Category Archives: Photography
John Harlin Swiss Border Project
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining American John Harlin for three days, as an assignment for SwissInfo.ch, during his epic project to circumnavigate the entire Swiss Border under his own power. The route is a combination of John’s decision making and the advice of a specialist in cartography, with each day more or less plotted, where to sleep/bivvy, where to re-supply, even where to take a rest day. John is being tracked for live positioning and is posting video and photos along the way.
The entire project, including the interesting question, “Why?”, is : SwissInfo: John Harlin’s Border Stories
John on the Silvretta Glacier. A solar panels sits on his pack for charging mobile devices to keep in communication.
John Harlin and a much deserved ice cream
John started the project last summer but was injured climbing. He returned later in the year for some easier sections that allowed him to use bikes and waterways. With these sections finished, he knew he would return in 2011 for the bulk of the border, the entire southerly section through the Alps. Most efforts in the mountains are measured by thousands of meters gained, for John it is hundreds of thousands of meters gained; 220,000 vertical meters to be precise. And, being Switzerland, it is precise.
The goal of the project is to see and learn about Switzerland in a very unique way. This is a country with four official languages, a rich culture of people living in the mountains, incredibly rugged & complex terrain thanks to the Alps and Jura, and of course what may arguably be the most idyllic landscape in all the world. Yet it also has thriving agriculture and a dairy industry famous for the finest cheeses and chocolates. It is all this that John has set out to see, he just happens to be on the line that contains it all.
Headed for the Dreilanderspitze, up & down. For me, usually a commercial photographer, it is a joy to shoot a journalism story and react to things instead of setting them up.
There was some irony in my joining John in that just last year I became a citizen of Switzerland. I am in love with my new country and hungry to learn everything about it. So, to be assigned this documentary project by SwissInfo.ch, which for ten years has been our favorite news source, was a true honor. And then there was John… quite an amazing character and certainly a new great friend. There we were, two American born guys who love Switzerland, walking along the border, soaking it all in and enjoying every minute. John is still out there, I hope to re-connect again soon.
Arriving to the summit of the Dreilanderspitze separating Austria from Switzerland
Lots of navigation checks are in order. The border typically follows ridges, but which one?
Hut life; Email, post video & pics, blog, wash socks
Meeting locals along the way
What are the odds? We met a Swiss couple walking the border of Switzerland's largest canton, the Graubunden. Lots of stories and route info to share
A nasty big climb to regain the border from the valley below
John happily took my bike for a long descent from Samnaun along the border to where he would begin walking again.
John telling the Border Guards that he is keeping an eye on things
Also posted in Clips, Photo Business
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Kalymnos Greece Climbing
As we are back to climbing this year, there is one phrase that keeps coming up over and over again, “You must climb in Kalymnos, Greece”. With the need for a holiday break from, well, mountain sports, we thought we’d go on climbing holiday. All we ever do is mountain sports, but always with the camera and the necessary focus that goes along with shooting for work. This trip was for us, climb everyday, make some friends, enjoy ourselves. But one day, in the famed Grande Grotta I had to pull out the camera, and for obvious reasons.
So was Kalymnos worth all the hype? YES! …and come November you will know where to find us for our end of season getaway.
The Dream Job Schedule
The Tuscan village of Pienza
Outdoor Industry Photographer Life
In addition to being professional photographers, I think it’s safe to say we could be considered professional travelers. In February, after plugging many clients needs into the calendar, we saw that to make everything work we would have to be on the go for seven straight weeks. In the last twelve years we’ve done a lot of back to back trips, but this was ridiculous; Tuscany (post), Norway, Chamonix, Sicily, Switzerland, Italy – in two cases we went straight from airports home to swap bags, then dashed to the next location. Planes, airports, and cars served as editing stations, the iPhone the entire communication platform.
In Montura's new Gore ProShell, Kurt Astner climbing his route White Chocolate. Norway
Our trip to Norway was for W.L. Gore (Gore-Tex) and the Italian clothing company Montura. The goal was to photograph professional climber Kurt Astner climbing some new ice routes in bad weather. The trip also included our own fun, both wandering around the Lyngen Alps and lots of backcountry ski days.
Evening walk along the Norwegian Fjords and scoping ski lines on the other side
A day to ourselves with four laps of fun in the Lyngen Alps
From Norway we flew to Munich, drove three hours home, did laundry, slept a few hours and were in the car headed for Chamonix. The Swiss women’s clothing company Wild Roses had hired us to photograph two of their athletes for three days. The job was to document each of their lives as mother’s and very busy mountain athletes. Esther Larios is a Swiss UIAGM Mountain Guide based in Chamonix and a mother of two. American Nina Silitch, also a great friend and mother of two, is one of the world’s top women ski randonee racers, competing & training fulltime on the World Cup circuit while living in Chamonix. With each of them we spent a full day photographing their day to day routine. Then, the third day we headed into the mountains for a fun day of alpine climbing and skiing work.
Esther Larios and Nina Silitch on Chamonix's Midi Plan Traverse
Nina Silitch
Esther Larios and Nina Silitch in Chamonix
During the Chamonix shoot it became apparent it was crunch time. After the third day shooting skiing and climbing, we were back in the car for the 6 hour drive home. Once there, Groundhog Day; laundry, a bit of sleep, an attempt to edit, then our bell was ringing. Great friends Christof and Evi were outside, the car was packed, we were headed to Sicily for a week of sport climbing. Unlike the other trips, Sicily was our own shoot, both for stock and our DolomiteSport story. AAhhh…. relax a bit, get caught up, deliver some jobs, hang with friends and get a bunch of climbing in.
Christof Ursch at the Castle of Aragon, 7b. San Vito lo Capo, Sicily
With Sicily a wrap, we were back home and awaiting the arrival of our friend Ben Grasseschi from the US. Ben was on his way over to spend two weeks with us, ski touring and shooting more work for Gore. We had news for Ben… while he is from Lake Tahoe, where even now, well into April, they are still skiing winter powder, we in Europe had a mostly ski free winter. As photographers, we need blower powder, untracked lines and interesting weather. For Ben, and for much of the winter, we had very little snow and lots of splitter blue sky. We had the ingredients for some fun, but not to get a very specific photoshoot accomplished. Together with Ben and Italian friend Andrea Gabrielli we headed for Switzerland’s Piz Bernina Group for a multi-day ski tour. Then the very day we skied out of the Bernina, we drove to the Ortler Group and skied straight into another hut to give it a go for a few days. More hardpack snow, blue sky and carved up lines, but amongst it all – some turns, some laughs and loads of great food.
Andrea Gabrielli skiing amongst crevasses in the Piz Bernina Group
Looking back to now it was, as has been our entire career, a phenomenal experience. Great memories, lessons learned, new friends and of course lots of photos. The dream job is indeed dreamy.
Follow us on Twitter to see what we do as we do it : @patitucciphoto
Also posted in Photo Business, Travel
Tagged Adventure Sports, Europe, Photography, Photoshoots, Travel, Travel Photography
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Photographing Climbing in Norway and Sicily
Climbing Photoshoots
Within 12 days of one another, we had two very different climbing photoshoots. The first was ice climbing with Kurt Astner, one of the world’s best ice climbers. This assignment had us go to Norway’s Lyngen Alps to shoot for W.L. Gore and their new Gore-Tex material, ProShell.
On a fixed rope, I hang next to Kurt and follow him as he climbs
After Norway we headed home, jumped in the car, and drove to Chamonix for a three day women’s catalog shoot for Wild Roses (Blog coming). From Chamonix we met up with good friends Christof and Evi from our hometown of Bruneck and boarded a flight for Sicily and our climbing destination, San Vito lo Capo. Both Christof and Evi are superb climbers. Best of all, inspired by the photoshoot, both were well prepared and fit to pull hard.
Photographing Ice Climbing
Shooting climbing is hard on both camera gear and the body. Shooting ice climbing compounds all of this in tortuous ways. Not only are all the usual climbing logistics present, but there are lots of sharp things around and everyone wants to keep moving because it is cold, painfully so. To fend off the cold requires bulky clothing, and this contributed to a small disaster. In an aggravated effort to keep moving, I was throwing lenses loose into my pack, ignoring the lens tubes that were supposed to be their home. The price… a broken Image Stabilizer in a 70-200 and a broken housing on a 17-40. Thankfully the loss of lenses came at the end of the shoot and not the beginning.
Ready to go with the chest mounted camera bag, key for working on a rope.
LowePro Camera Bags, with whom we recently began working closely with, is going to be receiving more of our attention as I commit to being more careful with gear. For me, dedicated camera bags have proven essential to the safety of camera equipment I must rely on.
At the end of the day everyone was happy. Janine and I felt good about a job well done. Kurt had made a first ascent of what he has called “White Chocolate”, WI6, Grade IV. And Gore happily reported that we nailed the look of harsh conditions they were after to market their new product. Success.
Last summer, after photographing Kurt Astner climbing on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the Italian Dolomites, we posted what became a very popular blog story. During the shoot, I wore a helmet video camera to capture what I see while shooting in these dramatic locations, I thought to do the same for this ice climbing shoot. It seems the perfect opportunity to see what it looks like to be the photographer, to get my perspective of what I am making photos of, and to watch Kurt climb. Beneath the video are a couple of stills that show the end product of what we were after.
Arriving to the ice fall Kurt had found after a two hour ski approach. 200 meters of what may be unclimbed, steep ice.
Kurt Astner on his new route White Chocolate, WI6, Grade IV
Photographing Rock Climbing
A little friendlier terrain than the ice
Less than two weeks later we were in a different world. Sicily’s seaside village of San Vito lo Capo has recently become a hotspot for sport climbing. With absolutely perfect limestone walls lining the Mediterranean coast, an ideal spring climate and superb food – San Vito lo Capo made sense for our next shoot, and an escape from a poor winter in the Alps.
Shooting rock climbing, especially sport climbing, is quite easy compared to what we faced in Norway. In Sicily the routes were never more than 35 meters long, were always safely bolted and had flip flop approaches. I could quickly get a fixed rope in place or even shoot from high boulders next to climbs.
The trick here was having the right people, people who could get on hard routes and climb them in style. Climbing images require a sense of power while at the same time looking to be in control. Christof and Evi are ideal.
The very photo being made from the above right image
Christof at the Castle of Aragon, 7b
Evi on the Cinema Paradiso Wall, 6b
Christof making things look dicey, because they are
Steep?
Camera Gear for Climbing Photoshoots
In my opinion, for all things in the photography world, less is more.
For climbing, in almost all situations, I take the following:
Canon 1d Mark IV – Quality, speed and focusing points
8GB film cards – I like 8GB because I don’t have to change them so often and run the risk of dropping one. And, they aren’t so big to potentially have every image if they do get dropped.
Canon 16-35 f2.8
Canon 15mm 2.8 – For getting the wider angle with the 1d Mark IV’s conversion
Canon 70-200 f4.0 – Optional depending on how close I know I will be to the climber
Once I am on the rope I have a small top opening pack hanging below me that serves as a bucket catch all for lens tubes (be sure to actually use lens tubes…) and anything else I may need. The chest mounted camera bag allows me to quickly stow the camera to move up and down on the rope. The less is more policy is key for staying focused on the shot and the movement of the climber, not fussing around changing lenses or fiddling with various things, also the simple need of staying mobile and light.
Interested in following what we do as we do it? Follow us on Twitter @patitucciphoto
The Sicilian Office
Smartwool Winter Running Photoshoot
Smartwool has its act together. The product is superb, the creative gang a joy to work with and the brand just plain fun. That little logo of their’s – the happy little guy – that really is their energy. It is a fun brand that is reflected in the staff. As a result, we are happy photographers and like to promote them.
The typical clothing photoshoot scenario is to shoot out of season, meaning that we are sent summer clothing to shoot in the dead of winter. Much to our disliking, this is common timing. With Smartwool, they match the clothing availability with the season it is meant for. And so this winter we were called up for a few shoots; the first being winter road running of their Fall 2011 men’s running products.
The Making of a Photoshoot
From the Creative Team we are given the necessary ingredients, it is our job to put them all together.
Location – A snowy road with some character, near a mountain town.
Weather – Ideally a post storm day, snow on the trees, everything glimmering with a fresh layer of snow.
Model – A real runner, a guy, chiseled, with a boyish, fun look in his eye. He must really love running.
And so it begins. We scout locations, take angles of the sun, walk around to look for shots and consider all the variables that might pop up because they always do. Finally we settle on a little town about 30 minutes from our home.
Next up, the weather. Can’t do much about this, especially this winter where at one point we went 6 weeks without snow. The location is getting a little scrappy. I keep an eye on the web cam to see how it is fairing in the soaring temps. Stress begins to set in as we schedule other shoots around this one, we want it to happen but the weather needs to cooperate, the landscape needs a bit more snow, and on this day both the model, and us, need to be available.
The Model – Kurt Faltner. Through friends we meet a very real runner who happens to live a few houses away. He is the real deal with the current goal of this summer’s Jungfrau Marathon. We meet, give him the clothes to try and say we’ll be in touch. I tell him he’ll get to do intervals on photo day, he’s game.
The day arrives and we commit, call Kurt and all is set. It snowed the day before and the forecast is bluebird. Off we go.
Remember that line about how variables always seem to pop up? This shoot’s unexpected, near monkey wrenching, comes in the form of howling and well below zero winds. Huge plumes of snow engulf us and force us to wait for stiller moments. Frozen fingers, toes, and rapidly dropping battery levels – all part of shooting skiing, but road running? Kurt is doing fine wrapped in his merino wool while Janine and I, dressed for a near the car shoot, are less comfy.
In the end we have it, Kurt does his intervals, we fill a few cards and even have some time at sunset to make some portraits. A great shoot.
Back in the car and driving home comes the final confirmation from Kurt that everything went well, “Can I keep all the clothing? I really like it”. He got it, but you’ll have to wait a bit.
To see Smartwool’s cozy merino offerings this season, visit Smartwool and see if you can spot more of our photos on their site.
PatitucciPhoto Outdoor Industry Photography
Recent Clips
It is always rewarding to see prominent uses of our work, these are two fun examples. Above is an image we made last fall while visiting the US with Italian friend Kurt Astner. Our two month long climbing road trip was meant to take us back to our roots shooting the same subject matter that was our intro to the world of outdoor industry photography 15 years ago. In the early days we shot climbing, loads of it, and had two covers of Climbing Magazine in the early 2000′s. These were likely our first big clips. Now, 10 years later, we are happy to say we are just as thrilled to see the result of lots of effort get used.
The second use is just plain BIG. Last week was the ISPO Trade Show in Munich, Germany. There, Janine and I charged around the show connecting appointments and continually running into PatitucciPhoto images as booth displays. But none were so big as the Jack Wolfskin panels wrapping their impressive booth. This seems to prove that the Canon 5d can go to at least 5 meters tall.
Training with Ueli Steck
I have watched the Sender film The Swiss Machine numerous times – and still the goosebumps come. Seeing Ueli Steck speed soloing the North Wall of the Eiger is something sublime. For those not familiar with this, a quick summary: Ueli Steck, alone, climbed the North Wall of the Eiger in 2:47 minutes. This is something along the lines of someone suddenly running a one minute mile. He also established alpine speed records on the North Wall of the Matterhorn as well as the Grand Jorasses. Feats that left the climbing world stunned.
Ueli Steck beneath the North Wall of the Eiger. February 2011
As a climber myself, I am in awe of his technical skills and mental strength. As an athlete, I am inspired by both his fitness and ability to push himself to limits when the consequences are extreme. Ueli Steck not only plays one of the most dangerous games, he does it as an elite athlete, combining many skills and applying them to huge objectives. One can’t help but wonder, what’s this guy like?
The subject came up recently when talking to Mountain Hardwear, a company we provide photography for and who works closely with Ueli in developing their alpine gear and clothing. With Ueli preparing for an upcoming trip to the Himalaya, I asked them about spending some days photographing him training at home in Interlaken, Switzerland. One thing lead to another and suddenly it was a go, I had Ueli on the line and a plan came together.
The catch was, Mountain Hardwear did not want a “photoshoot”, but rather a documentary of Ueli’s time which it turns out, is in great demand. Ueli is in the middle of a slideshow circuit for Explora.ch in Switzerland and has a show almost every night for 6 weeks right up until the eve of his Himalaya departure.
Photographing Ueli Steck
Typically, photoshoots include our ability to control what we photograph. We know where, when and what we will shoot ahead of time. In this case, we had no clue, we were along for Ueli’s ride. With his tight schedule, Ueli needed to maximize his training time so as to fit it in along with two shows and a TV interview – just in the two days we were with him. We were allowed to hover but not to impose, the photos had to be honest accounts of who he is. No back and forth in perfect light at a scouted location, just running by where we could get to him.
So, what was it like? How is the Swiss Machine? Janine and I met him in pre-dawn darkness in Grindelwald, Switzerland and were immediately struck by his casual, friendly nature. He’s also all business, “I’m going to run up to the Eigergletscher Station (1400 meters gain), you take the train up, ski down and shoot me where we meet. Then I wait for you at the station, bring my skis up, we’ll ski down together and then go get some lunch.” Off he went, “Tschüss!”
Setting out in the early morning to run pistes. Grindelwald, Switzerland
Coffee at Grindelwald's C & M Cafe
Later, after our turn free descent, we headed for a local cafe and finally got to spend some time sitting and getting to know this guy. Some of the creative direction provided was to capture what a “badass” he is while training. And admittedly, I had gone into the shoot with the desire to do this very thing. I wanted portraits that demonstrated his “Swiss Machine-ness”; absolute focus, maybe even a killer look in his eye. I found none of this to be the case. This was my perception of a man who has certainly done some very “badass” things, but when sitting at a table sharing a meal, I felt I was with a completely normal person who happens to have some clearly defined goals and is willing to work very hard to obtain them.
Ueli Steck winter running below the Eiger
Suddenly my perception and focus changed. With our job being to document Ueli Steck, I realized I wasn’t going to get “badass”, I was going to get a guy running in the woods behind his house, training at his local climbing gym and drinking coffee in the morning. This is who the hero is. He is a genuinely good guy working his ass off each and every day, balancing a staggering training program with a climbing profession, a media onslaught, and a happy marriage; the badass comes from what he accomplishes. Ueli Steck might be a bit uncomfortable being called a hero, but he handles it with grace. Best of all, he is a guy to learn some things from about working hard for what you want. What more could you want from a hero?
Morning run; approximately 10km, 1400 meters gain, on snow, fast.
Post morning run; straight to Interlaken's climbing gym
Many laps on hard routes
Ueli Steck presenting his show to a Swiss audience
Ueli at home; a man who loves coffee and knows how to do it right
Training in the forest behind the house
Post run; straight to Bern for a TV interview. Briefing & makeup
Another Ueli Steck day
Post TV show; straight to Bern's climbing gym
Janine and I would like to express our sincerest thanks to Ueli for welcoming us into his home and life for two days – and to Mountain Hardwear for making it all possible.
To keep track of Ueli, visit his Facebook Page: Ueli Steck
2011 Antholz Anterselva Ski Biathlon World Cup Photos
Today was the opening day of the Antholz/Anterselva Ski Biathlon World Cup here in the Sud Tirol. As it is just 30 minutes away, Janine and I headed over to catch the Men’s 10km Sprint. Congratulations to Russian Anton Shipulin for the win.
Full results at Antholz Biathlon World Cup
The crowd was loud, patriotic and smelled of Glühwein
Pretty sure this would get you a trip to Guantanamo Bay in the USA. I wonder if it could be taken as a carry on?
Also posted in Skiing
Tagged Competition, Europe, Italy, Nordic Skiing, Photography, Professional Sport
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