The Power of Climbing Photography

As a climbing writer, my specialty is the word rather than the image. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy looking at climbing images.

The problem is that virtually all climbing images look great to me. I don't appreciate the nuances that separate a good climbing image from a great one.

But one thing I do know: climbing photography is really hard, even for talented professional climbing photographers. A few years ago, I took part in some photo shoots for Climbing Magazine and was always astounded by the disproportion between the photographer's set-up time and amount of film shot versus the small number of photographs that the magazine ended up running.

The rest of us non-talented, amateur enthusiasts are left to slog along as best we can when we try to capture climbing images of friends and family. How many of us have experienced something like this?

When I first started ice climbing in February of 1991, I was so excited by the experience. Understandably…I had been up to North Conway, and talk about lucking out, since I didn't know anyone who ice climbed, I had hired the amazing alpinist Kitty Calhoun as my guide.