Climbing magazine has been a part of my career from the very beginning. My first ever photo published in Climbing was the cover of issue no. 173 in 1998, featuring Rikke Ishoy at the Happy Boulders. As it turns out, this was, and still is, the best selling single issue ever of Climbing magazine. I like to think that the draw was the composition, the moment and my subtle use of light in the photo. As it turns out, over the years I have learned that it has much less to do with my skill, but rather more with the bikini Rikke was wearing in the photo.
I'm honored to have been given a few opportunities to talk about my life and work in the Climbing 2011 Photo Annual. Read about my career in Perspective (20+ years of self-imposed unemployment), my gear in Point and Shoots (I carry a point & shoot everywhere I go), and a very close call in Bloopers (Tommy Caldwell saved my life!) Pick up an issue for all of this, as well as some tips, tricks and tales from a great lineup of my peers — a celebration of the tradition of photography in rock climbing.
Many thanks to Amanda Fox, James Q Martin and especially Andrew Burr for making the trip out to Tahoe to shoot the back page Perspective photo. In a funny contrast to the years that led up to this, that photo was taken in a back hallway at Northstar-at-Tahoe. I was on my way to a lifestyle shoot at the Ritz Carlton. It sounds fancy, but at the core, I'm still a dirtbag climber.
