Portland Oregon Based pro-photographer, father and 5.14+ climber, Boone Speed recently had his work showcased on the highly acclaimed and widely respected Feature Shoot website “featuring” photos and interviews with both up-and-coming and established photographers. For more background read the Perspective by Abbey Smith from Climbing Magazine No. 269 - September 2008. 

We slowed down with the 43-year-old Mr. Speed for this exclusive Climbing.com interview to see what he’s been up to. 

What’s up Boone! How are you these days? Are you in Portland now? 
Yeah, for the time being… 

Do you have an office or is it where ever your notebook lands?
Exactly. Both that is, but probably the latter these days more than the former.

How much time do you actually spend in Portland? Or, maybe I should ask what exciting places you've been to lately? I saw your recent photos from Venezuela, that looks amazing!
It feels like I’ve been traveling nonstop since late February. To Venezuela, China, Greece, Spain. I’ve been at home in Portland for over a month now but the travel will start again in September. 

You’ve been immersed in the scene climbing for like 25 years, designing advertisements for a number of companies and shooting photos for just as long. What was it that happened that really made you click and decide that you wanted to pursue photography full time.
I’m really glad you asked me this question…because I’ve wondered the same thing. And I think the short answer has something to do with money. Plain and simple. Let me explain. But first of all, I’ve been around cameras all my life. I would work with the studio photographer while he was shooting my father’s sculpture as far back as I can remember. And my father always had different cameras around, like rollei’s and loaded Polaroids, and others. I always looked at photography as a creative process… as something fun to do. But it was obvious to me that if you were a serious photographer it cost a lot of money. A lot. And when I started climbing, and working with photographers in the field, again, I was blown away at how much guys like Kevin Powell and Greg Epperson had invested in their equipment. Literally tens of thousands of dollars! So I chose graphic design as my major. And during that time I took a bunch of photography classes too, with an old Canon AE1 with its stock 50mm lens. Naturally, I borrowed it from my dad. And I still have it (laughing).

I’d spend sometimes 12 hours nonstop in the darkroom. And I actually won an award in the first photo contest I ever entered… actually my teacher entered my work for me; it was of a b&w I took of my father working on one of his sculptures. God, that was in 1988. And I never even considered becoming a “photographer”. It didn’t even cross my mind. Seriously. I went on to complete three years of a graphic design degree before dropping out to work for Black Diamond in 1991, as their marketing coordinator and photo editor (laughs). I was also their stylist for all BD product photography. I had that job for six years. And yo, when it’s your job to look through thousands of photographs, and you realize that less than 5% are any good, that doesn’t make you want to be a photographer either… especially given that you have to invest tens of thousands of dollars in equipment as well as $20 for every roll of film you shoot. On my budget at the time, it was simply out of the question. Plus I thought neither Kevin nor Greg had time to climb enough. And there was no way anything would eat into my climbing time. And studio photography was even more expensive to start up. Plus you’d have to spend all your days in the studio.

Yeah, it just didn’t seem like a good fit for me, so much so that, like I said, it never even occurred to me to consider it. And then, as life goes on… one thing leads to another, opportunities arise, like the shoe-in opportunity to documenting bouldering, and its role in shaking up the stagnant climbing scene. Then a bit more time goes by… a few more published photos… a little more money invested here, a little there and voila…a few years go by and you find yourself in the business. And it must be fate. It just has to be. And I understand now why Kevin and Greg didn’t climb as much after they started shooting, and it all makes sense…and the tens of thousands of dollars of gear I have now are my tools…my gear…it’s like a climber that doesn’t have cams but needs a set… you do whatever it takes to get the gear to live your dreams. Because you have no other choice! Right? It’s like you’d rather be dead than watch your own passions from the outside in. Ya know? And now of course it makes sense. Perfect sense.