Jeffrey Bowman is a visual communicator and an avid outdoor enthusiast. He consciously choose to follow an outdoor lifestyle which allows him be inspired to create great work and fulfilling projects. He spent the whole 2013 immersed in the Norwegian mountains and he celebrated this love for the nature and the outdoors with ‘The Outsiders”, published that year by Gestalten. Currently working for a sustainable outdoor company, Jeffrey is living in Keswick, which is situated in the mountains of The Lake District, in the UK. Also, we are proud that Jeffrey is contributing to Eldorado as Guest Editor, bringing his vision and stories to the platform. We had this brief yet inspiring talk with him, ranging from the relation between creativity and outdoors living, the last mindblowing book he just released, the difficulties of turning our own rhythm into a natural one. Jeffrey’s motto is: “It’s better to be outside than in.”

How do you change your routine and adapt to an outdoor lifestyle?

I think I’m very lucky that I found a career that allows for a flexible lifestyle, one where I can situate myself pretty close to nature and still be connected through emails and phone. It shouldn’t have to take a lot to make things. I’m lucky that my current job at Millican is all about the celebration of travel and an outdoor lifestyle, my window looks directly out onto mountains, and I can walk out of my house and be paddling on the lake or up a mountain in few minutes, it’s a very lucky position to be in. I feel like the outdoors is a natural part of my daily routine.

Why The Great Wide Open? Why did you feel the need to tell these stories of real people who look for the majestic beauties of nature?

When I began this trip I started with a simple vision: To show the world the outdoors to inspire them to create great things. The foundations were laid out in The Outsiders, in there you could see the people, the brands, the creatives, the products etc… The call to action. But then people need to be lead to be part of something and I felt The Great Wide Open would do that, it is the ‘practical’ manual, the book that leads by example, the motivation to get people from up out of their seats and follow in other ordinary peoples footsteps.

In the introduction of the book, it reads: “As you ascend, you fill your lungs with crisp fresh air unspoiled by man, repeatedly pausing to inhale as if the air were clearing the fog of urban civilization that clouds your mind.”: would you say that the New Outdoors Culture represents a rejection to our society? Or—in your own words— an “escape from that reality”?

I think it represents an escape from the reality of our society and our conformity to a particular way of living. In my opinion it’s pretty hard to have a free flowing mind when we live in a place that is built on systems and rules. Nature allows us to have the space we need to create total clarity in our minds.

In the process of making the book, you met amazing travellers, extraordinary artists, average couples, who all share a love for the outdoors. People like the adventurer Alastair Humphreys, Chris Burkard, Sophie and Charley Radcliffe, among others, are such an infinite source of inspiration. Who’s your favourite one in there?

This is where the beauty of modern technology comes in, I got to only meet them through email conversations, the internet allowed me to connect to these inspiring people across the globe while I was on my own adventure. I think each and every person in The Great Wide Open has huge significance, they each shared their intimate moments with me and allowed me to share them with a much larger audience. Each person has done something so inspiring and personal and unique that it’s impossible for them not to all be my favourite.

For the modern adventurer, using the latest technologies when challenging the eternal beauty of Nature is not a paradox. If extreme travelling is not about pushing our human boundaries to their limits anymore, what is the point? What is the new meaning of getting lost in the great wide open?

The kind of ‘extreme’ outdoor image is something that doesn’t resonate anymore with many people, nature and personal travel is seen as a much more credible way to disconnect from the urbanised lifestyle we choose to live. In my opinion it’s fundamental to our existence that we go outdoors, that we explore and that we discover, as this allows us to find out more about who we are. We of course have to do it in a way that allows us to be confident and that is more commonly taking place in the less extreme end of outdoor travelling.

The leitmotiv of the two books you have created so far (The Great Wide Open follows the success of The Outsiders, Gestalten 2013) is the strong link between the outdoors living and creativity. How and why do you relate these two subjects together?

Nature, the wild, the outdoors whatever you refer to it as, has the answers. It’s simple. It’s the place that allows us to disconnect from our world and reconnect with ourselves. Creativity comes from the inside out. How uninspiring a place an office can be, how depressing observing life through a screen is. Inspiration comes to people in many forms, I choose to go into the wild, into nature and be outdoors. There I am free from judgement, free from systems, rules and regulation, free from email, facebook, concrete, noise, news, responsibility… I am free to be me and free to allow ideas to form, inspiration to flow and energy to build. The outdoors nurtures creativity.

How has your work as illustrator and design been affected by this new lifestyle?

Terribly, ahahah (laughs, ed.) well it’s changed dramatically. First and foremost I have a thread and understanding of my core. Every decision I make, every mark I make, every project I take on has to feed my addiction to this lifestyle, if it doesn’t then i will have no reason to do it. It sounds selfish, but really it’s being honest with myself. When I wake up knowing that day will be filled with something that I love to do, how can you not want to do more of it. The subjects in my personal illustration work now have meaning, I have a real solid platform for everything now, that’s what I never expected when I first ever stepped out into nature.

How is it possible to combine a busy professional life with the need of living surrounded by nature?

By finding a job that allowed me to fulfil my life, by being me, by following my heart – I have had a little bit of luck sent my way by the universe, but I have a job now with Millican and they want me for everything I stand for; my creativity and lifestyle, Millican actively celebrate this culture internally, I feel like I’m working with five versions of me when I walk into the office, we all share common values and seek inspiration to exist through the outdoors and travel.

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Follow Jeffrey on Instagram and know more about his work and philosophy.
You can purchase ‘The Great Wide Open’ here.
Read more about Chris Burkard’s story ‘Iceland Waves’ here.