“In front of my camera, Macca was fighting for life”
Dude, should I still keep shooting or get ready to call an emergency. What if the pursuit to capture authentic photos does not end up well this time? In front of my camera, Macca was fighting for life. Well, at least that’s how my brain translated the situation. Macca just passed a carrot, leaving it unclipped, and placed one of those tiny C3 cams in between two grains of sand. He grabbed a little slopy edge and put his right foot on a tiny smear in this techy vertical wall. Down below was Zac Vertrees routinely belaying while up here, two meters from the action I already had my third heart attack.
Climbing photography takes you to wonderful places, you get a chance to meet awesome people, get inspired by their drive and if you are lucky witness their success in ticking their projects while you keep pressing the shutter and freeze those moments into the digital eternity. There may however also be situations when it is not so good to be so close to the action.
When thinking about the shoot the night before. I envisioned a photo of Macca climbing, catching the early morning light with the beautiful hobbit like farmland in the background. I love these type of shots as they in my mind portray that climbing is not just about pushing our monkey skills to the extreme but also about the places it allows us to experience in such a wonderful way. When I saw Macca passing the first carrot I realized this was a very different story to tell. He was in the zone, in his internal bubble only concerned about getting to the top, in the best case scenario in one piece. I swapped the wide-angle lens and decided to shoot close trying to only frame what mattered for Macca at that moment. Feet, handholds, potential placements … In my mind and I can only guess in Macca’s too, everything else was a distraction.
I framed the desired picture and took a few snaps. In the meantime, Macca placed another micro something and in his typical shaky but efficient style continued towards the top. I slowly jumared alongside him and kept shooting, trying not to fuck it up as I sensed I only had one chance.
A few nervous minutes later Macca stood on the top and under his feet a new green point variant Software Freak (23 or E6) was born. I could finally breath … until he took me to the dog face but that’s another story.
