2011 Gory (Polish for Mountain) Photo Edition

I just received copies of the 2011 Gory Photo Edition.  This magazine hands-down, has the best photo annual of any climbing magazine I've seen so far.  The entire issue is full of amazing photos from some of the best photographers in the world. I was lucky enough to be included again this year.

Christine Balaz at Devil's Tower, Wyoming

Mindy Campbell in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

Christine Balaz at Ruth Lake, Uintas, Utah

Peter McConkie in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

Jake Hirschi in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah and Christine Balaz at Devil's Tower, Wyoming

Carlos Logroño Viscasillas in the Czech Republic

Brian Ferris at Mt. Woodson, California

Jeff Baldwin on one of his many routes in Maple Canyon, Utah and an Unknown climber in Frankenjura, Germany

Garrett Smith in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

Cerre Francis in American Fork Canyon, Utah

Dean Lords in Twin Falls, Idaho

Jake Hirschi in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

New Work for Early Summer

I'm excited to have a lot of new work out there recently.  For the past five years I've been working on a personal project, trying to photograph many of climbing's legends and the people who inspired me when I first started climbing. It's an ongoing project but when the crew at Rock & Ice told me they were bring back the classic Ascent magazine I thought it would be the perfect fit for a small showing of some of my work.  Get a copy at your local climbing shop and check out more portraits in my web gallery.

Fred Beckey, Kevin Worrall, John Sherman and Ed Hartouni

Bob Van Belle, Kitty Calhoun, Doug Heinrich, Tucker Tech, Jay Anderson and Dick Cilley

Gary Neptune, Chris Grover, Jim Bridwell, Kurt Smith, Jeff Lowe and Steve Swenson

Jack Tackle, Jim Mccarthy, John Stannard, Dale Bard and Carlos Buhler

Also out right now are the Photo Annuals for Climbing and Urban Climber, each of which I have a 2-page spread.

Christine Balaz

Randall Justin Hill, Cerre Francis, Ryan McDermott and Castleton Tower.

I've also had some commercial work with Edelweiss Ropes and Patagonia.

Pamela Shanti Pack

Dan Sanders

Andy Merriman

An Insightful Guide to Joe's Valley Bouldering

I just received a copy of Isaac Caldiero's new guide to Joe's Valley, Utah. It's a great, full color guide to one of the best bouldering areas in the U.S. You can find copies here: http://www.joesvalleyguidebook.com/

Christine Balaz on Dirty Harry V7

Heath Lillie on Iscosceles V4.

Off to a good start

April is starting off pretty well, with some new work to show, some features on the way and a highlight of my work at Pictureline, the local camera store I use.

Ellen Powick in Southern Utah

Cerre Francis at Dierkies Lake, Idaho and Brendan Nicholson somewhere in the West.

England's Climb Magazine - Pamela Shanti Pack

Canada's Gripped Magazine - Ellen Powick at the Cathedral, St. George, UT

Liberty Mountain's 2011 Catalog - Jake Hirschi at Wild Iris, Wyoming.

Famous Faces

The first two people who email me all the names of the climbers in the photo will receive an 8" x 10" print of their choice from my website. If nobody can get all the names correct, I'll go with the most correct answers by the 20th of February. Some legendary, some infamous and all gracious enough to stand in front of my lens. One hint, all are climbers or mountaineers but one is better known for another sport.

Idaho - Rock & Ice

Growing up I remember the long drives from Salt Lake to Boise, Soda Springs or other small Idaho towns to visit my mom’s family. Much of the scenery seemed the same to my young mind. Flat plains with rolling hills covered in the light dusty greenery of sagebrush and violent upheavals of volcanic rock, black and rich brown, heat waves rippling off the surface. Trip after trip it seemed the same. Then one summer trip shortly after my father died when I was 13 we headed out for a two week trip driving through the central part of Idaho and up into the panhandle and everything changed. Thick forests of pines with craggy mountains of granite and limestone carved by crystal clear rivers and filled with large trout. Deer and elk would feed in my relative’s gardens. It was then I realized that for all I knew of Idaho, I still knew nothing, and so it is with climbing.

The City of Rocks is as synonymous with Idaho as is the clichéd Idaho potato, but look a little deeper and there is so much more. Walls of European limestone, towering granite cliffs and many flavors of basalt pepper the state hidden away in local obscurity. Many of these areas were developed shortly after the climbing boom at the City of Rocks, some existing for over 20 years with little to no traffic other than the local wildlife. Some of this is because of the remoteness, some from a veil of secrecy but most seems to be from a lack of information.

For the last 8 years I have been continually exploring these little know areas with friends and am excited for others to finally catch a small glimpse of some of these great spots. Rock & Ice #192 Features 10 pages of photos from my visits to Idaho and a great introduction from the quietly prolific Dean Lords.

Not a part of the article, but another of my photos was used in a new Grivel ad.

Deadpoint Magazine - So How Does a Photographer End Up in His Own Photos?

Outdoor sports photographers differ from normal sports photographers in that most of them participate in the sports they cover on a high level. If you want to shoot rock climbing, you have to climb to get in place to get the shot. Ski photographers need to be able to keep up and ski into place. It’s much different than sideline sports shooting, a football photographer will never play in Cowboys Stadium or even practice with someone like Mark Sanchez but an outdoor sports photographer can play on the same terrain and participate in their sport alongside the stars.

This difference can bring opportunities that other sports shooters do not have. If a perfect photo shows itself you can take advantage of the opportunity even if you don’t have someone to get in the photo.

For this particular cover, inspired by a topo photo in the guide, we drove for an hour on winding mountain roads temporarily lost trying to find this wall. Once there, my climbing partner took one look at the bolt spacing on this one and refused to climb it. Light was fading and I did not want to waste the only day we had without rain, so I decided to climb it myself. I put a tripod on the hillside across from the climb, set up my camera and had my wife hit the shutter once I hit the upper section of the climb. Unfortunately I blew the onsight right before this and took a big ride, but we still got the shot I wanted.

Nathan Smith on Inshalla 8+/5.12a, Burg Rabenstein, Frankenjura, Germany

What if you are alone?

This photo was taken last fall the day after I rode in a 206 mile road bike race that finished in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Waking up early the next morning to take some sunrise photos, I found myself next to the river and all alone with an amazing background. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I set up my tripod and set the frame. Most cameras have a short time limit on the self timer and even the 30 second timer would be too slow to get across the river and into place. I attached a Pocket Wizard along with a N90M3 cable and took a second Pocket Wizard across the river with me to trigger the camera. In order to make sure I was in the right spot, I had pre selected a zone between two tree stumps to hike between. Once in place I hid the remote in the hand furthest from the camera and pressed the remote shutter while I walked back and forth through the frame.



It’s not always ideal to photograph yourself as the results can be limited and even with direction, most of the time the person I hand the camera off to does not capture what I wanted, no offense to all those who have tried over the years. But in most cases, why not? If I don’t feel my equipment is at risk and I have enough memory, worst case you end up with a bunch of hi-res snapshots or best case, you end up with some publishable work of the rarely photographed action photographer participating in the sport they love.