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Chase Jarvis Chase Jarvis
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How Photographers Really Get These Shots [hint: it takes a village]

Just stumbled on this image of yours truly working for an advertising photo down at Smith Rocks, OR a few years back. I don’t do a ton of climbing photography – it’s pretty damn specialized – but when I get to, it reminds me a whole lot of why i like to climb. It really focuses your attention on the task at hand. While the handful of support crew who help make these shoots possible are a real blessing, my biggest appreciation during work like this goes to the athletes. Every safety measure is taken, but they certainly put themselves at risk to get the shot – often needing to make the same move a half dozen times to get it just right. #respect.

My biggest challenge in this case is multi-tasking while in position. I’ve gotta be communicating with the athlete, communicating with the crew, etc, and being my own assistant at the same time as focusing on the shot.  

Happy friday – and happy to answer any questions below.

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44 replies on:
How Photographers Really Get These Shots [hint: it takes a village]

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  1. Arved Gintenreiter Photography says:
    November 4, 2013 at 4:06 am

    Great shot and great action. People should know more often how much of effort it takes to get a great photo 🙂

    1. Chase says:
      November 4, 2013 at 4:19 pm

      personally i’d rather that the general public think it’s easy. for us brethren – it’s good to share the hardships and challenges!

  2. Simon Carter says:
    November 3, 2013 at 5:06 pm

    Good on you for giving it a go Chase, respect for that. This is how I do it: http://youtu.be/ZNgdN48RnRY

    1. Chase says:
      November 4, 2013 at 4:17 pm

      nice – thats not all that diff from what we did here to get me into position. but with more sophistication on your part (deserved). for @dylan above – this work from simon is what i mean by specialized.. great stuff simon thanks for sharing.

      1. Simon Carter says:
        November 5, 2013 at 4:21 am

        Cheers Chase. Catch you on a cliff.

  3. Dylan Alvarez says:
    November 3, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Hey Chase, love the shot. I was wondering what you mean when you say that climbing photography is specialized. I’m starting to pick up a couple climbing photography jobs so I’m hoping for a heads up!

    1. Chase says:
      November 4, 2013 at 4:15 pm

      in order to get the super dramatic shots you’ll need to have a really specialized set of equip / crew etc and take a lot of time… triangulating yourself off the rock and getting into very unique angles is the name of the game…oh yeah, plus have a world class athlete on the other end of your lens.

  4. Clayton says:
    November 3, 2013 at 10:47 am

    Nice to see some climbing shots on here! For anybody who wants to see more climbing, here’s a short film I just had shown at a screening of the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival: https://vimeo.com/76744215

  5. Nicholas Keil says:
    November 3, 2013 at 9:28 am

    I’ll just stick with portraits and wedding photography, thanks. Not really into the whole “hanging off a canyon” shindig

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