell of Snell Media. He is a super talented Photographer / film maker, has some incredible work and is known for shooting super slick and cinematic B roll. He’s collaborated with some other awesome YouTubers and Photographers like Thomas Heaton and Brandon Van Son. He shoots assignments and also leads photography adventure workshops. He and his girlfriend Nellie have been living a nomadic lifestyle for 2 years, constantly travelling from one country to the next, perpetually travelling the globe. Malta was the 87th country that Greg visited. They came to Malta for just 2 weeks, and they have been travelling around Malta and Gozo creating content whilst they are here.
You can watch the Vlog Here.
After watching his video about Gozo on YouTube, I got in touch with Greg and we met up to shoot a sunset together. Greg thought it would be a great opportunity to shoot a vlog with a local photographer and we decided to base the vlog on location scouting.
Screen grab from Greg’s Vlog.
From a couple of days before our planned shoot, the weather forecast was showing that the weather would be terrible. It was already raining when I picked Greg up from his AirB&B, so I was convinced there wasn’t really going to be a sunset, and that it wouldn’t be a particularly productive afternoon. We kept checking the weather forecast, it was clear that the rain and the wind would pick up, but we headed to ‘Il Qarraba’, the rocky headland which separates Ghajn Tuffieha bay and Gnejna Bay. We chose this location as Greg wanted to shoot a Vlog in this location and had never been to this location before. We made our way across the clay slopes and behind the rocky promontory to find some shelter from the howling wind and driving rain in a little cave.
Screen grab from Greg’s Vlog.
It all looked very grim, with Greg thinking the whole Vlog would be a wash. We tried to take a few long exposure shots from the little cave we were sheltering in, but as you can see below, the images were flat and the light was terrible.
Miserable and gloomy weather!
The heavy showers made visibility terrible, we couldn’t even see the horizon!
The rain continued and the sky grew darker and more ominous as sunset approached. We had just about packed up our bags, ready to hike back to the car when we spotted a tiny opening on the horizon, we decided to give it a try and headed out into the rain to try get some better shots of the crashing waves.
Then out of nowhere, a little gap on the horizon with lovely light bursting through!
After cautiously making our way down the slippery rocks to the shore, we set up. Shooting in the wind and rain is never easy, and trying to keep your lens dry is a nightmare, having to wipe it clean after each and every shot. Shower caps can really help minimize the amount of rain that your camera and lens are subjected to!
Without warning, the little orange patch on the horizon suddenly popped into a fiery red sky. The light shining through the tiny gap in the clouds and giving some epic color to an otherwise dull and grey sky. It was a stark reminder that you should never give up on a shot, even when the sky was overcast and it rained continuously for 3 hours, we got an epic sky.
The final image from an unexpected sunset!
The adventure didn’t stop after that epic sunset, we went back to the cave to pack our bags and prepare to hike back to the car. When we had hiked in to the location, the clay slopes were still dry and easy to navigate, on our return however, after hours of continuous rain, it became an absolute nightmare. The clay was extremely slippery and accumulated on our boots, making it progressively harder and harder to cover ground quickly as darkness fell. Some parts of the trail and really narrow, and it was super sketchy trying to get past those bits safely. To minimize the risk of slipping and falling, we made our way down to the beach, as walking on the sand would be much safer than trying to walk along the clay paths.
We finally got to the car and I drove Greg back to his AirB&B. It was great to meet and spend time with Greg, watching a master at work and thinking creatively on the fly is always inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Greg and we will definitely be planning some future collaborations together! The completely unexpected fiery sunset reminded me that you’ve got to be in it to win it, and that you should never assume it that that sunset will be a dud.
Below are some links to see some of Greg and Nellie’s work:
Greg’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/gregorsnell
Greg’s Website:
https://www.snellmedia.com