Too many of our communities are being transformed into tourist ghettoes, with accommodation & jobs for locals suffering - and yet you'd like to host? Koldrun could be your answer. If you have an active cultural interest and would like to host visitors with artistic, musical, and other creative interests that help keep our communities alive then we welcome you to our site. Feel free to register and build your listing. We do not support 'absentee hosting'.

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June 20, 2022

Koldrun – Who, What & Why

Koldrun – Who, What & Why

Perhaps an unusual disclosure by a business owner, but hey, this site is about connection and expression…

So, my name is Dave, and I was born in Liverpool, UK –  yes, that’s me: the scruffy individual up there.

With dysfunctional and disinterested parenting, I grew up semi-feral, often truant from school, looking to find a connection and place in the world.

I went missing as often as I was able to, even from a very early age – looking for adventure – I was usually gone for a few days, sometimes weeks, then returned to a berating/beating.

I took a classic route out of poverty and joined the army.

Useful and helpful to the people around me but unsuitable for promotion (I was developing my identity that prioritized equality and fraternity, also, at that time the forces were still very class conscious) I left after 7 years.

I went to live at Molesworth Peace Camp – an anti-nuclear protest in Cambridgeshire.

A bit of a switch, you think, but in fact quite consistent with my desire to belong to a social unit that didn’t prioritise alienation and destruction as its main default.

That fell apart, mostly due to politically motivated evictions and the shortcomings of the camp residents, who were after all, only human.

Eventually, I settled into ‘the building game’ as a way to make regular money.

I know enough to do a good job, but I decided that I wanted to become a photographer. I have an intrigue about our society, and the human dynamics therein.

So, I hit the road, wanting to make it as a travel & cultural photographer, shooting stock & getting gigs.

I travelled, had adventures, got some great shots, met amazing people, went here, went there, went broke.

I was in France, making a couple of barn conversions for some friends in Normandy (one of which you will see on this site – Le Fouilleul) and the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, and I was forced into lockdown, unable to work.

Bored and running out of money, I started to plan for an exit strategy from the building game and to hit the road again.

I’ve always travelled a lot, mostly Europe and Asia, a little around Oceania, and wanted to learn drone photography and to travel and shoot for stock footage.

This is a shot of some snake-charmers in Jammu, India (colour-popped for effect) outside Raghunath Temple

Simply shooting stock photography and stock aerial footage wasn’t going to do make enough to get by, but it would certainly help. So, I thought, why not, just go for it and see what unfolds.

But

Covid dragged on…and on…

I began to reflect on having spent prolonged periods of time on the road, where my camera was my travelling partner, co-conversationalist and window on the world.

Well, travel can be a lonely and challenging time – the isolating fact of being a ‘stranger in a strange land’ (a great book, by the way) sometimes the language barrier and the long evenings when the rest of the community is at home with their families can be tough.

The idea of developing an ‘on the road network’ of ‘fellow-travellers’ started to develop. After all, that’s my tribe – my people – world-travellers and photographers.

                                         

Le Fouilleul

When I was able to get back to work to finish the building projects, I asked Silke, the owner of Le Fouilleul (above – I did the construction work) if she would build me a website in lieu of payment for the work.

That was the first iteration of koldrun.

That didn’t really work out as some of the technical ‘back-office’ engines behind the site needed refining and, in all honesty, to have more time spent deciding the proper format and facilities of the site. It’s still a work in progress and I welcome your feedback/suggestions.

I put it on hold again whilst I, like many others, struggled between lockdowns.

Fast forward to early 2022 and there’s a little more hope of being able to normalise our lives again.

I expanded the idea of a photography-based directory to include all the creative and performing arts, as well as a course directory and with an ameliorative effort to balance the impact of travel on the climate and the environment.

We are creatures of connection and creativity: an animated expression of our DNA.

Our double helix nature is complex, sophisticated and mysterious.

We have feedback loops built into our nature and development.

We test and know ourselves through our associations and our activities.

What I hope we have here in koldrun is a facility for the travelling creative person – as well as an income and focus of interest for our hosts.

A facility that can offer friendly hosted accommodation, a host that is embedded in the community and who has common interests to the guest, or at least similar interests.

Some context and engagement with the location and community, assistance, advice, translation, contacts, coffee, chat, discovery and inspiration, the human touch.

So. That’s it – a brief outline of the who, the what and why of Koldrun.

Travel well. Travel safely. Tell interesting stories!

At the foot of each page is a contact link, I welcome your enquiries, feedback and stories

You can share stories & projects on our Facebook group which you can join at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/koldrun

Dave

Go – Stay – Do – Create – Become – Share

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