So here’s the deal. I’m packing for Yosemite right now, specifically for a big wall free climbing shoot with two of climbing’s most badass athletes: Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson. I could go on about their resumes but I think its safe to say that these guys are two of the best climbers on this terrain. I’m going to be shooting (actually we, there will be two of us) photos and video for uses that I can’t talk about yet… what I can talk about though, is some of the behind the scenes involved with a shoot like this. I get emails frequently about how we get these shots on the big walls around the world (Alex Honnold in Yosemite for Reel Rock, Patagonia free climbing for TNF, etc) so I’m hoping to share some of that, but I was wondering if there was anything specific people wanted to see? Videos? Equipment? Rope set ups? Lighting set ups? Let me know – tk
8 Comments
Hi Tim,
i’m interested in :
/ rope setup, rope management, climbing management (radios?, who go first, how do you interact with models during the ascension, etc)
/ how do you light?
/ do you have time to set up shots?
/ do you do only one climb?
/ the preparation BEFORE the actual trip, on the ground, how to prep your equipment, do you have a picture in your head before? or a list of pictures?
/ how many batteries, lens, bodies?
/ how many photos do you take?
/ how do you manage files afterwards?
/ and anything else.
Keep on rocking !!
Yes, thanks for asking. I guess my question would fall into the “ropes set-ups”
I’d like to see how you set up for the shots in terms of getting your gear and yourself up the wall – Are you making multiple trips up the wall (down?) over consecutive days?
And how much timing coordination does something like this require with the subjects? Do you just get up there hours early and wait for them to climb up to your position, or is it more of a pitch by pitch process?
i’d love to see your lighting setup for a shoot like this, thanks tim!
I’m very interested in the equipment questions that Christian already posted above, but I’m also interested in the creative aspect before and during the shoot. Obviously this changes with each client, but maybe you could tell us some about….
- how the client directs what they want from the shoot
- how you communicate what you can feasibly deliver to the client
- do you come up with a formal shot list (ie. written down somewhere)? or do you play each shot by the moment?
- what kind of direction do you give the athletes, if any? Are there a lot of pre-meetings for the photo-side (not the climbing side)?
Behind the scenes of the shooting is great (love to see how different people use the gear and learn new tricks), but I’d also love to see some of the behind the scenes on the business/creative side, like your meetings with client/talent to discuss the deliverable images….even if it’s just campfire beers the night before.
thanks.
Here are some more (from Facebook). I will try and get some of the emails up too:
- How you arrange the ropes and equalize everything so you can move at angles and stuff. I’m looking forward to this as well. Have fun!
- Seeing rope setups would be sweet Tim. Its always mind boggling how you set yourself up to get the shots of whats going on.
- +1 Tim, seeing what you use for gri-gri/ ascender system would be sweet. Have a blast.. can’t wait to see the video.
Have fun Tim! Hopefully you’ll get some shots of the boys sending! Historic…
What are your thoughts on primes? Why do you choose them over zooms?
@ Julian & Jon – We are using the Steadicam Merlin. As for why I am shooting primes; its a combination of wanting to shoot wide open for narrow DOF and better low light performance (24 F1.4 @ 1.4 for example) and for shooting backlit (something I tend to do quite a bit).