like any budding photographer you know I
was of course I got National Geographic
magazine that’s that’s sort of the
standard in photography and I remember
when this issue came into mail because
it was a story called storming the tower
and I you know I read the story and it
was about four guys from Wyoming that
went to Pakistan and they climbed this
tower called the nameless tower and it
was an epic adventure it was like two
months and they kept getting like the
weather was keeping them from completing
this objective and there was like war
and Pakistan and they were having to
like argue with the government because
their visa was way up and they just like
pounded it get there was all these
obstacles against all odds extremely
difficult when they did the route and I
remember reading it and being like that
is a serious adventure like that’s like
that’s incredible well in Colorado it
wasn’t uncommon to see people rock
climbing at different places and I had a
couple friends that did it so I called
up a buddy mine ISM was Ty and I told
him about the story that I’d read and I
asked him if he would take me out and he
did so we went out climbing and for the
next few years I just I fell in love
right away and I got really into it and
this now became this new reason to go on
little weekend adventures right find a
new climbing area and go go go with
greeting new people and it was a new
community of people as well well in 2003
September of 2003 I took a really bad
fall I fell about thirty five feet of
the way a limb which is hive and I
landed on my side which is like a
terrible place to land right and I broke
my neck and I broke my pelvic bone I
fractured my kidney in my liver I
completely collapsed my right lung ribs
I spent six days in ICU and it was a
pretty serious accident and I swore off
climbing right it didn’t take much I
suspect that was enough I was like okay
and in my in the defense of rock
climbing I was climbing very recklessly
I was placing gear poorly and when I
fell it didn’t hold because I was
rushing and I was overconfident well I
was freelancing for a magazine outside
of my job at hewlett-packard with the
magazine called Wyoming homes and living
I had a friend that worked there and I
would get like two or three little
assignments from them a year and about
one of four months after the accident
after I’d kind of healed up I got a
phone call from one of the editors and
they said we
perfect story for you we want you to go
to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and we want
you to go climb the tower with this guy
Frank Sanders and you’ll stay at his
Lodge and it’ll be a travel piece which
we’ll get we know you like to rock climb
so we thought we thought of you right
away
so I told him what had happened I said
well you know I recently had a bad
accident but I wanted the assignment
right I wanted the job and I wanted to
be a photographer and this was my these
were little vignettes in to what it was
like to be a photographer so I said well
I’ll tell you what can I get Frank’s
number let me just call him and I’ll see
what this is all about like what this
jobs like and so I called Frank up and
like a classic Wyoming guy told him my
story about falling and he’s like look
man you had a bad fall you got to get
back on the horse he’s like you know you
made mistakes you should come up here
this is going to help you you know you
need to overcome this and Frank I didn’t
realize that he’s a legendary rock
climber his fingerprints are all over
the planet like he’s done first ascents
everywhere and he’s really well known
for his devils tower climbing but I
didn’t know that at the time so he
convinced me to come up so I did and and
the way it worked was Frank took me took
three of us up the tower he led the
first pitch then I would come up behind
him and then I would photograph the
writer as she came up and she’d never
Rock climbed before he was taking us up
the easiest climb on the tower and she
didn’t have the right climbing go me she
had like a bicycle helmet on so it
looked kind of weird and they would try
and could go up I was like shooting him
and it was like butt shots you know and
so the pictures weren’t really that
great but I saw the potential is I
hadn’t looked at climbing released
through my camera up to that point so
when I got home I called up a friend of
mine I called my friend Brian he was the
best climber I knew and I said man I
want to go out and shoot some climbing
photos and I and I had an idea of what I
wanted to shoot I said there’s this
bridge just outside the town and
somebody’s bolted like river rocks to
The Bling
actual rocks with the bottom of this
bridge and he knew exactly what I was
talking about and so we went down and we
took a photo of it well he had just
gotten sponsored by a shoe company he
was pretty good climber and so of course
I printed him off like a 13 by 19 like
here you go man as he said hey can I
send this to the shoe company and I was
like yeah go right ahead here’s another
one for you if you’re sending that you
know it’s just
system on/off so he sends it out in like
a week later I get a phone call and he
said hey we just got this picture from
Brian a big picture that they said they
said we love it can we can we buy it for
a net and I was like yeah it’d be
amazing and I think they gave me like
300 bucks yes amazing right so I was
like we got to go out again you know and
so he yells at a spot he’ll watch
sponsorship as well so we went out and
we took some pictures and he sent them
off to these guys and they bought an ad
but they actually didn’t pay me they
sent me 30 watches as famous 30 watches
yeah make my dad still has a couple as a
classic I just gave them away like what
are you doing three watches whatever
school is like it printed you know and
I’ve seen the magazine’s was like this
is this is really cool and the success
rates amazing so Brian says to me he’s
like you gotta meet this guy Andy Rader
he’s like this dude’s a real rock
climber right and he really was he’s
living out of his truck he’s a classic
dirtbag like any climbing industry
they’re called dirt bags right people
that are just like they’re just they
don’t care what they have to do for work
they live out of the truck they climb
all the time and so Andy was one of
those guys and he’s amazing so I went
out with Andy and we shot one day and
you know it’s ten pictures I’m sure I
gave him a 13 by 13 he said he sent the
digital scans I had to a magazine and I
got a phone call and they bought a cover
and I was just blown away I was like
this is amazing I can’t believe like
this is going really well well the two
months after I mean Andy and I stayed in
touch we were really excited about the
whole cover thing and about two months
later he called me and he said hey man
I’m going to Southwest Utah did this
amazing crack it’s a place people have
kind of forgotten about it’s called the
Cathedral and it’s this gigantic
amphitheater you got to take a week off
work calm down we’ll shoot photos it’ll
be a lot of fun so I was like I’m in so
I showed up he sees big gigantic arch
and up to this point the climbing photos
of a shooting there I wasn’t on a rope I
was finding places I could hike up to a
little clever ways like leaning over
rock whatever I had to do though it was
still kind of traumatized from the
accident so I show up and there’s this
rope hanging down the center of the
amphitheater and he’s like yeah man here
it is and I hung that rope for you it
almost this like Oh
and he’s like abuse like I’ve got these
little robust centers show you how to
use them you can climb up you can go up
the rope you’ll be right where the
action is well I come this far you know
it’s like a 10-hour Drive and I wanted
the photos right and it did look
incredible and I knew you got to be
where the shots are right and so I just
sort of like sacked up and one up and
got in position and he was right right
where he needed to be and it was
incredible watching and he just such an
amazing look at these holds and steep
climbing and and so for the better part
like for seven days we shot pictures and
I just bought my first digital camera at
that point so at the end of the day we
were downloading him and looking at him
and getting excited and so this picture
here on the left it’s actually the same
move on the right we shot this picture
on the left one day and that night we’re
looking at it and he’s like what if you
would hire we started formulating plans
and it was like wow this is kind of the
power of digital and seeing things right
away and so we went and we had this
fantastic week shooting at this really
really incredible place so at the end of
it I left Andy with a bunch of low res
files and he sent him out to his
sponsors into magazines and I’ve got
another cover story and I sold on that
and I was just like this is amazing and
so through Andy I started meeting other
people and I this domino effect happened
this is all in 2004 and throughout the
rest of 2004 I started meeting new
people because Colorado is full of rock
climbers and I started getting into this
really fun community I started meeting
people and they had sponsors they were
really good and I started submitting
pictures and things started getting
published and they’re just so there’s so
many great characters and this is my
friend Chuck I met Chuck we went in shot
and they had connections at these
magazines I was starting to get them but
they were kind of like slightly known
entities and throughout that whole year
is going out and shooting and sending
stuff in it was great so at the end of
the year it was actually around November
of 2004 I get a phone call from my boss
and he said you know we’re all getting
laid off basically the entire team and
he explained that we’re all going to get
a severance package and it was kind of a
hard thing I remember there was people
you know they had much more
responsibilities than me with ik
families and it was like tough phone
call but he mentioned severance back you
know look how much it
they explained it was like four months
pay or something and if you sign
something they give you a little extra
rounds like yeah I’m in it so the cool
thing about hewlett-packard is a great
place to work I really enjoyed it but
all of a sudden I just had this really
great year and I was having so much fun
I said this is my opportunity I’m going
to take this money now I’m going to make
it work I had just bought a house
probably five months before so I had
responsibilities in my life and so I
looked at the money it’s the first time
I looked at money I was like this is
time and I did the math and I said it
was maybe like $20,000 or something I
know you know I just looked at it as a
road map I’ve got this much time I got
to pay my bills
and I got in my car and I was like I’m
going wherever the climbers are so in
the wintertime you know January 1st was
when I got you know that was the
official date we got two months notice
and then I left so January 1 I went to
Southwest you talk if that’s where
everybody’s going and I moved in with
this guy okay this is Joe Haines we call
them Kentucky Joe and he and his wife
they property managed like an apartment
complex and so a lot of climbers would
just say there this was in Mesquite
Nevada and it’s really slow time of year
in Mesquite Nevada in the wintertime so
they had all these extra rooms and they
would just let us stay for free and it
was like free internet free place to
stay so like all the dirtbags would just
like go stick it’s like he chose and he
was as crazy as he looked right like he
would like hunt squirrels and and he
would can stew and he’d bring this
through to the crag and by he was the
crazy person but he was salt of the
earth man he had great stories and you
either loved him or hated him right he
was either a total pariah or he was like
I like this guy and I liked him I
connected with Joe because he’s a little
crazy and I had knew a lot of crazy
people growing up and so with all the
dirt bags in one area it was so much fun
right we’re all more or less unemployed
and I was lucky I got an assignment
pretty quickly my first assignment up to
this point everything I was shooting was
on spec which means I would shoot it
send it in hope for the best
well I got a phone call from climbing
magazine and they said we want to do a
profile on Andy Rader so this is Andy
here so for like a month we went on
every day and we shot pictures and one
day we had like a really bad like it was
like three days of bad weather
chillie and during that time I said we
should go out and shoot a portrait
because all the skateboard magazines I
grew up reading there was always like a
portrait of the guy we should try and do
that for climbing magazine so he went
out to the desert where there’s all this
like junk and garbage we started
shooting these like silly portraits
right we started like coming up with all
these different scenarios and like
shooting shooting all these weird things
and finding stuff and it was we were
just like laughing taking these pictures
and these pictures become quite
important to me but I’ll get to that in
a minute so we had all this fun shooting
them right and sent you know sending the
ones that worked and we ran the story
and everything and it was great and I
kept meeting new people that were down
in the area and I just started shooting
with them and sending pictures in all
the time and for that whole year 2005 it
was like 2004 but this time I was off
the leash and I had these like financial
whips kind of cracking behind me because
I had this mortgage that I was not even
at the house anymore but I was just like
you know I had to make it work hustling
and it was one of the most fun carefree
years of my life going around with
climbers to places I’ve never been
crag to crag to crag stories camping so
much fun best year of my life maybe so
at the end of 2005 things had done well
and I said in my heart of hearts I was
like I just I got to do whatever I can
to make this happen
keep going so I had a friend his name’s
Dave black he’s a incredible
photographer kind of a legend and he he
lived in Colorado Springs and and I was
lucky enough to befriend Dave in 2005
and he was always someone I could lean
on for advice and he called me at the
beginning of 2006 and he said hey I just
got off the phone with a friend of mine
at the New York Times and he has a story
he wants to do in you ray Colorado it’s
about ice climbing and I recommended you
you know do you want to do the job and I
was like man absolutely paid work like
yes he’s like cool we’ll expect the call
man the guy’s name is Brad Smith so
about an hour later Pete on my little
flip phone it says that the caller ID
says 1 1 1 1 1 it’s all one’s was really
weird like this is either collection
agency or Brad I’m taking it you know as
I took the call and it’s Brad Smith New
York Times I was it go and I said hey
how’s it going Brad and he said I just
got the phone with Dave and me
tell me that you were interested in
doing this story I looked at your
website and luckily I had a website way
back then because that’s what I did for
Hewlett Packard so it’s a little ahead
of the curve I had a little online
portfolio so I looked at your website
and I liked your work I see a lot of
climbing photos out there I want to do a
nice climbing story do you shoot ice
climbing and I was like yeah no of
course as you guys got no problem of
course and he’s like all right cool man
and dave says you’re good and he said
okay so the story is you are a Colorado
it’s a small mountain town and it’s a
mountain that doesn’t have a ski resort
but what they do have is they have this
box canyon that winds through the
through the town and they’ve got hoses
that they’ve lined along the entire top
of it and they spray water down at night
and it builds up ice formations and it’s
the only ice park like it in the planet
and what I’m interested in is that this
little ice park brings in about five
million dollars of additional revenue to
the town every winter so it’s a really
great economic stimulus so I think
there’s a really cool story there and
I’m like cool so he sent me a bunch of
pictures he’s you know things he wanted
to see and he said the week I’m going to
send you down at the very end of it they
do a video like an international
climbing competition so there’ll be a
lot of people there to take pictures of
but I’m not really interested in the
competition I’m more interested in the
economics of this place but you’ll have
plenty of people to work with them like
great I’m on my way so I went down and
you know and as soon as I showed up it
was really a special place I was kind of
blown away so one of the pictures Bryden
sent was like I want you to go down I
want you to shoot straight up I want to
see what it looks like looking out of
the canyon so I get down there I know
how to rappel I get down I like I have
no crampons on and I’m like slipping
around the ocean like whoo it was crazy
they get down to the bottom and thank
God I had a helmet as I just had
befriended some stranger who was getting
ready to go down and asked him if I
could shoot his photo and as soon as he
starts rappelling tonight top of me he
knocks like all this ice on I get hit in
the neck and I’m just like oh my god
this is definitely not like rock
climbing and I’m slipping around I’m
doing it so I take the pictures and at
the end of the day I had to transmit all
my pictures to Brad and I’d never worked
for a newspaper in my life right and at
the end of the day I ascended my SELEX
and then he’s going to call and give me
feedback
so the end of the day one one on and run
Brad Smith hey man love the pictures
this worked tomorrow I want I want to
see what people had to commute how did
they get through the ice parks I’d go
spend the day clock on clock shooting
the way people kind of move around
walking across ladders send the pictures
in get a phone call that night get my
marching orders for the next day alright
I want you to shoot details it’s kind of
a barbaric sport I want to see what it
looks like when they kick the ice and
hit the ice ax DX no problem
super engaged editor I’ve never had an
experience like this and so I’m going
and getting in the shots get the phone
call that night all the ones get my note
marching orders for the next day and so
this is the final day this is on Friday
so I go out and said I want big
landscape shots of climbers I just want
to see them alone on these blue curtains
of ice so I go out in the whole day
that’s what I focus on
so I transfer my pictures and then that
night the last day of the shoot calls me
up ones come in what’s up Brad at this
point we’re like pretty good friends man
he says hey man just got the shots
really happy with the photos he did a
really good job this week and I got some
good news so we’re going to my my editor
said we can run a full color section in
the you know the whole sports section to
give you two pages of color
he’s like which is big deal we don’t do
a lot of color in the paper am i cool
and he said and I’ve got even better
news we’re going to run one of the
pictures on the front page and I didn’t
really realize the gravity of this I was
like that’s great man yeah I’m so glad
you like the photos and I’d love to do a
good job with you because I buy I need
to work man I said he’s like he’s like
he’s like yeah no totally it was such a
good job in a and yeah you know
congratulations man front page and I was
like ya know I’m super excited man
that’s great and I got all kinds of
ideas so like I don’t know like his
emailing to you and so for the third
time he’s like it’s like yeah I keep
getting the front page man and so now
I’m like well he’s kind of making a big
deal about this like I should show
something gratitude and I was like yeah
just man I’m so honored you know it’s
fantastic and he’s laughing on the other
under the line right this is like New
Yorker guy and you clearly like look at
this a greenhorn this guy doesn’t know
what he’s doing and so he says to me he
says Keith you know what the the
circulation of the New York Times is
internationally
and I said man Brad I’ll be honest you
know I I’ve seen it in Starbucks and
Barnes and Noble and I and I’m sure you
can get it anywhere in New York but I
have no idea and he’s laughing I’m sure
I’m on speakerphone at this point and
he’s laughing and he tells me the number
and it was huge at 50 million gigantic
internationally and I’m like oh my god
that’s crazy and so he’s like and he
says man great job you should go get a
drink on me you know it bill me for it
and he saw and also I want you to stay
on tomorrow and give me an extra day my
fantastic so I go over and is the first
time I get to hire an assistant I
brought like a friend of mine so I’ve
read over to my friend and I told him
the good news of course pretending like
I knew that that was good goodbye front
page itself until we Wed we had a drink
in the next day we went out we shot like
the pick-up day and I remember walking
into the park and people had the New
York Times were looking at it talking
about it is your eyes isn’t here
who knows dude you shot it you know that
into Who am I going to tell like I
didn’t even know it was like New York
Times some newspaper job I don’t know
what I’m doing and I’ll make it like why
they even get it here like New York size
– so we finish up the shoe and it was
amazing right so like a week later I get
a phone call from this agency in
Breckenridge Colorado and they said hey
kid we saw your photos in the New York
Times we really love them it’s a do you
shoot snowboarding and I was like yeah
of course I should come boarding like so
what do you need they said well we’re
doing an advertorial which is a word I’d
never heard of and he said we’re going
to have the art director call you will
call she’ll call you in an hour and I
was like great so I get a phone call or
an hour from the Skrill Leslie and she
says hey I’m really excited to work with
you I love you you know I looked at your
website I saw the pictures that you shot
for the New York Times and she said the
story we’re doing she’s like it’s an
advertorial which means that we’re
getting a bunch of products from
different companies and we’re going to
go out we’re going to shoot kind of like
a people getting ready to go
snowboarding and they’re going to be
carrying all this equipment with them
and walking around with it and it’s
going to run in numerous magazines kind
of like an ad but it reads like a story
I was like great she’s like do you have
any
or at work and all I had was like the
crazy portraits or like the guys throw
on the bike and the fake weight off and
other stuff but I was like yeah I do
Jesus I’ll just send it over I just want
to see it like so I emailed her that’s
all I had so she calls back in like 20
minutes and she’s just dying laughing
right she she’s just like I can’t
believe you sent that you know she’s she
sided in a way like I was kind of
holding back on like my really good
portrait and ice was a laugh i centered
that but I was like but I got the job
you know so we went out and for life for
three days we just shot people like
getting ready to go have fun and we
never went and had fun we just basically
shuts gentled and it was all new to me
when we did this this story and it
turned out great and it was a new
connection and all of sudden I had this
new client that was also local which was
great so about two weeks later I get a
phone call from this company in Canada
and they said hey we saw you in here
time story time but Canada you know they
said we’ve got a catalog coming up we
know you shoot rock-climbing and we got
we got to shoot a lot of clothing as
well you know do you shoot catalog some
scores of like of course they shoot
catalogs like yeah like you know and
they asked me what my rate was I’d know
what that meant you know and I but I had
read somewhere that if someone else’s
rate is you always ask it what’s your
budget you know you put you you
basically just like deflect the question
so I knew poorly negotiated some kind of
rate and I drove down to Las Vegas and
we we shot this catalog and again I
found myself taking pictures of people
getting ready to go have fun you know
but we never really got to have the fun
but it was a whole new experience so a
couple months after that my friend Chuck
freiburger who I talked about earlier he
was a budding filmmaker and he called me
up and he said hey man I’m I’m going to
South Africa this this summer and I want
to make a film I’m gonna go for ten
weeks and I want you to come along as
the photographer and I’ve already talked
to a couple magazines I’ve got a bunch
of sponsors on board people want photos
and you want to come I’m just like oh my
god of course I want to come yeah I have
to drive here if one which is amazing so
that’s all I’m doing these days and I’ve
never been in South Africa so may comes
along we
like I packed everything I had I was
still shooting film cameras as well as
the digital camera overloaded the car
and off we went to South Africa and one
of the first things we did was as we
were you know where we were staying we
kept seeing advertisements for this like
Safari that was in the area like we’re
in Africa but we have to go on Safari
so we drove down I think it was
collective ocean box safari camp and so
we went down and it was really hacky it
felt kind of weird there was like fences
everywhere and it looked more like
acreage and there was animals roaming
around and we went into the entrance and
we paid like our $10 or whatever and the
first thing the guy says was he’s like
hey you know what I have a young lion if
you guys because we were telling them
outside of you were to be their exec if
you want to go into the pen you can pet
her and I’m the birds got my glasses
we’re sure we want to do that like yes
oh wait let me go back as this video
just plays and so this is the video of
what happened in Daniel Keith just got
clawed at it’s like a big kitty cat
that’s claws that we get
income so of course this is a Shah right
before the the animal jumped on me but
the worst part about all my friends is
laughing right like a lion discomfort on
me and I was laughing too if you really
listen to the clip that’s my reaction to
death was like laughter right but for
anyway the trip started right and it was
it was the most fun ten weeks
oh so fun carefree a motivated group
every day someone was out doing some
really cool rock climb and I got to just
go along and take pictures and it didn’t
matter what time of day there’s a full
moon tomorrow night we should go out it
was just motivation motivation my friend
auntie Rae there was all the people I’ve
been hanging out with for like the
previous year and a half and and it was
just so much fun and I got to shoot
landscapes every morning I would get up
early and South Africa to this day it’s
probably my favorite country I
absolutely love it it’s incredible place
and I fell in love with bird photography
there’s amazing animals down there and
even the animals like try to like break
into your cards oh it’s a crazy place
right and at the end of the trip we
actually did this great white shark
breaching trip and this shark right here
it’s actually you can see there’s a
little fishing line here they would
float like a decoy sail behind the boat
early in the morning and then once the
sharks kind of wake up it’s really
basically basically dependent on seals
there’s an island called Seal Island
that’s like 30,000 seals and once the
Sun comes up they go out to the sea to
basically eat and we saw like this
happened six times with real seals this
right here is this the decoys it was an
amazing experience Africa is so cool so
it was a trip that left a real
impression of my life and I started
thinking like I want to do big
expeditions I want to see more of the
world like there’s just so much out
there to see about four years ago
a drink with a friend of mine Lukas
Gilman and he said this while we’re
talking he said man friendships with
athletes is to the red carpet to seeing
the world and it’s really true
and I would I would even extend that and
just say your friendships in general
even with the people you work with the
magazine side and the advertising side
all of it these friendships they because
they become your best friends right and
especially with the athletes that you’re
travelling with because you know who
better to travel the world with than the
people you love the most because things
happen are getting lost in a country
you’ve never been in before and you know
climbing a big mountain and and going on
a cool expedition with cool people you
know these are experiences you want to
do with people you love it’s such a fun
life of exploration and it’s all made
only better with people that are equally
passionate about doing it as well and so
as the years rolled on I continued to
work heavily like in the editorial world
of the different climbing magazines and
go see different places and it was so
much fun and the goofy portraits I
started out shooting on early on turned
into a column for for rock and ice
magazine which is a favorite climbing
magazine and for four years I shot just
Illustrated portraits of the different
you know colorful people in the climbing
community and got to meet so many fun
people and hear their stories in 2010
something happened in photography that
really changed things and it was all of
a sudden you could do video and you’re
in your still camera and it sent ripples
through the photography community in a
lot of ways because there was in a lot
of ways nervousness because there were
people writing like on online blogs from
different places that like video is
going to replace photography in the
future it’ll just be directors and
people will pull still frames when they
need photos and I’m reading all this
like wow this is crazy I need to like
learn how to shoot video and it was all
like is all nonsense because they’re two
completely different things which I’ll
show here in just a second but it
completely jumped on the bandwagon and I
quickly fell in love shooting video is a
lot of fun it’s a new way to tell a
story it’s a completely different
creative process and that’s the one
thing I found out within probably the
first like a couple months of playing
with it when you’re shooting a photo a
photo is about like an isolated moment
something that when things come together
something that’s interesting like we’ve
all seen pictures where like somebody’s
eyes are they blunt they’re blinking
their eyes or something out there making
a stupid face and you just like it’s a
bad photo but if something looks good
that you’re like that’s a fine photo
right it’s the same in video you want to
capture a sequence of events in
photography you want to capture a moment
right of action so this picture here
this isn’t the best surfing photo but
it’s at least interesting to look at
right you got this guy he’s grabbing his
surfboard he’s kind of making this car
move so when I shot this photo I was
also rolling video on a tripod next to
me now watch the video clip
it’s pretty uneventful right the waves
are there waves aren’t that good
basically what this guy was doing it was
we’re doing this ad shoot and he was
getting towed in and he was doing like
tricks off of these waves he was meant
to just like blast and do tricks well he
came in a little late so he just kind of
carved out of it but I shot a photo at
the same time because I’m just rolling
on like a locked-off video tripod so
when you see it coupled with the photo
again the video clip is nothing but
there’s still like a little moment in
there and that’s a photography is all
about right finding that moment and
video is all about finding a sequence
that makes sense a clip that you can cut
to until a better narrative story with
later so it was good these good lessons
to learn early on when I got really in
the video it became the new editorial
you know instead of going out and
shooting a story for a climbing magazine
was like let’s go make a film and it
slowly learned it sort of turned into
doing like bigger expeditions
[Music]
was of course I got National Geographic
magazine that’s that’s sort of the
standard in photography and I remember
when this issue came into mail because
it was a story called storming the tower
and I you know I read the story and it
was about four guys from Wyoming that
went to Pakistan and they climbed this
tower called the nameless tower and it
was an epic adventure it was like two
months and they kept getting like the
weather was keeping them from completing
this objective and there was like war
and Pakistan and they were having to
like argue with the government because
their visa was way up and they just like
pounded it get there was all these
obstacles against all odds extremely
difficult when they did the route and I
remember reading it and being like that
is a serious adventure like that’s like
that’s incredible well in Colorado it
wasn’t uncommon to see people rock
climbing at different places and I had a
couple friends that did it so I called
up a buddy mine ISM was Ty and I told
him about the story that I’d read and I
asked him if he would take me out and he
did so we went out climbing and for the
next few years I just I fell in love
right away and I got really into it and
this now became this new reason to go on
little weekend adventures right find a
new climbing area and go go go with
greeting new people and it was a new
community of people as well well in 2003
September of 2003 I took a really bad
fall I fell about thirty five feet of
the way a limb which is hive and I
landed on my side which is like a
terrible place to land right and I broke
my neck and I broke my pelvic bone I
fractured my kidney in my liver I
completely collapsed my right lung ribs
I spent six days in ICU and it was a
pretty serious accident and I swore off
climbing right it didn’t take much I
suspect that was enough I was like okay
and in my in the defense of rock
climbing I was climbing very recklessly
I was placing gear poorly and when I
fell it didn’t hold because I was
rushing and I was overconfident well I
was freelancing for a magazine outside
of my job at hewlett-packard with the
magazine called Wyoming homes and living
I had a friend that worked there and I
would get like two or three little
assignments from them a year and about
one of four months after the accident
after I’d kind of healed up I got a
phone call from one of the editors and
they said we
perfect story for you we want you to go
to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and we want
you to go climb the tower with this guy
Frank Sanders and you’ll stay at his
Lodge and it’ll be a travel piece which
we’ll get we know you like to rock climb
so we thought we thought of you right
away
so I told him what had happened I said
well you know I recently had a bad
accident but I wanted the assignment
right I wanted the job and I wanted to
be a photographer and this was my these
were little vignettes in to what it was
like to be a photographer so I said well
I’ll tell you what can I get Frank’s
number let me just call him and I’ll see
what this is all about like what this
jobs like and so I called Frank up and
like a classic Wyoming guy told him my
story about falling and he’s like look
man you had a bad fall you got to get
back on the horse he’s like you know you
made mistakes you should come up here
this is going to help you you know you
need to overcome this and Frank I didn’t
realize that he’s a legendary rock
climber his fingerprints are all over
the planet like he’s done first ascents
everywhere and he’s really well known
for his devils tower climbing but I
didn’t know that at the time so he
convinced me to come up so I did and and
the way it worked was Frank took me took
three of us up the tower he led the
first pitch then I would come up behind
him and then I would photograph the
writer as she came up and she’d never
Rock climbed before he was taking us up
the easiest climb on the tower and she
didn’t have the right climbing go me she
had like a bicycle helmet on so it
looked kind of weird and they would try
and could go up I was like shooting him
and it was like butt shots you know and
so the pictures weren’t really that
great but I saw the potential is I
hadn’t looked at climbing released
through my camera up to that point so
when I got home I called up a friend of
mine I called my friend Brian he was the
best climber I knew and I said man I
want to go out and shoot some climbing
photos and I and I had an idea of what I
wanted to shoot I said there’s this
bridge just outside the town and
somebody’s bolted like river rocks to
The Bling
actual rocks with the bottom of this
bridge and he knew exactly what I was
talking about and so we went down and we
took a photo of it well he had just
gotten sponsored by a shoe company he
was pretty good climber and so of course
I printed him off like a 13 by 19 like
here you go man as he said hey can I
send this to the shoe company and I was
like yeah go right ahead here’s another
one for you if you’re sending that you
know it’s just
system on/off so he sends it out in like
a week later I get a phone call and he
said hey we just got this picture from
Brian a big picture that they said they
said we love it can we can we buy it for
a net and I was like yeah it’d be
amazing and I think they gave me like
300 bucks yes amazing right so I was
like we got to go out again you know and
so he yells at a spot he’ll watch
sponsorship as well so we went out and
we took some pictures and he sent them
off to these guys and they bought an ad
but they actually didn’t pay me they
sent me 30 watches as famous 30 watches
yeah make my dad still has a couple as a
classic I just gave them away like what
are you doing three watches whatever
school is like it printed you know and
I’ve seen the magazine’s was like this
is this is really cool and the success
rates amazing so Brian says to me he’s
like you gotta meet this guy Andy Rader
he’s like this dude’s a real rock
climber right and he really was he’s
living out of his truck he’s a classic
dirtbag like any climbing industry
they’re called dirt bags right people
that are just like they’re just they
don’t care what they have to do for work
they live out of the truck they climb
all the time and so Andy was one of
those guys and he’s amazing so I went
out with Andy and we shot one day and
you know it’s ten pictures I’m sure I
gave him a 13 by 13 he said he sent the
digital scans I had to a magazine and I
got a phone call and they bought a cover
and I was just blown away I was like
this is amazing I can’t believe like
this is going really well well the two
months after I mean Andy and I stayed in
touch we were really excited about the
whole cover thing and about two months
later he called me and he said hey man
I’m going to Southwest Utah did this
amazing crack it’s a place people have
kind of forgotten about it’s called the
Cathedral and it’s this gigantic
amphitheater you got to take a week off
work calm down we’ll shoot photos it’ll
be a lot of fun so I was like I’m in so
I showed up he sees big gigantic arch
and up to this point the climbing photos
of a shooting there I wasn’t on a rope I
was finding places I could hike up to a
little clever ways like leaning over
rock whatever I had to do though it was
still kind of traumatized from the
accident so I show up and there’s this
rope hanging down the center of the
amphitheater and he’s like yeah man here
it is and I hung that rope for you it
almost this like Oh
and he’s like abuse like I’ve got these
little robust centers show you how to
use them you can climb up you can go up
the rope you’ll be right where the
action is well I come this far you know
it’s like a 10-hour Drive and I wanted
the photos right and it did look
incredible and I knew you got to be
where the shots are right and so I just
sort of like sacked up and one up and
got in position and he was right right
where he needed to be and it was
incredible watching and he just such an
amazing look at these holds and steep
climbing and and so for the better part
like for seven days we shot pictures and
I just bought my first digital camera at
that point so at the end of the day we
were downloading him and looking at him
and getting excited and so this picture
here on the left it’s actually the same
move on the right we shot this picture
on the left one day and that night we’re
looking at it and he’s like what if you
would hire we started formulating plans
and it was like wow this is kind of the
power of digital and seeing things right
away and so we went and we had this
fantastic week shooting at this really
really incredible place so at the end of
it I left Andy with a bunch of low res
files and he sent him out to his
sponsors into magazines and I’ve got
another cover story and I sold on that
and I was just like this is amazing and
so through Andy I started meeting other
people and I this domino effect happened
this is all in 2004 and throughout the
rest of 2004 I started meeting new
people because Colorado is full of rock
climbers and I started getting into this
really fun community I started meeting
people and they had sponsors they were
really good and I started submitting
pictures and things started getting
published and they’re just so there’s so
many great characters and this is my
friend Chuck I met Chuck we went in shot
and they had connections at these
magazines I was starting to get them but
they were kind of like slightly known
entities and throughout that whole year
is going out and shooting and sending
stuff in it was great so at the end of
the year it was actually around November
of 2004 I get a phone call from my boss
and he said you know we’re all getting
laid off basically the entire team and
he explained that we’re all going to get
a severance package and it was kind of a
hard thing I remember there was people
you know they had much more
responsibilities than me with ik
families and it was like tough phone
call but he mentioned severance back you
know look how much it
they explained it was like four months
pay or something and if you sign
something they give you a little extra
rounds like yeah I’m in it so the cool
thing about hewlett-packard is a great
place to work I really enjoyed it but
all of a sudden I just had this really
great year and I was having so much fun
I said this is my opportunity I’m going
to take this money now I’m going to make
it work I had just bought a house
probably five months before so I had
responsibilities in my life and so I
looked at the money it’s the first time
I looked at money I was like this is
time and I did the math and I said it
was maybe like $20,000 or something I
know you know I just looked at it as a
road map I’ve got this much time I got
to pay my bills
and I got in my car and I was like I’m
going wherever the climbers are so in
the wintertime you know January 1st was
when I got you know that was the
official date we got two months notice
and then I left so January 1 I went to
Southwest you talk if that’s where
everybody’s going and I moved in with
this guy okay this is Joe Haines we call
them Kentucky Joe and he and his wife
they property managed like an apartment
complex and so a lot of climbers would
just say there this was in Mesquite
Nevada and it’s really slow time of year
in Mesquite Nevada in the wintertime so
they had all these extra rooms and they
would just let us stay for free and it
was like free internet free place to
stay so like all the dirtbags would just
like go stick it’s like he chose and he
was as crazy as he looked right like he
would like hunt squirrels and and he
would can stew and he’d bring this
through to the crag and by he was the
crazy person but he was salt of the
earth man he had great stories and you
either loved him or hated him right he
was either a total pariah or he was like
I like this guy and I liked him I
connected with Joe because he’s a little
crazy and I had knew a lot of crazy
people growing up and so with all the
dirt bags in one area it was so much fun
right we’re all more or less unemployed
and I was lucky I got an assignment
pretty quickly my first assignment up to
this point everything I was shooting was
on spec which means I would shoot it
send it in hope for the best
well I got a phone call from climbing
magazine and they said we want to do a
profile on Andy Rader so this is Andy
here so for like a month we went on
every day and we shot pictures and one
day we had like a really bad like it was
like three days of bad weather
chillie and during that time I said we
should go out and shoot a portrait
because all the skateboard magazines I
grew up reading there was always like a
portrait of the guy we should try and do
that for climbing magazine so he went
out to the desert where there’s all this
like junk and garbage we started
shooting these like silly portraits
right we started like coming up with all
these different scenarios and like
shooting shooting all these weird things
and finding stuff and it was we were
just like laughing taking these pictures
and these pictures become quite
important to me but I’ll get to that in
a minute so we had all this fun shooting
them right and sent you know sending the
ones that worked and we ran the story
and everything and it was great and I
kept meeting new people that were down
in the area and I just started shooting
with them and sending pictures in all
the time and for that whole year 2005 it
was like 2004 but this time I was off
the leash and I had these like financial
whips kind of cracking behind me because
I had this mortgage that I was not even
at the house anymore but I was just like
you know I had to make it work hustling
and it was one of the most fun carefree
years of my life going around with
climbers to places I’ve never been
crag to crag to crag stories camping so
much fun best year of my life maybe so
at the end of 2005 things had done well
and I said in my heart of hearts I was
like I just I got to do whatever I can
to make this happen
keep going so I had a friend his name’s
Dave black he’s a incredible
photographer kind of a legend and he he
lived in Colorado Springs and and I was
lucky enough to befriend Dave in 2005
and he was always someone I could lean
on for advice and he called me at the
beginning of 2006 and he said hey I just
got off the phone with a friend of mine
at the New York Times and he has a story
he wants to do in you ray Colorado it’s
about ice climbing and I recommended you
you know do you want to do the job and I
was like man absolutely paid work like
yes he’s like cool we’ll expect the call
man the guy’s name is Brad Smith so
about an hour later Pete on my little
flip phone it says that the caller ID
says 1 1 1 1 1 it’s all one’s was really
weird like this is either collection
agency or Brad I’m taking it you know as
I took the call and it’s Brad Smith New
York Times I was it go and I said hey
how’s it going Brad and he said I just
got the phone with Dave and me
tell me that you were interested in
doing this story I looked at your
website and luckily I had a website way
back then because that’s what I did for
Hewlett Packard so it’s a little ahead
of the curve I had a little online
portfolio so I looked at your website
and I liked your work I see a lot of
climbing photos out there I want to do a
nice climbing story do you shoot ice
climbing and I was like yeah no of
course as you guys got no problem of
course and he’s like all right cool man
and dave says you’re good and he said
okay so the story is you are a Colorado
it’s a small mountain town and it’s a
mountain that doesn’t have a ski resort
but what they do have is they have this
box canyon that winds through the
through the town and they’ve got hoses
that they’ve lined along the entire top
of it and they spray water down at night
and it builds up ice formations and it’s
the only ice park like it in the planet
and what I’m interested in is that this
little ice park brings in about five
million dollars of additional revenue to
the town every winter so it’s a really
great economic stimulus so I think
there’s a really cool story there and
I’m like cool so he sent me a bunch of
pictures he’s you know things he wanted
to see and he said the week I’m going to
send you down at the very end of it they
do a video like an international
climbing competition so there’ll be a
lot of people there to take pictures of
but I’m not really interested in the
competition I’m more interested in the
economics of this place but you’ll have
plenty of people to work with them like
great I’m on my way so I went down and
you know and as soon as I showed up it
was really a special place I was kind of
blown away so one of the pictures Bryden
sent was like I want you to go down I
want you to shoot straight up I want to
see what it looks like looking out of
the canyon so I get down there I know
how to rappel I get down I like I have
no crampons on and I’m like slipping
around the ocean like whoo it was crazy
they get down to the bottom and thank
God I had a helmet as I just had
befriended some stranger who was getting
ready to go down and asked him if I
could shoot his photo and as soon as he
starts rappelling tonight top of me he
knocks like all this ice on I get hit in
the neck and I’m just like oh my god
this is definitely not like rock
climbing and I’m slipping around I’m
doing it so I take the pictures and at
the end of the day I had to transmit all
my pictures to Brad and I’d never worked
for a newspaper in my life right and at
the end of the day I ascended my SELEX
and then he’s going to call and give me
feedback
so the end of the day one one on and run
Brad Smith hey man love the pictures
this worked tomorrow I want I want to
see what people had to commute how did
they get through the ice parks I’d go
spend the day clock on clock shooting
the way people kind of move around
walking across ladders send the pictures
in get a phone call that night get my
marching orders for the next day alright
I want you to shoot details it’s kind of
a barbaric sport I want to see what it
looks like when they kick the ice and
hit the ice ax DX no problem
super engaged editor I’ve never had an
experience like this and so I’m going
and getting in the shots get the phone
call that night all the ones get my note
marching orders for the next day and so
this is the final day this is on Friday
so I go out and said I want big
landscape shots of climbers I just want
to see them alone on these blue curtains
of ice so I go out in the whole day
that’s what I focus on
so I transfer my pictures and then that
night the last day of the shoot calls me
up ones come in what’s up Brad at this
point we’re like pretty good friends man
he says hey man just got the shots
really happy with the photos he did a
really good job this week and I got some
good news so we’re going to my my editor
said we can run a full color section in
the you know the whole sports section to
give you two pages of color
he’s like which is big deal we don’t do
a lot of color in the paper am i cool
and he said and I’ve got even better
news we’re going to run one of the
pictures on the front page and I didn’t
really realize the gravity of this I was
like that’s great man yeah I’m so glad
you like the photos and I’d love to do a
good job with you because I buy I need
to work man I said he’s like he’s like
he’s like yeah no totally it was such a
good job in a and yeah you know
congratulations man front page and I was
like ya know I’m super excited man
that’s great and I got all kinds of
ideas so like I don’t know like his
emailing to you and so for the third
time he’s like it’s like yeah I keep
getting the front page man and so now
I’m like well he’s kind of making a big
deal about this like I should show
something gratitude and I was like yeah
just man I’m so honored you know it’s
fantastic and he’s laughing on the other
under the line right this is like New
Yorker guy and you clearly like look at
this a greenhorn this guy doesn’t know
what he’s doing and so he says to me he
says Keith you know what the the
circulation of the New York Times is
internationally
and I said man Brad I’ll be honest you
know I I’ve seen it in Starbucks and
Barnes and Noble and I and I’m sure you
can get it anywhere in New York but I
have no idea and he’s laughing I’m sure
I’m on speakerphone at this point and
he’s laughing and he tells me the number
and it was huge at 50 million gigantic
internationally and I’m like oh my god
that’s crazy and so he’s like and he
says man great job you should go get a
drink on me you know it bill me for it
and he saw and also I want you to stay
on tomorrow and give me an extra day my
fantastic so I go over and is the first
time I get to hire an assistant I
brought like a friend of mine so I’ve
read over to my friend and I told him
the good news of course pretending like
I knew that that was good goodbye front
page itself until we Wed we had a drink
in the next day we went out we shot like
the pick-up day and I remember walking
into the park and people had the New
York Times were looking at it talking
about it is your eyes isn’t here
who knows dude you shot it you know that
into Who am I going to tell like I
didn’t even know it was like New York
Times some newspaper job I don’t know
what I’m doing and I’ll make it like why
they even get it here like New York size
– so we finish up the shoe and it was
amazing right so like a week later I get
a phone call from this agency in
Breckenridge Colorado and they said hey
kid we saw your photos in the New York
Times we really love them it’s a do you
shoot snowboarding and I was like yeah
of course I should come boarding like so
what do you need they said well we’re
doing an advertorial which is a word I’d
never heard of and he said we’re going
to have the art director call you will
call she’ll call you in an hour and I
was like great so I get a phone call or
an hour from the Skrill Leslie and she
says hey I’m really excited to work with
you I love you you know I looked at your
website I saw the pictures that you shot
for the New York Times and she said the
story we’re doing she’s like it’s an
advertorial which means that we’re
getting a bunch of products from
different companies and we’re going to
go out we’re going to shoot kind of like
a people getting ready to go
snowboarding and they’re going to be
carrying all this equipment with them
and walking around with it and it’s
going to run in numerous magazines kind
of like an ad but it reads like a story
I was like great she’s like do you have
any
or at work and all I had was like the
crazy portraits or like the guys throw
on the bike and the fake weight off and
other stuff but I was like yeah I do
Jesus I’ll just send it over I just want
to see it like so I emailed her that’s
all I had so she calls back in like 20
minutes and she’s just dying laughing
right she she’s just like I can’t
believe you sent that you know she’s she
sided in a way like I was kind of
holding back on like my really good
portrait and ice was a laugh i centered
that but I was like but I got the job
you know so we went out and for life for
three days we just shot people like
getting ready to go have fun and we
never went and had fun we just basically
shuts gentled and it was all new to me
when we did this this story and it
turned out great and it was a new
connection and all of sudden I had this
new client that was also local which was
great so about two weeks later I get a
phone call from this company in Canada
and they said hey we saw you in here
time story time but Canada you know they
said we’ve got a catalog coming up we
know you shoot rock-climbing and we got
we got to shoot a lot of clothing as
well you know do you shoot catalog some
scores of like of course they shoot
catalogs like yeah like you know and
they asked me what my rate was I’d know
what that meant you know and I but I had
read somewhere that if someone else’s
rate is you always ask it what’s your
budget you know you put you you
basically just like deflect the question
so I knew poorly negotiated some kind of
rate and I drove down to Las Vegas and
we we shot this catalog and again I
found myself taking pictures of people
getting ready to go have fun you know
but we never really got to have the fun
but it was a whole new experience so a
couple months after that my friend Chuck
freiburger who I talked about earlier he
was a budding filmmaker and he called me
up and he said hey man I’m I’m going to
South Africa this this summer and I want
to make a film I’m gonna go for ten
weeks and I want you to come along as
the photographer and I’ve already talked
to a couple magazines I’ve got a bunch
of sponsors on board people want photos
and you want to come I’m just like oh my
god of course I want to come yeah I have
to drive here if one which is amazing so
that’s all I’m doing these days and I’ve
never been in South Africa so may comes
along we
like I packed everything I had I was
still shooting film cameras as well as
the digital camera overloaded the car
and off we went to South Africa and one
of the first things we did was as we
were you know where we were staying we
kept seeing advertisements for this like
Safari that was in the area like we’re
in Africa but we have to go on Safari
so we drove down I think it was
collective ocean box safari camp and so
we went down and it was really hacky it
felt kind of weird there was like fences
everywhere and it looked more like
acreage and there was animals roaming
around and we went into the entrance and
we paid like our $10 or whatever and the
first thing the guy says was he’s like
hey you know what I have a young lion if
you guys because we were telling them
outside of you were to be their exec if
you want to go into the pen you can pet
her and I’m the birds got my glasses
we’re sure we want to do that like yes
oh wait let me go back as this video
just plays and so this is the video of
what happened in Daniel Keith just got
clawed at it’s like a big kitty cat
that’s claws that we get
income so of course this is a Shah right
before the the animal jumped on me but
the worst part about all my friends is
laughing right like a lion discomfort on
me and I was laughing too if you really
listen to the clip that’s my reaction to
death was like laughter right but for
anyway the trip started right and it was
it was the most fun ten weeks
oh so fun carefree a motivated group
every day someone was out doing some
really cool rock climb and I got to just
go along and take pictures and it didn’t
matter what time of day there’s a full
moon tomorrow night we should go out it
was just motivation motivation my friend
auntie Rae there was all the people I’ve
been hanging out with for like the
previous year and a half and and it was
just so much fun and I got to shoot
landscapes every morning I would get up
early and South Africa to this day it’s
probably my favorite country I
absolutely love it it’s incredible place
and I fell in love with bird photography
there’s amazing animals down there and
even the animals like try to like break
into your cards oh it’s a crazy place
right and at the end of the trip we
actually did this great white shark
breaching trip and this shark right here
it’s actually you can see there’s a
little fishing line here they would
float like a decoy sail behind the boat
early in the morning and then once the
sharks kind of wake up it’s really
basically basically dependent on seals
there’s an island called Seal Island
that’s like 30,000 seals and once the
Sun comes up they go out to the sea to
basically eat and we saw like this
happened six times with real seals this
right here is this the decoys it was an
amazing experience Africa is so cool so
it was a trip that left a real
impression of my life and I started
thinking like I want to do big
expeditions I want to see more of the
world like there’s just so much out
there to see about four years ago
a drink with a friend of mine Lukas
Gilman and he said this while we’re
talking he said man friendships with
athletes is to the red carpet to seeing
the world and it’s really true
and I would I would even extend that and
just say your friendships in general
even with the people you work with the
magazine side and the advertising side
all of it these friendships they because
they become your best friends right and
especially with the athletes that you’re
travelling with because you know who
better to travel the world with than the
people you love the most because things
happen are getting lost in a country
you’ve never been in before and you know
climbing a big mountain and and going on
a cool expedition with cool people you
know these are experiences you want to
do with people you love it’s such a fun
life of exploration and it’s all made
only better with people that are equally
passionate about doing it as well and so
as the years rolled on I continued to
work heavily like in the editorial world
of the different climbing magazines and
go see different places and it was so
much fun and the goofy portraits I
started out shooting on early on turned
into a column for for rock and ice
magazine which is a favorite climbing
magazine and for four years I shot just
Illustrated portraits of the different
you know colorful people in the climbing
community and got to meet so many fun
people and hear their stories in 2010
something happened in photography that
really changed things and it was all of
a sudden you could do video and you’re
in your still camera and it sent ripples
through the photography community in a
lot of ways because there was in a lot
of ways nervousness because there were
people writing like on online blogs from
different places that like video is
going to replace photography in the
future it’ll just be directors and
people will pull still frames when they
need photos and I’m reading all this
like wow this is crazy I need to like
learn how to shoot video and it was all
like is all nonsense because they’re two
completely different things which I’ll
show here in just a second but it
completely jumped on the bandwagon and I
quickly fell in love shooting video is a
lot of fun it’s a new way to tell a
story it’s a completely different
creative process and that’s the one
thing I found out within probably the
first like a couple months of playing
with it when you’re shooting a photo a
photo is about like an isolated moment
something that when things come together
something that’s interesting like we’ve
all seen pictures where like somebody’s
eyes are they blunt they’re blinking
their eyes or something out there making
a stupid face and you just like it’s a
bad photo but if something looks good
that you’re like that’s a fine photo
right it’s the same in video you want to
capture a sequence of events in
photography you want to capture a moment
right of action so this picture here
this isn’t the best surfing photo but
it’s at least interesting to look at
right you got this guy he’s grabbing his
surfboard he’s kind of making this car
move so when I shot this photo I was
also rolling video on a tripod next to
me now watch the video clip
it’s pretty uneventful right the waves
are there waves aren’t that good
basically what this guy was doing it was
we’re doing this ad shoot and he was
getting towed in and he was doing like
tricks off of these waves he was meant
to just like blast and do tricks well he
came in a little late so he just kind of
carved out of it but I shot a photo at
the same time because I’m just rolling
on like a locked-off video tripod so
when you see it coupled with the photo
again the video clip is nothing but
there’s still like a little moment in
there and that’s a photography is all
about right finding that moment and
video is all about finding a sequence
that makes sense a clip that you can cut
to until a better narrative story with
later so it was good these good lessons
to learn early on when I got really in
the video it became the new editorial
you know instead of going out and
shooting a story for a climbing magazine
was like let’s go make a film and it
slowly learned it sort of turned into
doing like bigger expeditions
[Music]
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