Tag Archives: Photography
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.
LowePro Photo Sport 200 for Mountain Sport Photographer Athletes
Both Janine and myself are professional mountain sport photographers. We are also very dedicated, serious athletes in many of the sports we photograph. As such, we regularly combine what we do for sport with what we do for work. With all of this centering around mountains, photography, performance, reliability and results – we need the best gear.
Quick, easy access to a protected camera and long lens in a dedicated compartment
In the last 12 years of our career, we have made it a specialty to photograph real trips; ski tours, climbing, trekking, and especially trail running. For much of this, we have been both the photographers and subjects. We’ve run across Iceland, around Patagonia, through the Dolomites, around Mont Blanc and done countless day trips throughout the Alps, Sierra Nevada and Rockies. All with camera on hand. For years I dreamed of a pack that would allow me to run/hike/bike comfortably while having a camera safely protected, easily accessible, yet in a real backpack… for an athlete.
Finally, a few months ago, Lowepro contacted us to help test a new pack that they had been developing; the Photo Sport 200. Designed specifically for active mountain sport photographers or for anyone needing a superlight pack to carry camera gear. With all of our experience, they wanted to know what we thought.
We think it is perfect.
The key with this pack is that it is a go to bag for when you want to go shoot in the mountains, and getting to where you need to go is involved. It isn’t going to be your standard pack for mountain biking or running, it isn’t meant to be. It is simply the ideal system for being a working photographer in the mountains.
We’ve used it hiking, trail running and mountain biking and can honestly say it functions perfectly for what it was designed for.
Lowpro Photo Sport features and how we use them
We carry the lighter, more compact Canon 5d when we do these longer, more difficult trips. On the body we keep the 17-40 f4.0 and below it fits the Canon 70-200 f4.0. Both fit snugly in the padded internal case. There is a drawstring closure to cinch the entire system tight inside the pack to prevent shaking, and the camera bag is low enough to keep the weight balanced on the body – brilliant.
The pack has another, external sleeve specifically for a hydration system. The design is well thought out in case it leaks, the water will not get to the camera system. There is also a built in rain cover.
The rest of the pack is pretty much just a backpack, super light, a couple of pockets, all with enough room still inside for clothes food or more camera gear. The suspension & padding system allows for the pack to be worn comfortably for long periods. It carries up to about 15kg very well. External straps allow you to attach a tripod.
I tried out the Lowepro Photo Sport 200 while mountain biking in to scout a location
So as bloggers writing a gear review, aren’t we required to now admit that we were given free gear and that this fact might influence words of praise…? Yep, the pack was a freebie. And yep, if you run into me in the mountains while I am working you’ll see a bright orange Lowepro Photo Sport 200 on my back. Because… I really like it.
Want to get your own? Lowepro says June. For more information – visit Lowepro
To see what we have done as running photographers, visit our Running Portfolio
Follow what we do, as we do it in the mountains – via our Twitter feed @patitucciphoto
Posted in Gear Review
Also tagged Adventure Sports, Digital Photography, Mountain Sports, Photoshoots
19 Comments
Ueli Steck Mountain Hardwear Website
Ueli Steck’s Himalayan Speed Project
Since our February 2011 photoshoot with Ueli Steck, much has happened surrounding this amazing athlete and alpinist. To have been a part of it, to meet and spend some days living with Ueli, is one of the great things about being a photographer. Sometimes it is our job to show off a product, other times it’s to tell a story or to simply inspire a viewer. Amongst all of this is the potential to create images that one day might have historical significance.
Tommy Caldwell on the Muir Wall
In 2001, I hung from the top of Yosemite’s El Capitan’s Muir Wall and photographed Tommy Caldwell as he free climbed one of the hardest long routes in the world. At the time it was visionary, and part of a period of intense free climbing efforts on one of the most prized walls on the planet. That same week in Yosemite, I attended a slideshow by Tom Frost, who was in his day another visionary climber. As I sat watching the show and listening to his stories, I realized my own great fortune in getting to take part in this process of progressing the sport and ideas around the sport & culture of climbing.
Ten years later, here we are with Ueli Steck. In the days we spent with him (Training with Ueli Steck) he spoke of his plans to climb 8000 meter peaks. Listening to Ueli speak of “speed climbing” was not about records or achievements but about progressing himself as an athlete and climber by moving near his limit freely in the big mountains. He was a man preparing himself at every level to go off and challenge himself. Perhaps this is what has so inspired and captivated us by Ueli, he is on a kind of mythical Hero’s Journey.
To see our images of Ueli being put to use on the Mountain Hardwear website is extremely rewarding. No less are the news reports of what he is now doing in the Himalaya and knowing we had some moments to see him preparing for what is truly an inspiring story with huge historical significance to the sport of climbing.
Ueli Steck’s updates and news can be followed via his Facebook Page, Twitter, or Mountain Hardwear’s Himalaya Speed site.
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
Posted in Photo Business, Photography, Travel
Also tagged Adventure Sports, Europe, Photoshoots, Travel, Travel Photography
3 Comments
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
The Value of Location Scouting
Photoshoot Pre-Production
The line item “Location Scouting Day” often gets questioned when I send a job estimate to a client. “Nah… it’s beautiful there, just show up the morning of the shoot and we’ll get it all done that day”. This is a really bad idea that is likely to lead to a stressed out photographer and an unhappy client. Without a doubt, one of the most difficult things to explain as a pro photographer is that not all beautiful places make beautiful places for photos – there are an infinite number of variables that influence a shoot location.
Last week’s shoot in Tuscany proved the point. In this case, our client did want us to scout. We had a day to spend driving around and looking for the locations for some very specific images. This particular job required us to shoot four pages for a global advertising catalog as well as a tradeshow booth display. They knew what they wanted in terms of activities – now we had to get it, and most importantly, it had to look very Tuscan.
Photoshoot Day 1: Rain and dark skies. No go.
Photoshoot Day 2: The forecast called for clouds but no rain in the morning, then increasing at noon. Stress was building, we had to get something shot as the deadline was upon us. We decided to go, to be on location with the models and ready. Our scouting day paid off, the morning was clear and we dashed from one location to the next, plugging in exactly what we had looked for by simply working through a checklist to remain efficient. At 11:00 a.m. our skies went dark. The limited time did not allow for variety or fine tuning, but it did let us put our experience to work and get the job done. Thanks to a carefully planned morning and knowledge of what to do and where to go, successful images were made and delivered.
Janine Patitucci location scouting in the Tuscan Hills
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.
Posted in Climbing, Clips, Photo Business, Photography
Leave a comment
Connect with us
