One of the things I've learned is that you can't be too prepared for an adventure shoot. I wrote about this and looked at how a photo disaster could have been saved with a little more prep. Here's the link to that article in Australian Geographic Outdoor magazine.
When I had a chance to revisit the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in Tasmania I spent four days walking the trail from the Lyell Highway to Frenchmans Cap. The walk is rated a more difficult trail and the initial hardship filter is 6 kilometer slog through ankle to knee deep mud across the Loddon Plains. This photo is me in full Goretex rain gear on the mud walk section. Rain fell everyday on the trail.
From the sodden Lodden's you climb through extrodinary temperate rainforest around Lake Vera and Lake Tahune. Melanie and I arrived at the summit in a zero visibility cloud, but a 100 meters below the
A recent photo assignment for Australian Geographic magazine sent me to Warrumbungles National Park in New South Wales, Australia to have a look around. Here's a link Here to the article and photos. Usually my skills with ropes, rock climbing and the like come into play as tools for access on most of my assignments, but when I was in the Warrumbungles, rock climbing and hikes were the story.
The shoot reminded me again how fortunate I am to visit these places and spend time with the incredible people who live, work and play in these parks. On this photo shoot, as with all of my photo assignments, I am in touch with and being assited by so many people. Their generous time and help makes these projects a success. Thanks to Warrumbungles Park Ranger Roger Row, in the picture below, and all of the other great people I met and climbed with in the Warrumbungles and showed me why this park is such an amazing place.
When people ask me why I climb I tell them it's because of the places rock climbing can take me. A recent adventure climbing the Moai in the Tasman National Park, Australia is a perfect example. This 35 meter sea stack off the coast of Tasmania has got a spectacular setting. There were three rappels to get to the base of the Moai Tower, with climbing to be done to get back out. Talk about committment!
The climb is rated 18, and is two pitches. But with the crashing waves, howling wind, and isolated location, it is full value adventure.
A bed of flowers on the summit greets the climbers. What better way to top out on one of Tasmania's classic sea towers.
This past weekend I was urban cragging at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane. Brisbane is Queensland's biggest city and on my first visit to the city I discovered it has a great climbing area right in the city limits. So on my second visit to the city I brought along a rope and some draws (maybe a couple of cams or stoppers would have been nice as well). The crag is located at Kangaroo Point and the 15 meter high cliffs along the Brisbane River is in clear view of about a million office workers who occupy the skyscrapers just across the way.
On the warm winters weekend Melanie and I visited the crag it was like opening day of a salmon run.
You can see in this photo why Iceland is such a popular photographers destination. At the moment I am in transit for a photo assignment in Iceland. I was last there in 2009 so I've been looking at pics from that trip to get psyched. I am looking forward to another dose of Icelands sublime landscape. This photo is on the Hafursey volcanic cone near Myrdalsjokull an icefield by the South coast.
Another photo of me. It's rare for their to be another photographer on a trip with me. Jame McCormack, an excellent Aussie photographer, shot this photo of me just above the Tasman Saddle in May 2012 when he and I were in the New Zealand Alps on the South Island for a ten day shoot.
I've some down time waiting for a flight to Copenhagen at the Narita airport in Japan. While checking emails some photos came through from my friend Michael Dickinson. Michael did all the production for me in Oman a few months ago. His photo below reminded me that what's better than the wild landscapes I wander into it's the people I meet on my travels that leave the most lasting memories.
Part of what drives my photography are those opportunities to wake up to a new morning in an incredible landscape. This photo was made after finishing a long shoot in California. I was driving home to Colorado and needed a place to sleep for the night. The Ibex dry lake bed in Western Utah was the place I selected and this is where I woke up the next morning. If htere's a photography lesson here it's always chose a camp with a good view and bring your camera.
