I’m sure we’ve all had an experience where we find ourselves shooting something that has been shot before. Classic spots like Taft Point in Yosemite come to mind, how many millions of people must have taken photos from that exact spot? Golden Gate Bridge anyone? Still, a good photographer finds a way to shoot those exact locations, and make them look unique, fresh and well… cool again.
That’s the situation I’ve found myself in here in Mallorca, Spain. While shooting photos is only a small part of this latest gig for The North Face, it is a big part of what I need to get done in my two weeks here. The problem is Deep Water Soloing (or Psicobloc) blew up big here in 2001, and for the most part everything at the few major walls was shot ages ago. Add in the problem of limited access to the unique viewpoints, the need to shoot unique looking video, high maintenance professional athletes, and uncooperative weather and its gets really dang hard to be “unique, fresh and cool”.
But after some messing around I’ve come up with a way to create unique images of the climbing in Mallorca that I think my client is going to be stoked on. Its a bit limited in that I can’t shoot these shots on every wall, but for the most part there is a lot of opportunity to get creative… all while standing in the same places hundreds of talented photographers have stood in years past.
Here’s a quick example of Alex Honnold on ‘Afroman’ – El Diablo Wall, Mallorca. Click past the break to read a bit about the setup.
To get this shot I climbed down into the cave below the start of the climb, but still 15 ft or so above the ocean. This is no simple task, as the only way into the cave is by down climbing 60′ of challenging climbing to get into position. I didn’t have a dry bag so it was just the 5d, my fisheye, and Pocket wizard in an FStop Mala and cross my fingers that I didn’t whip into the ocean.
Once I was setup, Pat my assistant rappelled off the top of the cliff to the climber’s right side with the lighting equipment, just out of view of my frame (we tried the climber’s left side the day before and it didn’t look as minty as we wanted).
Pat had an AlienBee 800 on a lightstand, with a pocket wizard taped to the Alien Bee and the cord running into a pack on his back to the power source. We added a 30 degree grid to the AB to focus the light the way wanted. After a few test shots to get our exposure dialed in, I had Alex Honnold climb out the middle of the cave, this is one of the last frames I grabbed before he moved out of sight. It takes a bit more effort to get these shots, but I think it pays off.
We are going to try and do a behind the scenes type video piece over the weekend to show some of the equipment and widgets we are using to get these shots (several people have asked to see our systems), so check back. tk
i really enjoy the work you produce. it’s really hard nowadays with the current technology being where it is, to set yourself apart from the many photographers out there. i think it really comes down to composition & lighting.
my question is: how much processing/post do you do?
i remember reading that you don’t do any or at the very least perform some minimal post to be true to what you saw that day.
second part of the question: what’s your take on photographers who do heavy processing for desired affects? to me, it seems like you are then 50/50 photographer & photoshoper. no malintent, just like to hear your take.
keep up the good work, especially with the video!
Sick TK. Way to take the Strobist to the next level. Absolutely beautiful.
i was moved to comment, then read alice and i think she’s thinking a lot of the same things:
first, it’s great that you (tim) are so transparent with your techniques here, i think it’s real contribution to the climbing/photography community.
regarding post-processing, i also find that this style raises some intriguing questions: as a community, how do we differentiate between the levels of “authenticity” in post-processing versus, say, multiple off-camera flashes? should those who question the use of photoshop not also then question the staging of the photo: climbing photos that are not strictly candid in nature, i.e. posing?
historically, the idea of “authenticity” has always been essential to the photographic medium. these days, in newspaper photography as with kemple media, the lines become blurred. i am not so concerned with the mixture itself as with the intent that we assign to our actions, and our level of awareness about our own process…
this is not to say that you do not create amazing visual media. this shot is really cool! however, would we regard this as a *photograph or a *photographic illustration?
artists have long maintained (correctly!) that they eye/brain is not an objective tool. to what extent does this image better capture the reality our brain “sees” than a photograph shot in ambient light? or else, to what extent does it create an idealized “hyper-reality?”
at one end of this slippery slope one can find the greatest climbing photography. and at the other, we climbers will become the society we were trying to escape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
cheers all,
dirk