I had a two-page spread appear in the January issue of Photography Monthly, one of the largest photo magazines in the United Kingdom. It was part of the publication’s New Year Special edition, the Ultimate 2011 Technique Guide, and I offered some tips on how to take better rock climbing and adventure photos. The story entailed info about pre-visualizing images, composition, editing, and lens choice. Pick up a copy if your news stand stocks it — there are lots of great stories throughout its pages.
The shot on the bottom left is the aesthetic and classic Grampians crack, “Blimp.” It’s one of the most striking lines we saw in Australia, and at grade 21, is a good climb for everyone to have on their tick list.
The other shot is of the Indian Creek 5.11 offwidth “Binge and Purge,” which kicked my ass so hard that our kids will come out dizzy. When I first climbed it, I managed to get my torso completely wedged where the climber’s head is, and found myself stuck for about 30 minutes with my feet dangling in the void below. Perhaps my tactics were ill-conceived: my upward progress was based on exhaling completely, squirming skyward, and then inhaling to create a body jam. I continued this way into an ever-constricting crack until I could move neither up nor down. I fought a hard-won battle to not vomit my lunch on the growing crowd of onlookers below, and eventually made it to the top an hour after I started.
Tee, the athlete pictured, managed a far more graceful ascent thanks to some weird Jedi offwidth techniques I shall never fully grasp.
I did not take the gorgeous cover shot — I just put it in here to show readers which issue the story appeared in.
