The First Take With Chris Burkard series features six guests, a different creative in each episode, who joins the Sony Artisan on a 24-hour exploration of his favorite food, culture, places and more throughout Iceland. In Episode 6, Burkard is joined by Andrew Alexander King (@andrew_alexander_king), an African American explorer, climber, surfer and meditator. Watch as the two go on a hunt for hot springs with a local guide and discuss how meditation and self-reflection can yield better results when it comes to photography, adventure and beyond.

Sony Artisan Chris Burkard and explorer Andrew Alexander King go on a hunt for hot springs while discussing meditation and the importance of learning from the locals when traveling.

In the episode King shares that he likes to explore what it means to be human, and when he goes outside to climb mountains it’s to meditate. Burkard, who is also a huge fan of meditation, asks King for insight on how it came into his life. “For me, meditation started in my twenties,” explains King. “I set my intentions throughout the day. Today my intentions are: be open, explore and listen. And not listen to respond, listen to understand. Because you know Iceland, the guys know Iceland, I want to know how you shoot and how you see it. I’m just open to exploring a different part of it, and I think that for me that’s where meditation is always taking me to. It strips down the ego and lets me hear what’s inside and lets me actually interpret it to where I can be fully present and not have to wear a mask or have a facade.”

The two take this mindset with them as they meet up with a local guide named Ulfar to go hunting for hot springs in Iceland. They end up visiting a secret remote hot spring where they make hot chocolate and eggs in a thermal vent. “That was honestly so funny,” says Burkard, “because that’s one of the things I’ve always dreamt of doing, was cooking out of a thermal vent. Just because it’s such a cool historical part of the culture.”

Burkard continues, “A big part of what excited me about doing a series in Iceland was not only the opportunity to take people who have not really spent time here or experienced this place, but is to just utilize local guides. To utilize local people because that’s the way, for me at least through traveling, I’ve been able to gain the coolest insight, have all the most intimate experiences. When you tap into that, you’re with somebody who’s talking about going there as a kid and taking their family there. There’s this really cool lineage that you’re tapping into in some way and that’s really important ” 

King adds, “Yeah, I agree with that because when I go climbing around the world or I go hiking, alpining, mountaineering or even just in Ecuador. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, did you go by yourself?’ And I’m like no, I go with guides and the reason why is because I want to learn more about their culture. What do they think of nature and how do they be as one with nature?”