Finally got my copy of the December issue of Rock and Ice with the feature on Sasha DiGiulian and our pictures from her amazing climbs earlier this summer in both Rodellar and the Dolomites. Thank you Sasha and Edu for the adventure, I am looking forward to the next one. Thank you also to the crew at R&I the spreads look great.
“The way is beautiful…but maybe it is heavy”
I find it hard to know where to start when so very much has transpired in the last several months. It all started with our leaving our home in Japan, via a whirlwind of visitations across Texas culminating with our move into our beautiful and exciting new house in Italy.
The gear is finally unpacked, the Profotos are charged, the Drobos are plugged in and I am once again on the road. Two days ago I loaded the car with camera, climbing, and camping gear and took off on a crushing 14hr drive to Rodellar, Spain to essentially return to work. I came to shoot with world class Adidas climbers Sasha DiGuilian and Dani Moreno on beautiful, mighty Spanish walls. Sasha, following her win at the Spanish Championships in Gijon last weekend, is working on what would be the first female ascent of a powerful 8c route. The first day went without a hitch and both Sasha and Dani are amazing to watch and even more inspiring to photograph. We tentatively have all week to shoot and push it but now however, we are stuck. We are in a holding pattern as the rain curse, which has followed me since I landed in Europe, follows me. With a forced rest day I was able to edit a bit but for the most part I am just itching to get back on the rope and behind the lens.
After the cursing of the sky and the lamentation over a lost day of opportunity we spent last night eating a beautiful meal at the Refugio and I found myself content with the realization of my wilderness office and my assignment. I often talk about the gratitude I feel towards my subjects and my career but it is something truly difficult to convey with words of appropriate weight. Hanging 90 meters of the valley floor watching one of the sports most talented and accomplish athlete’s crossing over the lip of the cave with grace and power and being there to capture that feat is still, to me, a wonderful gift. As a photographer and I would imagine professional athletes we find ourselves fighting for days like these, through the rain days and in-between assignments. When however, you finally get on the rope or behind the lens it all becomes fluid and right. Like my Italian climbing partner says, “The way is beautiful…but maybe it is heavy” but the weight, the difficulty is so very worth it.
As I type I am watching the sun fight through the clouds, time to go see if the rock is dry. More to come.
Made in America - Crashed upon Globally
I am currently working on a set of personal/campaign images for Organic Crash Pads and was lucky enough to spend yesterday working with the wonderful and powerful Akiyo Noguchi (2009, 2010 Bouldering World Cup overall champion. Second overall in 2011, and again in 2012.)
Akiyo-chan drove over two hours from Yokohama to meet us in Shirotai, she spent almost two hours getting into makeup and then proceded to pose while hanging on a V7-8 as if it were a ladder. As photographers we are all gifted our career by those who are willing to stand in front of our cameras but yesterday I was humbled watching Akiyo work to create our images. O-sama, domo arigato gozaimasu.
Other people who must be thanked are my wonderful makeup artist/wife and friend Nobu-san for allowing us into his gym to do makeup before heading into the mountains. Incidentally, Nobu is also part of this project.
One of my favorite memories from the day came at the end, when we returned to the gym to remove makeup. Our 9 year old climbing friend Nana was there and when she realized who was coming in you could see here through the door jumping up and down as if Christmas arrived early (that is probably not a culturally appropriate analogy but lets roll with it), truly adorable to watch her giddiness around her idol. Akiyo was lovely and gracious signing her chalk bag and posing for pictures, class act.
More shoots to come and Obe-san as soon as your new pad arrives your next! For now, here are some more images from our amazing day in Shirotai with Akiyo-chan.
Rising Sun
I finally secured a break in the Japanese rainy season to begin a project I’ve had on my board of “Ideas to Shoot” for a long time. The images are part of a campaign concept I pitched to an outdoor company whom I love. They are a small but prolific boutique shop that crafts fantastic custom work and so I wanted the individuality of the user experience to come across.
I wanted to share this photo of the model and my good friend Nobu san who was kind enough to sit for 4 hr in makeup and then let me drive him into the mountains looking this way. We almost got in an accident laughing at the reaction of two girls at a bus stop whom Nobu surprised. Thank you Nobu you are so gracious and amazing. Know I have a bottle of single malt with your name on it.
I am leaving in 9 days for an epic adventure into the backcountry of the Weminuche wilderness with my father and brother but when I return I am excited to finish this project with the other four other athletes here in Japan.
Mixing Business with Pleasure
One of the great benefits of this job is the time I spend outdoors, on adventures or simply in the woods. A few days ago my climbing partner, Eddie Gianelloni, and I headed to Mizugakiyama for a mixed trip of spring climbing and promotional work. Eddie is an ambassador for Mountain Khakis and needed to write a review of their new Equatorial Pant so we took off to make some images of him in action.
Here in Japan we have suffered through something close to eleven dreary, rain-soaked weekends in a row. As a direct result, the only climbing we have accomplished is on gym plastic, and it was sublime to escape into the mountains. For one brief day the glory of spring in Japan was on full display. We spent the entire day cleaning problems, crushing them and photographing Eddie in his new equatorials. A truly simple and wonderful day in the woods, on the rock and behind the camera. I have such gratitude for days like these.
The title of this post is "... with Pleasure" so don't think I did not lace up and put down some problems of my own. While unintended, I am also wearing a pair of Mountain Khakis in this picture. Unlike Eddie I am not sponsored by the company, but he is an effective ambassador and insisted I try the Alpine Utility Pant. Now, not to make a shameless plug but they are hands down my favorite shooting pants... soft, rugged, reinforced knees, double pockets and totally photographer proof. They will definitely be replacing my old 5.11's.
Why do you climb?
I rediscovered my love of climbing in Japan. I stopped going to the gym in lieu of heading into the mountains or to one of the climbing gyms close to home. Our time in Japan is not the windfall of shooting opportunity I still wake up daily hoping to take advantage of but rather a long slew of battles competing for time with my wife’s military/nursing schedule and life with two kids sans help. The crag and the gyms are sanctuaries for us to play as a family, release tension, hide from the falling dollar in a very expensive city or to simply meditate as we work a problem to the sound of the river running through the Mitake valley. The more we head to the wall the more amazing people we have befriended here in Japan.
My stock producer is a climbing friend, my daughter had her third birthday at our local bouldering gym, and I look forward to seeing some of the same faces at my night sessions where someone will inevitably be chanting "GANBA!" for my efforts. Surprisingly, this is the community we have become apart of in Japan and the one I will miss the most when we leave in a year.
To keep these faces and these memories I decided to start a portrait project paired with quotes on why they climb. Last week my good friend and climbing partner Eddie packed up the car with the gear and my kids and headed to Rock Master Yuji Hirayama’s BaseCamp gym for the first day of shooting. What followed was a great start to a project I don’t even fully have mapped out in my mind. From the World Champion himself to little girls my daughter climbs with it was an amazing day to get everyone chalked up and in front of the lens. I have several unfinished ideas where I want to go from here but thought I would share some images here and take suggestions.