Overall, the series is a beautifully-shot and profound piece of media. It moves calmly and quietly, and allows for Temi, Amira, and Omie to tell their stories with uninterrupted focus. “We really wanted to take our viewers on a journey and give them a window into unique perspectives,” Adu says. “We wanted layered stories and we wanted to capture the beauty of the UK outdoors as well as create a level of intimacy in our films with our subjects.” The off-the-cuff moments from Adu’s Super 8mm camera add to this unique sense of beauty in the series, elevated by the down-the-lens camera interviews conducted in each episode. “Access to the outdoors opens up a whole other world of opportunities that should be freely available for anyone,” Adu concludes. “Outside belongs to everyone, after all. The outdoors is for everyone.”
After the BBC commissioned it, Adu found casting the project to be incredibly rewarding. “We knew we wanted to cover cycling, hiking and swimming as they were big areas to tackle with a lot of stigmas attached, but we were open to who our contributors would be,” he explains. Temi, the cyclist, was found through Black Unity Ride, a yearly event which sees 3,000 cyclists from diverse backgrounds come together to cycle across London. “He runs the Black Riders Association and cycled from London to Nigeria a year after buying his first bike,” Adu recalls. Amira, the hiker, was found through her Instagram account, which advocates for getting more Muslim women to explore the outdoors. “Amira gets a lot of people reaching out about her story and we’re super lucky that she allowed us to capture it the way we did,” Adu says. Omie, the swimmer, was found through Black Swimmers Association, a non-profit organisation that looks to increase diversity in the world of aquatics. “We loved Omie’s story and how proactive she is in breaking barriers when it comes to swimming.”