FAQ
(Actually, this should
probably be an OAC – Occasionally Asked Questions)
Q: Are you a
professional photographer?
A: Uh, no.
Actually, my day job is as a software design engineer for embedded
systems. I am a climber myself and enjoy
photography as a serious hobby.
Q: So who do you take
these pictures for?
A: For fun, for practice, USA Climbing and
mostly, for you. USA Climbing sometimes
uses my shots for their literature, the season poster, or their web site. Sometimes, one of the climbing magazines will
run one of the shots taken at the national competition. Sorry; my photos won’t make you famous – only
you can do that! If my shots can help
you somehow, though, I’m all for that.
Q: Why do you sometimes
just give away free prints?
A: For a few reasons. The main one is that the photos do no one any
good by sitting in a box in a closet somewhere.
If I charged for the photos, then it wouldn’t be a hobby anymore – and
what would be the fun of that? Besides,
the climbers I photograph are excellent.
They have put a lot of work into what they do – that’s worth at least a few photographs!
Q: I have one of the
prints that you gave me – how can I get another copy?
A: One way is by finding the photograph on my
web site and ordering the print through the Kodak Gallery. There are an awful lot of photos on my web
site, so I know that it can take a while to find just the print you are looking
for. If you don’t know which competition
the shot is from, I always write the date of the competition on its back, so
that should help narrow it down. If you
don’t have the time to search through hundreds of photos from a competition
(and who does?) you can email me (see the Contact button above) with the exposure
number (it looks like: 109.172.130) that I wrote on the back of your print
and I will email you the original digital file so that you can print the photo
however you like. Even a very old film
photo will still have a date and exposure number written on its back if it came
from me. If there is no exposure number
written on its back, don’t despair – if you can describe the shot to me, I can
still likely find it for you. I never
throw negatives or files away.
Q: You used to mail
out photos to all participants at Nationals – do you still do that?
A: Alas, no.
I used to take no more than 1800 film photos at Nationals. I had to print all of them to see which ones
were best for possible publication.
Since they were printed anyway, I could either trash all of them when I
was done, or send the prints to the climbers.
It seemed far more fun to send them to the climbers. Now that I use digital cameras, I take many
more shots and I don’t have to print them to see which are best. On top of that, preparing a good digital
photo takes more of my time. For
instance, the photo lab would balance the color and exposure for film shots –
but for digital shots, I must balance the color and exposure myself. Also, to look its best, each digital shot must
be rotated and cropped. This all takes
time and I am not a photographer by trade; most of the time, I’m playing
software engineer to pay the bills. I
stopped mailing out Nationals photos when I found that I couldn’t prepare all
of the 2005 Nationals shots before the 2006 Nationals. It’s a bummer, but there it is.
Q: Can I get the
original digital files from you?
A: Yes.
If you want less than about six files, I’ll email them to you. If you’d like more than that, I’ll prepare a
CD or DVD with all of your digital shots for $10. Just contact me using the information from
the “Contact” link above.
Q: What exactly comes
on that CD or DVD?
A: Both the original files from the camera and
the full-sized retouched files that I made the prints from. You tell me which climbers and competitions
you want the files from and I’ll get them to you (depending on how many
climbers – for instance, Team
Q: Can I use your
photos for publication?
A: The short answer: yes. I
charge no royalties for photos, so if the photo is of you, or you can get an OK
from the pictured climber, you are free to use it for publication. I do appreciate hearing about any of my
photos that are being published, and if possible, I would appreciate being given
credit for the photo in the publication.
Q: Some folks get lots
of pictures while others don’t get many – do you play favorites?
A: The short answer: yes. My
goal is to get good shots of as many of the climbers as I can. Still, some climbers have climbing styles
that are conducive to great shots, while others, even the best of climbers,
have styles that make photography nearly impossible. For instance:
at redpoint competitions, climbers who try a lot of climbs and choose
well-lit climbs get more shots. I
believe that a good shot shows a climber’s face, so climbers who look at their
feet most of the time will get very few photographs while climbers who default
to looking up at the route ahead will get more.
Some climbers have a very unrushed style while others are in constant
motion, but motion ruins photos in a dark gym.
When several climbers are climbing at once, I focus on the one who is
working the most photogenic portion of the climb. If more than one climber are
working photogenic cruxes, I admit, I focus on the
Q: So do you use a
digital camera?
A: Yes.
I’ve been all-digital since 2005.
I currently use two Nikon D700 cameras.
The D700 does really well in the low light conditions of climbing
gyms. I use an 80-200mm f2.8 zoom on one
camera and a 24-70mm f2.8 zoom on the other.
I used to take pictures with film cameras, but now they are serving as
doorstops and paperweights. :) Ah,
technology!
Q: I usually see you
with two cameras – why is that?
I almost always use two
cameras these days because it is very hard to build an f2.8 zoom lens with a
very large range. If I could buy an f2.8
(or better!) lens with a zoom range of 17-150mm (APS sensor) or 24-200mm (full
size sensor), I’d get it. Until such a
thing is available, the only way to get that kind of range is to use two
lenses. Since I can’t swap lenses fast
enough (and they might fall to their doom if I tried!) that means two
cameras. I currently own a 24-120mm
f3.5-5.6 lens and use that and just one camera (a Nikon D80) outside where
light is plentiful. For indoor
photography, though, it’s hard to beat an f2.8.
The boost in picture quality is enough that it’s worth juggling two
cameras.
Q: You always seem to
use a lens hood on your lenses – why bother?
The lens hood just blocks
light from the side that shouldn’t be in the picture and prevents it from
hitting the lens. When a strong light
source (like the sun or, say, a gym light) strikes the lens but isn’t directly
in the picture, it still affects the picture.
This is because no lens is perfect – especially in a climbing gym where
dust is constantly accumulating on the lens.
Light hits these imperfections and is scattered back toward the film (or
digital sensor) adding light to the picture that shouldn’t be there. This scattered light decreases the contrast
and sharpness of the picture. It can be
very noticeable – especially if you have a shot with and without a lens hood to
compare. Sometimes you may see me with
my hand out in front of the lens to shade it.
This is because the lens hood on a zoom lens must be cut for its widest
angle or the hood will end up being in the picture. This means that the hood cannot be sufficient
to completely protect the lens at the larger magnifications (narrower
angles). I sometimes need to compensate
for this by shading it with my hand.
Q: How come you never
use a flash? Your pictures would be less
grainy, yes?
Yes. I don’t use a flash mostly because I like to
put my lens as much in the faces of the climbers as I can – and I’d prefer not
to risk having a climber not do their best because they were distracted by a
flash. There are other reasons too,
though. I like the look of pictures
taken with available light – that is, light that comes from several different
sources and not just from the camera all the time – that would be boring! Also, there is a lot of chalk dust floating
in the gym. This dust ruins flash shots
by adding big fluffy white blobs to the picture. The farther away the subject is, the more dust,
and the worse the shot looks.
Q: My photos always
turn out dark or blurry. How do you get
these shots?
A: I used to use fast film (ASA 1600), but a
good digital camera is able to simulate fast film with a menu setting. On the D80 and D700, there is even an “ISO”
button for setting the simulated film speed and while I’m shooting in a gym, I
generally set this to ASA 1600, just like the film I used to use. This is because although the camera allows a
faster setting, ASA 1600 is as fast as the D700 will go and still look
acceptable, in my opinion. Some gyms
have enough light (usually only on sunny days through skylights) that I can use
ASA 800 – which I will use (on the D80) when I can because the quality is
noticeably better. The D700, due to its
larger sensor, is better in low light than the D80. The D700 is better at ASA 1600 than the D80
is at ASA 800.
Every digital camera is
different. Some don’t allow the ISO or
ASA speed to be set and some require difficult menu gyrations to change the
speed. Also, a smaller camera generally
has a smaller sensor which is more susceptible to noise in dark conditions than
a larger sensor. Although ASA 1600 works
fine on my camera, you may find that a higher (faster) number works fine on
yours, or perhaps that you will have to use a lower number to keep the picture
from looking too grainy.
If you want to try using a
flash, go ahead! Just because I don’t
use a flash doesn’t mean that you must not use one. I’ve never heard a climber complain that a
flash used from the ground was distracting.
When I ask them, they usually say something like, “you took a
picture? Cool.”
Caveats:
Good luck!