It's Business . . .
By
John Terence Turner
Stock Asylum Columnist
July 17, 2006
©
2006 John Terence Turner
Let’s compare expedition climbing and rock climbing from the perspective
of a photographer who shoots commercial stock photography.
Expedition climbing takes longer because it takes place at higher altitudes and usually at more distant locations; rock climbing is frequently at locations that are more accessible.
Expedition climbing is limited to seasons when the peak in question is available because of more seasonable weather. The window for shooting rock climbing is much larger in most areas.
I once had to turn down a free Mt. McKinley expedition (in exchange, the guide wanted access to whatever images I shot) because the month it would have required conflicted with several assignments.
The McKinley climb couldn’t be moved because of the fairly narrow period of acceptable weather on the 20,320-foot Alaskan peak.
While I would never discourage a stock photographer from shooting anything in particular, it is always important to consider how much time and effort a shoot will take compared to anticipated sales.
 Choosing the right kinds of images to shoot can help make a stock photographer successful. Rock climbing is an often-used sport because it illustrates some important concepts like strength, perseverance and achievement( © John Terence Turner ). |
Additionally, expedition climbing features humans dressed in bulky garments and hats and goggles and facemasks that are necessary for survive at high altitude.
Such pictures may offer wonderful scenery, but they don’t show much of the human element. This can be a problem, especially when a photographer wants to license images to design and advertising clients. Commercial buyers often seek photos showing abstract concepts like strength, perseverance and achievement.
Rock climbing lets you see the human side. You see bodies with straining muscles and faces with expressions of effort and pain — none of which is visible in images of climbers at high-altitude.
So, while photographers interested in expedition climbing for its own sake should certainly take a camera along, those who want the to make the most money for their time may want to stay closer to home.
Stock photography is a business and should be treated as one.
Accordingly, I recently set out at dawn in a party of five for a rock-climbing shoot at a location two-and-a-half hours east of Seattle. It was late September so the sizzling summer heat of central Washington had diminished but we could still count on a sunny day.
My climber was Nikki Chau, a young Vietnamese-American woman who grew up in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington.
 Turner used an 80 to 200 mm Nikkor to make this image. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
I selected this location because it featured tall basalt arêtes that let me photographically isolate the climber on the edge of a column without competing close details.
Additionally, during the morning hours, the scene—and climber—are backlit by the sun. This eliminates the flat look that exists when the sun is behind the photographer.
Light originating behind the subject provides an attractive rim-light on the figure — adding depth to the image.
Another benefit provided by early morning shooting is that the cliffs in the background throw their shadows into the coulee.
This gives more depth and texture to the background and significantly increases the dramatic effect seen in the wide shots. Even the tighter shots benefit because, as the sun rims the climber’s limbs, the outline is seen clearly against the darker shadows of the distant cliffs, causing the climber to stand out.
A location that offers a variety of camera positions, backgrounds, foregrounds and light directions is very valuable and this one has it all. It meant I could accomplish a great deal of work in few hours. Therefore, we were on the highway as the sun was rising.
 The latest digital equipment shows much better detail images like this. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
The first shots included the wall where Nikki ascended one of the basalt columns. In the background are the distant walls with the shadows they threw into coulee, and the wide sagebrush adorned flat space in between. This first image was made with a 35-70mm Nikkor zoom lens.
Next, I switched to a longer lens and shot medium and closer images. For these two images I used an 80-200mm Nikkor.
Last I made the really tight shots of Nikki climbing up a wide crack that is aptly named “Stems and Seeds (5.11b)”.
This was a good shooting location. I was able to lie at the top and shoot down at Nikki as she worked her way up the chimney. I made these images with the 80-200mm Nikkor.
Being close allowed Nikki to work on her thespian skills and show effort, determination and triumph as well as her beautiful teeth.
Total shooting time was about 4 hours.
A location I that features the fine texture of rock walls and basalt columns demonstrates the superiority of digital files produced by a high-end camera. Film just can't compete with good digital images.
 A good shooting location offers a number of options for different kinds of shots. Here, Turner shoots down as the model ascends( © John Terence Turner ). |
I marvel at the fine texture of images spread across my right-hand monitor. The clarity is breathtaking and the photos are about as close to being at the shoot location as you can get without being there.
I made these with a Nikon D2x and as the disks filled, we moved them to a Nikon Cool Walker for storage. I don’t take a laptop on shoots like this because the bright sunlight makes it hard to read the screen and the dust is hazardous to computers.
I used a strong warming filter to offset the grayish tones of the rocks and generally improve the appearance of whole coulee.
As valuable as is to have good photographic equipment, it is equally valuable to have a catalogue of good locations where the shoots can be accomplished.
A desirable location provides a lot of options that can look different with different lenses, angles and different activities.
(John Terence Turner has been shooting stock photography for 20 years. His work can be seen at Getty Images, Alamy and, of course, The Stock Asylum, where his column appears twice a month. He lives and works in Seattle, WA.)
Turner's web site can be found at: http://www.johnterenceturner.com.
For more of his images: click here.
For all of Turner's columns: click here.
