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melekzek
Sep 2, 2003, 4:02 PM
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Usually when I start shooting photos around the crag, I end up not climbing at all. Positioning myself around the climbs and trying to capture the stuff I am after takes all my time and I just forget/do not have time to climb. On the other hand if I start climbing I see lots of nice potential shots but I am busy climbing so I cannot shoot.
Injuries are great, because I have an excuse not to climb but shoot photographs.
How do you deal with that?
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the_pirate
Sep 2, 2003, 4:27 PM
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Thst's a tough one. Getting good shots really means dedicating your day to photography. It's easier when you are bouldering because you can just hop on when it is your turn and then get back to making exposures. But when you are photoing something that requires you to rap to a good vantage point or climb a nearby route or even set up some kind of crazy rigging between two cliff faces and a tree in order to get the best shot.... that's going to be your day. Under ideal circumstances, I can spend half a day climbing and half being a photog. But the best shots do always seem to appear when your camera is nowhere near your hand. I try to hit the cliffs the day after a hard day of climbing and spend my rest day making exposures.
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warloc
Sep 2, 2003, 5:42 PM
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Registered: Jun 1, 2003
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Hey! This is a good question! :) That happens to me too, in the other way, though. Usually I end up climbing and not taking photos. jejeeje But there are those days where you go a couple of people, and then you can do both climbing and photog.
Have fun guys! 8)
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climbsomething
Sep 2, 2003, 6:14 PM
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Registered: May 30, 2002
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I was pondering this yesterday meself...
I figure, in order to be a good climbing photog, you may have to be more obsessed with photography than climbing!
Anyway, my strategy for maximizing climbing and picture-taking is to be in a team of 3 (assuming we're talking single-pitch cragging). That way one person is always unoccupied while 2 are climbing. May as well call dibs on being the odd man out and use that time to get set up for photos! Of course, this does have the dreadful side effect of causing you to weasel out of belay duties 8) heheh
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krillen
Sep 2, 2003, 6:15 PM
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Registered: Jul 19, 2001
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yup been there. We all tend to take rest days on the same day, so nobody's climbing when I'm off.
You can't beat Murphy's law, climb and shoot when you can and make the best of it
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thomasribiere
Sep 2, 2003, 8:04 PM
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Registered: Aug 24, 2002
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hillary is right on this one. And it's much easier when we are bouldering too. The worst is to take many pics of your friends climbing, making good ones, then it's your turn, your friends take pics of you, and you just get butt shots... :cry:
edit to write butt correctly!
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pico23
Sep 2, 2003, 9:15 PM
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Registered: Mar 14, 2003
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To be honest I'm never gonna be a really good climber (by #'s standards) and I'm definitely on occasion a much better photog so given the option of documenting a climbing day or dealing with climbing duties I'd prefer to shoot. In saying that I've rarely dedicated a single day to climbing photography. So I really haven't had a chance to apply climbing photography to anything but top roping and some single pitch climbs, and some mountaineering stuff. It's tough to dedicate time to photography unless you are getting paid for it. As a hobby it's tough to blow a day on the rock or ice shooting picks when you might only get 2-3 days a week to climb. It's the same with anything really. You are gonna have to make a sacrifice on the activity to get some great shots. I've taken a lot of good shots that just weren't at the right time of the day, right season or with a tripod because photography while on the list of criteria for the trip wasn't really the focus (no pun intended). Had it been purely for photography those things that made the shot nothing more than snapshot worthy might have made it to the wall of my apartment or my dads office.
Basically if photography isn't the total focus of your day you will probably not get many good shots. And if it's just a secondary priority then you might occasionally get something worthwhile.
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mtnrsq
Sep 4, 2003, 3:10 PM
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Registered: Aug 30, 2003
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I experienced this same problem. I was so into the climbing side that I missed the photog. side of things. At one point I was so weight, minimalist focused on things that I didn't even take a camera on some climbs. As a result, I have no (or very few) pictures from some memorable trips - including 1 AK and 1 Canada trip. I have seriously regretted those decisions in the past several years and now have gone the other way - humping extra camera gear (incl. multiple lenses) and looking for any opportunity to shoot pictures.
I would support the statement about grades - I certainly don't climb at anywhere near the levels of 10+ years ago, so maybe more emphasis on photography is O.K.
The biggest benefit that I've found is that I can look around my windowless office and lose myself in some of the pix and find myself mentally back on the some peak somewhere......good for one's mental health!
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baalzimon
Sep 4, 2003, 3:21 PM
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Registered: Jun 27, 2003
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I almost exclusively boulder, so I always have easy access to my camera. I actually use my camera bag as my crag bag. It has the main compartment for the camera with lens, then an extra lens pouch for my telephoto. on the other side is a Nalgene holder to balance out the tele. then I have a biner on each side to hold my climbing shoes. I put some food inside the main compartment, and wear my chalkbag always.
Wen bouldering, it really is pretty easy to shoot for 95% of the day, and climb when it's your "turn" or when you are rested after the previous attempt.
For morning shots, i get up before sunrise, grab the tripod, and shoot a roll or two before the girlfriend even wakes up.
For sunset, I usually am still on the rocks, so I use a small UltrapodII as my tripod.
However, There's really nothing like a dedicated day/weekend/roadtrip for photography, when you get up at 4 and don't get a chance to eat until 10 because the morning light is so good and you're driving from place to place to get the shots while they're good.
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pico23
Sep 4, 2003, 8:04 PM
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Registered: Mar 14, 2003
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In reply to: At one point I was so weight, minimalist focused on things that I didn't even take a camera on some climbs. As a result, I have no (or very few) pictures from some memorable trips
Been there...for the last few years I left the camera at home on many trips as I kept trimming the pack weight down (and maximizing volume). SLR's are not only heavy but they are bulky. Often I'd take a small P&S or a disposable but nothing else on those "photographyless" trips. Occasionally I wouldnt take anything. This is in contrast to the early years of photography for me when my skills lacked but my desire was there and I'd hump 20lbs of camera gear along with 40lb pack. Over the last few months I've been out and seen some great shots and then I started cataloging my slides to send off for scanning and it got me pumped up again. I'm now a lot more focused on photography again and I've been carrying my 9lb bogen tripod with me often (although so far it's all been paddling, we'll see how this last when I have to strap it to my 30lb backpack).
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the_pirate
Sep 4, 2003, 8:16 PM
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Registered: May 20, 2003
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My new favorite thing... The HOLGA. A cheap ($12) pocket size, practically weightless, medium format camera. It has only two settings, bright light and really bright light so it requires minimum fuss. can be easily operated with one hand. The pictures have the HOLGA effect; bright center, light fade off towards the edges. Interesting pictures. I see that one can also get a HOLGA w/ flash now for about $16. I highly recommend that every photographer have at least a couple of these.
You do have to tape the seams so they don't leak light, but hey, $12.
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tradmanclimbs
Sep 4, 2003, 8:32 PM
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Registered: Apr 24, 2003
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The way I see it if I am not getting paid I don't bring a real camera with me. I will bring a point and shoot (olympus stylus) on multi pitch climbs for personal shots and the off chance that I run across an accident were I will be able to scan the shots and sell them. I know I miss some good shots this way but who cares. I get some real quality climbing in and don't have to work for free on my day off 8)
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pico23
Sep 4, 2003, 10:22 PM
Post #13 of 13
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Registered: Mar 14, 2003
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In reply to: My new favorite thing... The HOLGA. A cheap ($12) pocket size, practically weightless, medium format camera. It has only two settings, bright light and really bright light so it requires minimum fuss. can be easily operated with one hand. The pictures have the HOLGA effect; bright center, light fade off towards the edges. Interesting pictures. I see that one can also get a HOLGA w/ flash now for about $16. I highly recommend that every photographer have at least a couple of these. You do have to tape the seams so they don't leak light, but hey, $12.
I thought he was joking but HOLY poo (i edited it so rc.com filters didn't need to) it is for real. I pee'd in my pants when I read the description on this web page. And I still wasn't sure this wasn't one big joke.
http://www.calumetphoto.com/syrinx/pr.jsp?p=id&i=AA0190&t=OV01&US=1
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