Episode
Episode 217: Ben Tibbetts, Long Projects in Quiet Places
- Podcast
- The Adventure Podcast
- Published
- Dec 15, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 3753
- Processing state
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Summary
Episode 217 of The Adventure Podcast features photographer, IFMGA guide, writer and artist, Ben Tibbetts. In this episode, Matt sits down with Ben to explore a life shaped by isolation, long-term creative projects, and a deep need for structure in the wild. The conversation begins with Ben’s 18 months living and working in Antarctica, which quietly rewired how he thinks about solitude, landscape, and meaning. That experience sparked an enduring obsession with small huts in remote places, and ultimately led to years-long projects photographing bivouac huts and high mountain environments across the Alps. Ben also explains why he needs projects, the discipline behind producing large-format books, the thousands of hours of unseen work, and why these projects make little financial sense but enormous personal sense. They touch on modern creativity, the 'junk food' nature of clickbait content, changing industry, and the quiet rebellion of stepping away to make work that lasts. Depth over noise. A meaningful life one long project at a time. For extra insights from the worlds of adventure, exploration and the natural world, you can find The Adventure Podcast+ community on Substack. You can also follow along and join in on Instagram @theadventurepodcast. Chapter Breakdown 00:00 - 01:30: Ben reflects on spending 18 months in Antarctica, the psychological effects of extreme isolation, and how that experience planted the seed for his fascination with tiny huts in wild places. 01:30 - 09:00: Back to his beginnings - exploring whether creativity or mountains came first, and how a fine art background shaped his photographic eye. 09:00 - 26:30: A deep dive into Ben’s approach to photography, mastery of light and colour, and how understanding his artistic roots reframes his mountain wo…