And my winning entries here:

The new year is coming so its time for resolutions. For me one of them is to help those athletes that have sacrificed in many different ways over the years so we could get the story or the shot.

I can probably count the number of pro climbers that are making a living off of climbing on two hands, and I don’t think that number has really changed too much over the past ten years.. and when I say “making a living” I mean at least 30k a year. That ain’t much by today’s standards and it kinda irks me sometimes, climbing is big, every city has a climbing gym…. So what’s the problem? Being a photographer that has grown to shoot all different types of outdoor sports all in different stages of their maturity I have some unique insight.

What climbing needs to do, to progress to the next level, is to make being a pro climber on a team cool and realize that this sells product:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qt32zDLWl0

And that marketing has evolved a lot since the print ads of the 80s and the web banner ads of the 90s :

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=HwU2t3BJtiM

If a brand stepped up to the plate and grew some cojones … a la Burton,

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=tkxtBrHP84I

Or if a new brand stepped in and did these things, they would reap the rewards. Then they would be able to expand the team and make being a pro climber even more viable, thus growing the youth market and in turn climbing for years to come. Its all about the 5 year plan, not the this year plan. I hope I can be involved with people and projects in the new year that are trying to do these things.

Whattaya think? Hit me with some feedback, hopefully we will get a comments section rolling in here. Happy Holidays! tk