Rich Crowder Adventure Media

Guidebook: Climb Point Perp

2012-01-13T04:20:00.001+11:00

I came home from a week shooting in the pit of Los Angeles to a welcomed surprise in the mail from my buddy Robert Dun. Robert just published the much needed climbing guidebook for arguably one of my favorite climbing crags in the entire world, Point Perpendicular, NSW, Australia. This book is fantastic, especially compared to its horribly outdated predecessor. Robert really did it right with this one, easy to use, quality printing, functional and aesthetic design and of course..... bangin color photos. I was lucky enough to be able to help out with this community service we call guidebook publishing. Check out some iphone photos of my featured photos. Get out there and buy one!!!

11 Favorites from 2011

2012-01-12T13:13:00.000+11:00

2011, another great year has come and gone here at Rich Crowder Media. It was a year of helicopters, canyons, cliffs, mustangs, and blizzards. I spent a large amount of time serving as a Director of Photography both for my clients and my new creative media partners, Louder Than 11. As I review my Adobe Lightroom catalog I thought it was be fun to revisit some of my favorites from various photo shoots in 2011. These are not necessarily the "best" images but rather ones that provoked me.

11.

Community: I spent most of the year back in the states. Living in Boulder is something I often take for granted. Being involved with the climbing community at such a deep level is inspiring and motivational, even if I have to shoot climbing more than I actually climb. This is a legendary home training wall we used as a commercial shoot location for Five Ten. This ape index marker has everyone from Chris Sharma to Lynn Hill to Jason Kehl to David Lama to Dave Graham. A pretty special place. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO!! (Coming soon)

10.

Models: All I have to say is thank you to everyone I've said "lets do that one more time".
The Remarkables, South Island, New Zealand

9.

Cancellations: This year was the first time I've ever been flown out for a job and it was cancelled completely due to weather. I was out in Lake Tahoe, California for California Tourism Board with the intent to cover the first two stages of the Tour of California, North America's most elite cycling race. I never really got farther than the media tents. This was the scene outside for the servers.

8.

Adaptation: I shoot adventure, I shoot clothing, I shoot running, I shoot industry, I shoot climbing, I do not shoot bike parks. I've just recently completed a series of videos for Teva with my creative media partners Louder Than 11. In order to promote the first ever Winter Teva Mountain Games, Jordan Shipman and I spent a day shooting b-roll footage at Valmont Bike Park with some of the world top free ride mountain bikers including legendary Jeff Lenosky. 2011 was a year of adapting to new styles, trends and sports. Gotta love change. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO!!!

7.

Exploration: Jason Haas is crazy. plain nuts. Endlessly enthusiastic and straight psyched on life. We started a long term project together this year profiling some of his more epic adventure both in photos and video. From 1500ft, remote X-rated slab climbing to passing out from alpine dehydration amidst a 400ft offwidth at 14,000ft. Between shooting Jason and developing alpine boulders, the exploration bug was in full force this year.

6.

Serendipity: The west coast of New Zealand's south island gets hammered by rain. Hammered! Milford Sound averages 7200mm of rainfall per year. While on assignment for Australian Geographic Outdoor I had a 2 day window to photographer with Rosco's kayaking guides in Milford Sound. Day one, the road was closed due to so much rain. Day two the road was open but nobody would go out on the water. 8pm the weather breaks, the typical two flowing waterfalls in the sound turned into two thousand. Cascading mist in every direction. I had an hour of daylight and the guides made it happen. One of the most surreal scenes of my life.

5.

Prejudice: I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I hate motorcycles.... everything about them, the noise, the people, the attitude, the recklessness. Or at least I use to. I was out with a handful of bikers in San Francisco for a day of shooting with California Tourism. I was not particularly psyched but after getting to know these grizzly men and being gripped on the back of this bike I realized that prejudice is a horrible thing. Needless to say, this guy had an awesome outlook on life.

4.

Family: Over Thanksgiving I took an assignment for Urban Climber magazine to photograph bouldering in Yosemite National Park. Even though I missed my real family for 11 days during the holidays, the community of rock climbers made for a great surget. Yosemite will always hold a special place in my heart, for the character of the rock and the character of the people. CHECK OUT THE TRAILER!!!

3.

Fitness: Soloing in circles around a group of mountaineers for a 12 hour summit push is hard. My face melted off from sunburns, and I couldn't feel my legs for a week. Big mountains warrant respect.
Australian Geographic Outdoor, Cascade Range, Northern California.

2.

Lifestyle: I made this photo while on a video shoot for the clothing company Prana. It capture the crux movement of one of the hardest rock climbs in the world. Their athlete Paul Robinson firmly represents an adventure athlete "living the dream". A lifestyle like no other, traveling the world, developing rock climbs, and soaking in the culture. So cheers to the good life! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO.
(Coming soon)

1.

Heart: As an adventure photographer I often do a lot of work with professional guides. These people have followed there dreams and somehow made work out of play. Seeing people connect with the natural landscape at such a deep level is truly a beautiful thing. My goal as a photographer is to capture those connections as well as inspire people to get outside and enjoy. Here's to twenty twelve.

The End of the Alpine

2011-11-04T09:49:00.002+11:00

Chaos Canyon, Rocky Mountain National Park

Lincoln Lake, Mount Evans

This year has been my biggest season yet for bouldering in the alpine and it has swiftly come to a close with the recent snow storms. The Colorado alpine bouldering scene is full of some of the hardest working climbers out there. After countless miles of high altitude hiking and talus hopping some friends and I spent the season filming, photographing and developing all over the Rockies. I have some long term stories I'm working on so I can't exactly release the cream of the crop with my photos. But my recent rediscovery of polaroid film inspired me to share the above photos as well as some early season outtakes. Enjoy!

The endless talus of Chaos Canyon

How to photograph such a popular climb?!?! Unshackled V10

Yet another Glassberg FA Hernia V12??

The only way to travel

Filming

When the sky starts to buzz... you run!

The classic alpine sunset

UPDATE!!!!

Check out a video of the above shinanagans made but the one and only
Louder Than 11:

Alpine Bouldering - Summer 2011 - Louder Than 11 from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

USA World Cup Roped Climbing

2011-10-21T05:48:00.002+11:00

I'm psyched to be back in Boulder where the climbing community is strong. being in CO allows me to experience all of what what the sport has to offer. The USA hasn't seen a roped IFSC World Cup competition in over 20 years. My creative partners over at Louder Than 11 were heading the film crew for USA climbing. Movement Climbing and Fitness gym was packed full with 1,300 people and 24/7 live had another 30,000 watching live on the web. Luckily I was off work just enjoying myself. but of course I made a photo or two. Here are some highlights to check out.

Check out the Climbing Narc for a non visual recap....

Check out the video recap from Louder Than 11 here....

Sasha with a special Lynn Hill guest belay

local crusher Matty Hong

A star studded crowd

tons of cameras to keep the viewers at home happy

my arm hurts just looking at this....

Jordan Shipman on the floor

Jon Glassberg on the crane

Tech4o video shoot

2011-09-15T08:37:00.000+10:00

A client of mine, Tech4o is taking advantage of some beautiful late summer locations here in Colorado. I am shooting a brand video for them and we only have one more location/shoot day left. I was just sorting through some raw footage straight out of camera and got excited so I figured I would share a few screen grabs. I spend so much of my time shooting still photos that when I have video assignments it revitalizes my creativity. Big shout out to Jon Glassberg over at Louder Than 11 on this one for second DP work and master crane operator. I'm Psyched for the final product and you should be too!!!

2011-09-04T00:07:00.003+10:00

Day after day of long hikes and epic rains. Big Walls and Pebble Wrestling shoots, all above 12,00ft in elevation. Once things calm down over here I'll get you some more images.

New Creative Media Partnership

2011-08-10T08:14:00.001+10:00

Every year the Outdoor Retailer show provides me with 4 days of meetings. Whether it be with old friends, professional athletes, or marketing managers from future or past clients, these meetings are an integral part of my business marketing plan for the year. This summer I decided to take a new approach and team up with Jon Glassberg and Jordan Shipman over at Louder Than 11. Together we brainstormed some ingenious creative media projects and a new partnership was formed. We have purposely decided to keep the relationship a bit vague at this point, but the bottom line is that as a new creative media collective we are going to razzle and dazzle the outdoor industry.

We put together a promotional site for our Outdoor Retailer audience. Hopefully with a couple clicks through you will have a better idea of where we are going.....

http://or.lt11.com/

Climber (UK) keeps it in the commonwealth.

2011-06-29T09:35:00.000+10:00

My favorite unpublished image of the classic chimney Agamemnon.

Brits and Aussies have a funny relationship. They love each other then they hate each other. I think its more like a sibling relationship, you love to pick on each other and make fun but when it comes down to it you are all part of the same family, or in this case the British Commonwealth. Anyways since I'm an American living in AUS, I'll shut up before I offend anyone. The British mag Climber just published a great piece of mine on climbing at Mount Arapiles, down in Victoria. A destination photo essay on its proverbial big brother down under.....

Ugly Rocks

2011-04-19T12:41:00.008+10:00

A couple weeks ago my buddy Phil Schaal crushed his project, Echale V14. Props to him... this thing looked hard. Then when I found out it has only been sent by the likes of Daniel Woods, David Graham, and Paul Robinson (in that order) it confirmed in my mind this thing was tough. Naturally Phil was psyched and wanted some good lookin photographs to go with his good lookin sent. I agreed to hike out there and do my best, I had never seen the boulder before the shoot day....

To put it bluntly this thing was ugly, well for photos at least. It got horrible light as it was on the east side of a very narrow drainage a couple hundred meters up through a loose and sketchy approach. (Which ended up doing with coffees in hand) It was a big dug out roof with a bunch of brown dirt, brown rock and brown trees surrounding it. Don't get me wrong the movement was amazing its just that it wasn't exactly a Virgin Gorda setting.

I guess my point is sometimes as a photographer you gotta make something out of nothing... hopefully you think I succeeded. These three composition collectively show the whole problem, pretty much impossible to do in one frame for this line. Congrats Phil.

Rock and Ice: The Photo Issue

2011-03-23T06:05:00.005+11:00

Another important addition to my latest published work..... Rock and Ice, a large American rock climbing publication, puts out an annual "photo issue". It highlights some of the best photography of the year and is filled with great action and composition. I was lucky enough to score a couple images this year and notably a full page near the front on the "departments" page. Big thanks to Mayan Smith Gobat and Max Farr for hanging out and showing me their beautiful home country of New Zealand. I can't wait to get back.

Also congrats to Simon Carter for getting Oz on the cover. I have the same exact image sans Monique Forestier. It's a great route at Point Perpendicular called Superstylin...grade 25??

Forgive the extra contrast..... new scanner!?!?

Latest Published Work

2011-03-16T04:39:00.002+11:00

I have been slacking on blog posting lately and I have been especially late with posting a lot of my recent published work. So here is a look at what has been coming out in Oz. First two feature stories with Great Walks Magazine, the leading bush walking mag in Australia. One is a story from the Victoria alpine playground of Mt Buffalo (cover) and the second from my home state of Colorado in the US of A. I was fortunate enough to write both stories as well. Thanks to Sam at Osprey and Ben at Outdoor Agencies for hooking it up.

And from the Sangre de Christo's of southern Colorado:

and no I did not make those horrible maps....

Australian Capitol

2011-02-16T07:31:00.002+11:00

On my way back from an assignment down in southern New South Wales I decided to take a visit to the nations capitol. Although I can't yet show you the images from the assignment I can show you some personal photos I took while doing a little sight seeing of the war memorials. Some American friends ask me why the hell a place like Canberra is the capitol and not Sydney or Melbourne. My foreign take on the issue is that a knock down drag out fight between the two prosperous cities ended in a stale mate when sparing for the capitol title. The only conclusion was to just make a whole new city and call it the nations capitol....... who knows???

Website update... New images

2011-01-18T19:26:00.002+11:00

I've just updated my portfolio website with a few new photos from my latest adventures mixed in. Check it out!

Point Perpendicular: Australian Geographic Outdoor

2011-01-13T18:56:00.002+11:00

I made these photos a while ago but I've been holding off becasue of a story that as just recently been published in Australian Geograpahic Outdoor. I'm very happy to be a regular contributor to AGO. It is similar to what National Geographic Adventure use to be. Since that mag has gone under, Australian Geographic Outdoor is the next best thing.....in Australia at least.

Check out some of the extras that did not make the cut. Some fun ones as well.

Gear Reviews: An Outdoor Photographer's side job??

2011-01-13T18:18:00.001+11:00

It is no secret that the outdoor adventure industry is, to say it bluntly, poor. Marketing budgets seem to always be cut and as photographers we always seem to get the short end of the stick. I personally know a couple of photographers from back in the US who earn a extra bit of cash by doing editorial gear reviews. These reviews make a big impact on consumers purchases and are not to be taken lightly. That being said, here is my editorial gear review debut. In the last issue of Australian Geographic Outdoor I did a piece on this summer's OR show. In the following issue I contributed to their new section "Used and Abused" with a review of the new DMM Dragon Cams.

Update: Urban CLimber

2010-12-08T09:41:00.001+11:00

This was pretty quick turn around on the photos and interview I did with Phil Schaal in Sydney this spring. Check out the December issue of Urban Climber for this "Drive" piece. Thanks again Phil.

Back from Buffalo

2010-12-01T21:35:00.002+11:00

I just got back from a trip to an area in the Victorian alps called Mount Buffalo National Park. Its a unique place for here in Oz. Big granite walls tower around "the gorge". I was doing a story on bush walking in the park as well as big wall climbing on the north wall. While I was waiting around for the climbers to get part of the way up the route I met an Austrian hang glider on holiday. I spent a bit of time photographing hang gliding back in Colorado so I was excited to meet my new mate Lukas. Unfortunately he didn't catch any thermals but I still abseiled down to get a unique angle on his launch. There is a great view of the north wall in the background. I should have more bush walking and climbing photos from the trip after there publication in late January.

Also here is a picture of Dave and I on the north wall. I was down a 135m rope rebelayed onto a 100m rope. Jugging out was quite a struggle consider the majority was free hanging under a massive roof. Thanks to Caitlin, Hamish and Dave for making it happen.

Photography in wet, dark, remote, holes in the ground.

2010-11-04T17:39:00.001+11:00

Lately I have been trying to push my limits with harsh shooting environments and the canyons of the Blue Mountains in Australia are a great location to do so. These canyons are dark, wet, technical and often hard to access. Shooting in these areas allows me to get a better grasp on what is possible with my documentary style. How fast can I move, how can I pack my gear, how can I stay safe, how much light do I need, the list goes on. I have two canyons down so far this season... ButterBox and Juggler, just the beginning of my education.

Bill Hatcher (above) and I were out in Juggler last week. Be sure to check out his side of the story on his blog...

Paleontology in the Outback

2010-11-04T15:25:00.004+11:00

This Australian winter I was in the SA outback for a few weeks photographing Dr. Mary Droser and her team as they were doing some important work in the field. This story is still a bit under wraps on my side of things but I thought I would share one image and plug Mary for her new spot which just aired on Discovery Channel. Sir David Attenborough has still got it!!

Check out one of Mary's segments here:

Princeton Tec

2010-11-04T14:29:00.002+11:00

Headlamps (or head torches in Oz) have always been one of my favorite things to photograph. It usually involves a challenging low light environment and hitting the 5 minute window where the head light is visible but there is still enough natural light to capture the scene can be tough. Last year I was hired by Princeton Tec to make some images for web and catalog use. They are just starting to filter through now. Check it out...

copyright

2010-10-28T20:37:00.002+11:00

Last year I shot some portraits of scientist Kevin Trenberth for a story in London's Financial Times on "The Top Ten Climate Scientist" in the world. I never saw the end result because frankly I'm not a regular reader of the Financial Times. I found it posted on the internet the other day and as I scrolled down to see my photo I find it has a copyright to one David Sandison. I scratched my head for a bit given the fact that it was my photo. What gives?

Bouldering Hardman Phillip Schaal in Oz

2010-09-09T11:01:00.003+10:00

Phil Schaal, who has crushing the past couple years all over the States with ascents like Jade (V15), Ode to the Modern Man (V14), The Book of Bitter Aspects (V14), Nagual (V13) and the list goes on. He recently came to Australia for some of Sydney's hardest urban bouldering test pieces like, Genesis (V13), Catalyst (V14), and J1 (V13) among others. We spent a couple days shooting and it was great fun. Phil is a super chilled out guy with a lot of strength. Tons of crazy overhangs to be had here in the northern suburbs. Can't wait to see you back here again Phil! I can share one photo for now. More to come later on. Check out Phil's blog for more info on his trip.

update:

Here are some images more to check out!

It is tough to shoot in dark cave situations but the dynamic lighting adds to the real drama of the cave climbing setting.

Virgin Gorda Book

2010-09-09T10:02:00.001+10:00

Virgin Gorda: A Travel Guide for Climbers.

or something like that.... Jon Wasser and myself have teamed up with Fixed Pin Publishing to release a guidebook for the caribbean island of Virgin Gorda. Its a special place that demands a unique style guide for adventurer who visit the British Virgin Islands. We are excited to have completely the majority of the beta gathering and with one more photo shoot it is looking like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Obviously I can not show every photograph, but here is a taste of the quality this photo heavy book will have. My latest email promo piece will give a you a good idea. Enjoy!

Tiger Snake Canyon, Blue Mountains of New South Wales

2010-07-25T18:27:00.002+10:00

When you need to get your fix of canyoning and its winter time in the Bluies you have only a few options. Luckly Tiger Snake Canyon on the newnes plateau stays reletively dry year round. Besides the abseil into waist deep water you can stay dry and warm if you move quick. We had a beautiful day out in one of the top rated canyons in New South Wales.

Cover: New Sea to Summit catalog

2010-07-20T13:07:00.004+10:00

Back when the Banff Mountain Film Fest rolled through Sydney I had a pleasant suprise at the Sea to Summit sponsor booth. They had their new catalogs on the table and BAM!! the cover was sporting my photo. I did some work for Sea to Summit USA last year down in the Virgin Islands which was good fun but Sea to Summit here in AUS is a bigger story. They are the top distributor for a long list of big name brands as well as a gear company. This mean the catalog was very large in size and distribution. I'm stoked to see how well it was designed and printed, kudos Sea to Summit team.

Also some work up on the web:

Jamestown, Rhode Island

2010-06-15T12:30:00.001+10:00

Blast from the Past:

Through art school I was completely obsessed with using a 4x5 and making images that dealt with the passage of time and how we interact with our environment in tat time. I've decided to add a post or two of some old work I am still very proud of but do not get to show very often. Below is a piece I did back when I was doing some graduate work with my friend and mentor Mark Klett over at Arizona State University. This all shot on a home made 4x5 pin hole camera on tranparancy film. then stitched together in Photoshop. The original print is 8 feet in length.

Deep Pass Canyoning Session

2010-06-09T16:00:00.003+10:00

The Blue Mountains are an outdoor enthusiasts summer dream. My new friend Bill Hatcher and I decided it couldn't be too bad in the winter either, so we headed on up to check out a relatively dry canyon called Deep Pass. After hours of lost driving through countless km of logging roads followed by hours of lost hiking through the fern riddled valleys we managed to find the canyon as well as make some great photos along the way. Bill is a great photographer with a long list of accomplishments. Its great to meet another American photographer starting a new chapter life in Oz. Be sure to check out Bill's blog to see his latest and greatest.

P.S. Bill just posted the counterpart to this post. Check it out here!!

Here are a couple of Bill at work:

Kathmandu Adventure Race

2010-05-23T17:19:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I headed down to Royal National Park just south of Sydney. I photographed the Kathmandu Adventure Race for Max Adventure. They run a great series of races all around AUS. It was short and sweet with most teams done within 4 hours or so. This made it hard to get to very many locations but I pulled it out and even got in the water to gain some unique angles with my new Aquatech water housing. Once I started shaking uncontrollably from the cold I decided to get out, especially after I was warned of the lurking eels. I also climbed a pretty hair ball cliff to get access to a rock outcropping that over hung the bike track. I was pushing the unique angles as much as possible hopefully you think it paid off. Here is just a sample from the day.

Frozen in Empress Canyon

2010-05-23T16:58:00.001+10:00

With the colder weather is rolling into the part of the world the Canyoning season is on its way out. The Blue Mountains are starting to get significantly colder than down here in Sydney. Despite this reality I figured Empress Canyon wouldn't hurt too bad. Its a little over 2 hours car to car (when you are taking photos). Its maybe the best bang for your buck as far as Australian Canyons go. Easy access, great features, long abseil and a couple pool jumps. I decided to take along my new Aquatech housing to see how it preformed in the canyoning environment.

All of this was hand held at very slow shutter speeds (+/- 1/5th) at ISO 1600 with near freezing water and whipping winds. Not exactly the easiest environment to shoot in. Just the way I like it :)

PS. the Princeton Tec Apex head torches killed it in the water!!

Arapiles

2010-05-22T17:36:00.001+10:00

I headed down to Mount Arapiles over the Easter holiday. I know that was a while ago but I have been slacking on the blog posts. It was a climbing trip not a photography trip. I've discovered over the years that you can not do both successfully. I did manage to make a couple images worth checkin out.

Storm Riders

2010-03-21T13:04:00.001+11:00

Storm Riders is a windsurfing club based out of NSW. This past weekend they closed up this seasons racing series with a formula race up in Hawksnest NSW. This was the first time I have shot such an event so I knew I needed to really get into it. You always see the same windsurfing race photos over and over.....400mm lens from the beach or the boat, all lined up on the horizon. I attempted to capture something different. So, about a kilometer off shore I hopped off the starter's boat into the water and went at it. I was informed later on by about every racers in the heat I was a brave man for putting myself in front of 70cm, razor sharp fins flying by just a couple feet away. I never felt like I was in danger...knock on wood.

This was my first test of AquaTechs DC-5 sporthousing. Im writing up a little review now which I will post soon.

Thanks to my buddy Chris Ting for making it all happen. Definitely check out his handmade fins.... some of the best on the market.

Here is a shot of the starter's boat.

scouting locations.... underground

2010-03-15T09:18:00.001+11:00

I'm putting together a photoshoot in the dark. Literally, its pitch black and tens of meters underground. I've hooked up with a buddy named Tim who is a real badass at this kind of stuff. He has rigged these tiny lights into some pvc cases attached to a tiny little power pack which can pretty much go anywhere. When reality set in and I realized I would need very small, very tough, very powerful, continuous lighting sources, Tim came through. This system along with the high ISO powerhouse, Canon's 5dmk2, allows me to shoot hand held while hanging off a belay anchor. This past weekend we went on a scouting mission to find some good locations that would show the most interesting sections of Bungonias most interesting caves. I did bring my camera in for one cave and we tried his little setup. There will definitely be more to come after a couple more days of strictly making photos. The second photo is of the setup we used above the "acoustic pot".

Videos Worth Watching

2010-03-12T18:22:00.000+11:00

Ive decided to change up the blog with some new editions. When Im not out there making photos/video Im usually stuck at my desk glued to the seat in front of my obscenely large Apple display. Sad but true. With the DSLR video revolution and media tools like the GoPro I feel like the adventure industry is churning out some insanely creative eye candy. So Im now implementing a post that Ill do about once each month called "Videos Worth Watching". I usually find them off my extensive RSS feed, full of amazing photographers but this first edition is just purely for the "HOLY S*%T" factor. Enjoy!

Speed Riding - Antoine Montant - Can't Stop

A day in the clouds..

2010-02-14T13:23:00.002+11:00

Being down at Mtn Buffalo reminded me to post this. They have a intimidating hang glider launch ramp over the gorge area, something BJ would go crazy for. Check it out. I worked with bj making photos and video a lot before I left fro AUS. I got some great imagery out of it. Thanks BJ!!!

A day in the clouds with BJ Herring from Rich Crowder on Vimeo.
World record holding hang gliding pilot, BJ Herring let me into his world for a day. We spent a day shooting during a cold front soaring session this winter in Colorado USA.

Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival

2010-02-11T13:33:00.001+11:00

Mount Buffalo National Park is in the northern part of Victoria referred to as the "Australian Alps". To get there you must drive up the great alpine road, which didn't seem too "alpine" too me. Regardless it is a beautiful part of the country. We spent a lot of the days trying to stay dry from the rain storms and other days climbing with Russian Aiders. Given the circumstances I didn't get to pull out the camera very often but here is some of what I got when I did.

I can't decide which of these facial expressions I like better........ ohhhhh finger cracks. Thanks Fiona.

In both 2003 and 2006 there were some terrible bush fires which devastated the region. The regrowth was promising but as you can see (above) there were thousands of trees let bare and dead.

mmmm the outdoors

2010-01-29T13:47:00.000+11:00

I'm taking a trip.

Big Wall....Granite.... Australia.

For now enjoy this Public Records Office of Victoria Photo. Mine will be along shortly.

Back in the John

2010-01-25T16:36:00.001+11:00

Before leaving for Australia I spent some personal time down in the islands, Virgin Islands that is. it was a nice get away before the stresses of international relocation. I shot a few photos. Here are some favorites.

During my time down there I took a little break from vacation and went to work. I have a large project coming up for the next couple years. Im super excited about this opportunity and can't wait to get back there and do some more shooting. Sarah was helping me prep, here she is taking notes, making faces and enjoying the beach cafes we spent time at.

I would also like to stress the fact that they have some large boulders here...... VERY large.

Note: Sarah in the bottom of the frame

Hawkesbury River.... NSW.... Australia

2010-01-25T16:22:00.001+11:00

Its been a while since my last post. I have one pretty good reason. I moved to Australia. Yep thats right. Ive always been jealous of those photographer that when you read their Bio it says, "I split my time between Moab and Paris". The opportunity came our way and my wife and I took it. Bam!!! we are now in Sydney. I will still be continuing my work with many clients in the USA but have now opened up many international opportunities including shooting a lot more stock for my agency Aurora Photos.

Its a bummer that this first Aussie post will be a bit lame but Its the first photos I've made here. My wife and I went deep water soloing on the Hawkesbury River, about an hour north of Sydney. My new buddy Dave took us there. It was a nice little 2.5km hike down to the river then we had to swim across to the cliff. I didn't know that this was the approach so I only have a few photos from the dry side. Enjoy for now!!

Public Transport goes everywhere, even the crags.

The cliff looked more epic in B+W. A traverse route (25) or 5.12a/b follows the very top overhang. Heel hooks alllll day long

The climbing here is very tide dependent. This is a fire pit from some campers the night before. We were about 30km inland but this saltwater river was still full of massive jellyfish.

Focus on Fitness

2009-12-12T13:37:00.001+11:00

Movement Climbing and Fitness is a new gym here is town. They have a great setup as the premier place to indoor sport climb in town with the addition yoga, spinning and a full fitness program. This past wednesday they had the first annual Focus on Fitness day. I was lucky enough to make some photographs and shoot a little video. Considering Im in the Caribbean for the next ten days I can only get the photos out for now. Enjoy!

Review: Nikon D3s ISO range

2009-12-07T15:51:00.000+11:00

Chris Shinn just got his shiny new toy, Nikon's D3s. Essentially it looks the same as the D3 but with a couple big time upgrades. First, the HD 24fps video option. Some kinks may need to be worked out, but the big deal is you can shoot super high ISO video now, possibly the best low light vslr camera out there? Second, A newly engineered chip but still not a megapixel overload like Canon's 5d mk2. Third and most important, the expansion of the high ISO range. The Hi-3 (ISO 102,400 equivalent) seems to be just a marketing gimmick but after Chris made some test images of me just standing in his office I decided that this chip definately stepped up the game with high ISO shooting. Check out the shots below...... Seems like every 2 years we get an extra stop.

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 102400

"the times they are a changin....."

2009-12-04T13:05:00.000+11:00

This is a cool little video I found posted on A Photo Editor's blog. It is a perfect example of where we are going in the photography world. Im excited about the use of video and stills in the same piece. It all comes from the guys over at The Wonderland Factory and Time Inc.

Maybe there is hope...

2009-11-21T10:50:00.000+11:00

The Purple Door Studios

2009-11-19T14:55:00.000+11:00

Madeline Wiener is the mastermind and founder of The Purple Door Studios. In the summer she practices her art up in Marble, Colorado. When its too cold in the mountains she heads down to the RiNo district of Denver to a little warehouse full of amazing artists. Another photographer I work with, Chris Shinn has made photographs for Madeline in the past. So with that introduction and my new video capabilities I went out for our first of many sessions of shooting video. The final output will be a variety of videos combining CSP and Rich Crowder Media footage, but I thought I would give you a sneek peek of some of the footage I shot. Now this place was dusty.... real dusty so as you can see at the end of this video, we wrapped the cameras real well with plastic and painters tape. This made it hard to record audio with my Rode mic, but since 99% was overly loud saws cutting rock, I will go back and record separate audio. I've also included a couple still images which is the nice part about shooting video on the 5d mkII, you have video and stills all in one.

The Purple Door Studios preview from Rich Crowder on Vimeo.
Chris Shinn Photography, consisting of Chris Shinn and Rich Crowder filmed Madeline Wiener at her studio in Denver, Colorado. This is just a taste of what is to come.

London's Financial Times

2009-11-18T12:22:00.001+11:00

Last week I was lucky enough to be commissioned by London's Financial Times to make some portraits. They are doing a story on the top ten climate change scientist in the world and with NCAR in my backyard we have some here in Boulder. I always joke with Chris Shinn that the new wave of the future is the 10 minute portrait. Everyone is so busy and wants to cram in soooo much into the day photographers are now force to make portraits in 10 minutes when it should be a solid hour. Lets just say I put these together rather quick on the mans lunch break. With him being the lead author on 2 of the biggest IPCC reports ever I was inspired to be in his presences.

Assistants always got to keep it lively:

Wolcott Hang Gliding

2009-11-11T08:11:00.002+11:00

Once again I went out to make some photos with BJ Herring and crew. This time we made the trip to Wolcott, CO. Its up off the I 70 just west of Vail. From what I've learned about hang gliding this seems to be a pretty epic place to cloud base. As the season winds down more and more, Im looking to still get out and catch some cold front flying with these guys. I figured another "mash up" of the images was appropriate considering the volume of pictures I took throughout the day.

Upcoming Show

2009-11-05T08:27:00.000+11:00

A band I do a lot fo work with, The Digger Trends has a big show coming up. They are playing the after party of the Boulder Theater premier for Warren Miller's "Dynasty". It is taking place right next door at George's.
I put together some footage from last years album premier party in order to get people psyched up. Check it out......

Just for fun

2009-11-04T08:45:00.000+11:00

Last March I spent some time down on the islands of St John and Virgin Gorda. I was there shooting stills for some commercial clients but I also happen to have my new canon 5d mark 2, which as everyone knows shoots HD video. So I decided to play around with it and I never got around to the edit because the files got hidden in the depths of my stack of terabyte hard drives. Here is just a quick look just for fun.

Rich Crowder Media: Virgin Islands Bouldering from Rich Crowder on Vimeo.
Bouldering on the island of Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands.

This video was put together with b roll test footage taken during a commercial photo shoot.

New vs Old

2009-11-03T10:00:00.001+11:00

I usually do not do product photography but every once in a while I like to dabble. I shot a bunch of Trango's new products last year and Im starting to see the final Ads that came out of those shoots, like this one in Elevation Outdoors magazine. Introducing the new and improved Cinch:

Its way better than the old one :)

Note: this had nothing to do with the old design. Its completely the fault of a missing hair tie.

Photographer or Media artist

2009-10-31T04:32:00.000+11:00

As many would say the photography market is going to hell in a hand basket. Not to disrespect our industries masters but this isn't the 80's anymore. Back then if you were technically sound with some printing skills you could make a living, quite a lucrative one at that. Going into the 20teens the market has shifted towards new media, everything moves and is available in any size, all day, everyday, and anywhere and most of the time for free. Its kind of a bummer we have to work harder to produce more for less money in a ever growing competitive market.

Anyways I bring this up because I have stumbled upon a half dozen or so of these videos. All touching on the same thing. The photography world has changed. There will always be a demand for straight photography, but unless you want to be treated like one of these photographers in the videos my suggestion is you pony up and adapt. Learn Final Cut, buy a Zoom H4n, rent a RED camera and start Tweeting it out. OK maybe twitter is just a quick fad.

I've always wanted to be a Renaissances man anyways.

Cloudbase Chronicles

2009-10-27T05:49:00.000+11:00

After the good man Jim Yocom posted my name onto the Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association message board I was taken back with the kind responses and offers I had got. One in particular was from BJ Herring, local hang gliding nut (in a good way). I met up with BJ and his buddy Alex McCulloch on Lookout Mountain, the local hang out for riding the thermals. Its the end of the season for these guys and the air wasn't looking the best but they are always out and trying to ride what they can. Both flights ended up being a "float" which is exactly what it sounds like.... they just run and jump off the mountain and float down. Im looking forward to going out again possibly some different locations and different times of the year in order to get something beside a brown hillside in the middle of the day (best time to fly).

The Brothers of Penitence

2009-10-20T11:20:00.000+11:00

Penitente Canyon in southern Colorado was originally settled in the late 1800's by a brotherhood of devout Catholics. They slowly died out and the only trace is the folk art painting of the virgin mary that sits high up on the cliff in the middle of a bunch of canyon classics. Penitente is a small San Luis Valley canyon with an easy approach that is full of 40ft to 70ft gems, all on frictiony volcanic tuff. I went down there with a couple friends this past weekend, mainly to climb. But as Ben would say, I was also "click clackin with the ol' photo box". Enjoy a few!!
P.S. I usually hate when photographers stitch pictures together to show the whole climb but since this is a very popular route to photograph I thought it may give is a fresh perspective. I call it digital free soloing considering it usually looks best to eliminate the rope from the picture in post.

Multipitch sport routes

2009-10-16T05:27:00.001+11:00

Went out for a morning climb the other day...... Upper Dream Canyon in Boulder is home to some big cliffs with some 5 star multi pitch sport routes. We enjoyed the perfect climbing conditions and I made a couple photos. Thanks Abby and Dan

on the road again

2009-10-14T13:23:00.000+11:00

My blog has been lacking lately. Mainly because I have been on the road hoppin from shoot to shoot to shoot. It was quite the "whirlwind tour" .....(that ones for Robin). Besides one wedding I photographed in Aspen, this was all assisting my main man Chris Shinn. We do a bit of this and a bit of that. Its actually kind of hard to explain, but to confuse you even more our last couple shoots consisted of electricians in a prison... middle of nowhere Wyoming, German engineers getting frustrated in the Mojave desert, students praying in Tulsa, and some movie star in Atlanta. The one thing that ties it all together you ask??? a tireless work ethic and an amazing documentary eye and ISO 1600. Those 3 ideas epitomize CSP. Anyways, we are currently working on some behind the scenes video from a huuuuge solar plant we photographed and made video of. Some keep your eyes out. For now check out the Zacuto and Think Tank gear we use, along with a couple test comps during the shoot.

Mount of Holy Talus

2009-09-07T09:55:00.000+10:00

One images of Mount of Holy Cross is ingrained in my head from art school (shout out to Mark Klett). William Henry Jackson, spotted it, make a photo with huuuuge glass plate negative, then went for the send with his buddy Ferdinand Hayden. You thought Louis and Clark were badass??? not compared to WH Jackson. At 27 (1870, yes I know its 67 years after) Jackson hit the west for the Geological Survey carrying ton of photo gear in tow. He processed 18x22 inch glass plate negatives in the field, create some of the first pictures of the American West. Ok thats enough of that, I just got back from hiking this morning....It was long and a lot of elevation gain on talus fields. Check out a couple highlights.

OK a couple more things to consider.........

Jackson camera bag for the summer travels of 1938:

2 or 3 cameras for different size lenses
lenses and plate holders for each camera
2 tripods
dark tent or darkbox
10 pounds collodion
2 pints alcohol
1 pint ether
1/4 pound each ammonium iodide and ammonium bromide
1/4 pound each cadmium iodide and cadmium bromide
3 pounds silver nitrate
10 pounds ferrous sulfate
1-1/2 pounds potassium cyanide
6 ounces nitric acid
1 quart varnish
package of filter papers
canton flannel and rottenstone
3 negative boxes
processing trays
various bottles for chemicals
scales and weights
400 pieces of glass

"But William Henry Jackson and [Carleton] Watkins were all over this country with much bigger cameras. Wet plate cameras. And I believe it was Jackson's series of pictures on the top of Mt. Hoffman, with wet plates, that is, having to take the darkroom, cook the plates on the spot, expose and process them immediately. For the wet plate process you have to complete the development of the image before the emulsion dries. And when the dry plate came in it was a great godsend. I guess we all did the best as we could. If we had very heavy cameras we simply didn't go so far or take so many pictures. Knowing what I know now, any photographer worth his salt could make some beautiful things with pinhole cameras." -Ansel Adams

Tiger Muskies elude us once again

2009-09-04T08:03:00.000+10:00

Last night I went out to make some stock headlamp photographs up at Gross Reservoir. Only about 30 up into the mountains from Boulder, this reservoir has some serious fishing potential, including the like of the infamous Tiger Muskie. We saw no muskies, not even a bite, but we got some great photos.... Thanks Abby.

These last 3 were all taken at ISO 4000...... thank you Canon

Racquetball, donuts, and sporting goods.

2009-09-01T02:13:00.000+10:00

Last week I took a trip to Utah. The original purpose was to get away, send hard boulder problems and make a ton of stock photos. I have just recently been signed by Aurora Photos, an agency that leads the way worldwide in outdoor imagery. At the last minute I got the word from an outdoor company that they needed some specific bouldering photos during my trip. At this point I realized how much I love my job, when the lines blur between work and pleasure you have to consider yourself a pretty lucky fellow. Anyways check out the pictures below, including the shot of a storm encroaching on the Food Ranch, the all in one store for the small town of Orangeville, UT outside of Joes Valley.

Some crazy spider with orange horns. Ben strolled through its web on his way to his morning pee.

This place had everything you could need, including racquetball.

Camping near the colorado river means lots of bugs, this is a picture our our candles killing those bugs.

The view when we woke up.

Group shot........

VI trip Recap.

2009-08-22T01:41:00.000+10:00

Back at the end of March I went down to the Virgin Islands, British and US, to make some photos for a couple different companies. I never really posted any of the good stuff on this blog so I wanted to give everyone a chance to see a little recap of the trip.

We found National Parks,

ate odd looking breakfast,

explored the boulders,

with incompetent "guides",

searched for deep water soloing,

cleaned house,

and sent.

We also found monsters,

and sent those too,

all while helping each other out,

watching the sun set,

then going to sleep.

and HEY, even I got to climb.

Ben, Rich, and Nate

cadmium telluride solar modules

2009-08-18T04:24:00.000+10:00

Abound Solar is a company who believes in delivering renewable, abundant and universally affordable energy. They have developed a new thin film photovoltaic module intended to deliver the lowest levelized cost of electricity. Pretty neat stuff and they are based out of Longmont, just north east of Boulder. I made some photos for them this morning out at an array they installed in Windsor, CO. Thanks to Mark the Director of Marketing for getting everything together.

14er and a movie.... UPDATED

2009-08-17T12:50:00.000+10:00

Today I went up one of Colorado's 14,000 ft peaks, Grey's Peak. It one of the most popular of the fifty four because of its non existent exposure and close proximity to the front range. We left home at 4:45am and planned to be back for a movie with the inlaws at 1pm. After parking 3 miles below the trail head we slowly started to see our lofty goals disappear. BUT, after hitching for most of the 3 miles we still had to get goin, so this is the reasoning behind the lack of photos. Anyways try to enjoy the few I did get. Im planning on going back soon to do a little bit more exciting route of Torrey's Peak. It's called the Kelso Route.

This is how crowded it was......

Gilroy smells like garlic

2009-08-11T06:09:00.000+10:00

I went out to Northern California last week to make some photos of a high school. Not just any high school but one of the nicest schools I've ever seen. Looks more like a new community college. Anyways I want to thank some helpers from the client, Thuy Nguyen, Chau Duong, and Dustin Notarianni as well as others. It could not of happened without your cooperation and long hours. Here are a few of my favorites:

Gone Fishin.....

2009-08-11T05:39:00.000+10:00

Our first attempt at the legendary tiger muskie.....

OR promo update

2009-07-30T02:56:00.000+10:00

Since I had to have the promos for OR sent directly to Salt Lake I didn't get a chance to post any pictures of the hard copies. Well here they are...... Although Im a little disappointed that Green Printer forgot to include the %100 recycled paper/ waterless printing mark I included on the back cover. Oh well. Forgive the picture quality they were taken real quick out on my deck this morning.

post OR

2009-07-28T04:38:00.000+10:00

The OR show went very well this year. I met with tons of new business prospects and got to see the latest and greatest of outdoor products. I must have walked about 10 miles a day around the convention center so by the end of the day Thursday it was time for some maxing and relaxing. But, first my crew and I (Shondia from Boulder Mountaineering and Abby, a clothing rep) decided to head out to Antelope Island, the smell was horrible but the scenes were incredible. I took a 24mm tilt/shift and a 70-200mm along with my 5d mk2 body. I didn't want to have making photos take over the trip so I decided to limit myself and push my creativity. Here is what I came up with while we were checking out the lake......

In Wyoming we stopped for some lunch, the prairie dogs were in full force and attacking our table for food...... I accidentally dropped my apple and it made their day.

One of my best friends is the strength coach for the Colorado Rockies minor league team, The Casper Ghosts. He was in town playing the Ogden Raptors so we decided to check it out. I can't ever sit still, so I made this video real quick. It goes a long the lines with my new obsession with the 24mm tilt/shift lens, which causes a forces focal plane.

OR prep....

2009-07-21T08:49:00.000+10:00

Outdoor Retailer is the grand daddy of all outdoor industry trade shows...." OR is the world’s largest outdoor sports industry gathering in the world, bringing retailers and media together with over 1000 brands in the business of producing and selling the active outdoor lifestyle" Mostly it consists of buyers and sellers of hard goods and soft goods. The marketing departments of companies work all year for this one week. For photographers like myself we go with a little less stress. Mainly the goal is to meet new people, have some beers, get people interested in your work and drop a couple business cards and promos. I just had 5.8 booklet promos printed up, a little late considering they got finished today and are now on their way to Salt Lake City. Regardless I should have them and I know they will look good.... why you ask??? because they are printed on %100 recycled paper with waterless printing from some guys up in BC Canada named Green Printer. Here is the layout. I'll post pictures of the real thing later on.

Music at Moes cont.....

2009-06-23T02:00:00.000+10:00

I thought I would share another video from the same night:

Pre Pleurodesis Horsetoothin....

2009-06-22T13:07:00.000+10:00

I don't want to get into too much detail but Its been 2 weeks since the ol' lung popped and it was time to get back outdoors. With a 25% chance of both lungs popping again, and strict instructions to stay away from physical exertion, Ive been relatively dormant and lazy. I decided to make my first outdoor trip (post pop) to Horsetooth Reservoir, known as one of the premier bouldering spots in North America. Im gearing up mentally for some crazy surgery to fix my lungs permanently, that's called pleurodesis. Actually Im having a combo, mechanical pleurodesis and a staple bullectomy. Anyways I needed to be somewhere close to the car/hospitol and we decided to pull hard and make some photos...

Music at Moes

2009-06-18T09:36:00.000+10:00

A band I work with a lot, The Digger Trends, played a Rock and Roll show Saturday night down in Denver. The venue was Moe's BBQ, conveniently located next to the Gothic Theatre. The band that opened was White As Night, also out of Boulder. They are young and have potential to play some solid rock and roll. The Digger Trends KILLED it as usual. They never disappoint.

I made a quick video with my 5d mk2. I had no soundboard recording to hook into or no external mic......good enough for the YouTube crowd.

When The Digger Trends came on they turned down the lights to a very low green color. I was a little bummed but had no control. Soooo I shot it at ISO 2500, not too bad

When I wasnt at the climbing wall....

2009-06-13T09:18:00.000+10:00

So I was at the Teva Games Friday and Saturday....I had to skip Sunday due to the fact that I was getting married 3 days later. OH and good thing because Sunday I just so happen to pop a lung,
Spontaneous Pneumothorax (yes it was intense). Anyways I entered the Photo Comp for the games. So in the middle of the climbing sessions I snuck away from the World Cup wall and tried to make something nice. Here are a couple prospects I managed to get together while getting married and hospital visits:

This was the look most photographers near the mud run were sporting.....I got out reeeeal quick

Jonny, Micah and Wade

2009-06-13T08:46:00.000+10:00

For those who have not heard......

Although I never knew Wade, Jonny Copp and Micah Dash were two rad guys who were the best of the best and the community will never forget them. Please donate for the rescue efforts.

Here is a segment from The Sharp End that shows there true personalities.

Micah Dash and Johnny Copp segment of "The Sharp End" from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Also the America Alpine Clubs slideshow tribute. Off Jonny's Adventure Films Blog.

AAC Tribute to our 3 Friends from Ben Alexandra on Vimeo.

Tribute to Jonny, Micah and Wade (updated) from Ben Alexandra on Vimeo.

Day 3... world cup finals

2009-06-11T00:46:00.000+10:00

The Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO hosted the IFSC Bouldering World Cup for the second year in a row. It was the main attraction at the games, bringing together athletes from over 20 countries. The world class field of climbers called for world class route setting, and thats what they got. With a good mix of problems and holds the athletes were pushed to their limits. Team USA had a strong showing throughout the event. The finals consisted of Americans Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, and Kyle Owens, along with last years winner Kilian Fischhuber, Jonas Baumann, and Rustman Galmanov. On the womens side Americans, Alex Johnson, and Alex Puccio along with Anna Stohr, Akiyo Noguchi, Natalija Gros, and Jain Kim. The finals were quite the show.... Alex Johnson skipping holds, the W4 problem getting thrown at dozens of times, holds spinning, celebratory pull ups and an unfortunately awkward fall for Russian Rustman Galmanov (He was reportedly doing okay by the time of this report). With the mens field looking fairly even Jonas Baumann of Germany came out on top followed by Daniel Woods, who struggled in semi finals and in third was Kilian Fischhuber. For the women Colorado local Alex Puccio, pulled it out with a strong second by last years winner Alex Johnson. In third was Akiyo Naguchi.

Check out World Cup photos: Also featured on DeadPoint's website.

Teva Games craziness (day2)

2009-06-06T14:16:00.000+10:00

Ive got to make this short for now, because its getting late and its my third day in a row driving up to Vail for the Teva Mountain Games. Today we watch the qualifiers for freestyle kayak, and for the IFSC world cup of bouldering. The Jackson team through it down in the whole, as well as a ton of climbers from all over the globe. All the big names are here to take home the win. Im not done with the kayaking edit but here are a few climbing shots.

Teva Games madness (day1)

2009-06-05T07:16:00.000+10:00

The Teva Mountain Games come to Vail, CO every year. Every year they get bigger and bigger. They put together some of the best comps of the year for some of the top mountain sports in one of the top mountain regions of the world.... the Rockies. Vail, known as a winter wonderland with its huge bowls and extensive backcountry terrain is also a white water mecca, Today (day 1) kicked off with the Steep Creek race. Its a time trial down a 1/2 mile or so course. It gets pretty intense. Im no kayak expert but I here the Teva Games' big purse prizes bring out the best of the best..... Check out what I made today, below:

I also met a gal name Emily who works for First Descends. Its a non profit out of Vail, Co. They do some great work for young adults who have been diagnozed with cancer. I would definately check them out and do what you can. Emily asked me to take some photos of their founder, Brad Ludden's, boat. So those are the photos above.

Shelf

2009-05-29T01:59:00.001+10:00

Ben V TRing Pulley Mammoth after watching me flail around.

Im thinking about heading down to Shelf Road again this weekend. This time for some picture makin.... Ben Vernon, his gf Erin, Sarah my finance and I went down for my birthday a couple weeks ago. I saw Celin Serbo down climbing with his wife. Celin is a Boulder local who has got a great eye. Definitely check out his website. He told me about how he just photographed Alex Honnold free soloing Moonlight Buttress. He said they were talking the whole time, like it was nothing. I hope Celin posts some pictures soon. Anyways, I never really pulled out my camera except at night and during our walk out. It is a hard place to photograph given the nature of the cliffs in relation to the valley below. Ill do what I can and make a later post.

I also thought it was a good time to show the importance of the correct color space. I uploaded a adobe 98 jpg that was not converted for the web by accident. And this is what I got. Less tone, desaturated crap. Now this happens all the time to good photographs when photographers hand over high res tiffs and then some non designer puts them up on the web.

This is the actual photo I meant to post. It is in sRGB. same file different color space.Typical night time camping activity, BV reading the guide book. Me running around with headlamps painting trees with the shutter open.

Just to give you and idea.... its just miles of this limestone/dolomite/sandstone

And this is what Shelf Road does to Vibrams XSGrip rubber.

GUEST BLOG: Patrick Cullis

2009-05-18T10:34:00.000+10:00

Just a heads up, Patrick is the badass of all badasses check out his full blog CalvinBall, make sure you become a "follower".......

Thank you for the opportunity to be a guest blogger on your site. I've always been more than a little jealous of your job, and skills as a photographer. You've been a major influence in several of my new activities since moving to Boulder four years ago. The major two areas being learning the joys of rock climbing, and finally taking the necessary steps in order to push my photography to a new level. I also have my girlfriend, who's knowledge helped guide my camera (the Canon 5D you were using at the time) and lens purchases, to thank, so you don't get ALL the credit. Sorry...

To bring some people up to speed: My name is Patrick Cullis and I am currently working at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station here in Antarctica. I work for NOAA in Boulder, and one of the positions I showed interest in was for the year long position we fill here at one of our baseline station. With Antarctica, and the South Pole specifically, being so far from population and pollution sources, it makes this an ideal location for collecting and monitoring the atmosphere. I can say that I've had the desire to come here for several years, but it still wasn't an easy decision. The 43 inhabitants on station now are literally stuck here for the eight months of winter because it's too cold to even land planes. With temperatures dipping to -100F and having to suit up in extensive layers of clothes, it basically feels like we are on the moon, but without the shiny helmets. It's a good time to be here though with the recent completion of the elevated station.

This massive undertaking has replaced the old iconic "Dome" station and basically feels like a ridiculously advanced hotel on stilts. There's a state of the art kitchen, bedrooms for 150 people, a TV theater (no cable,) and gymnasium. If I didn't have to go outside every day, I could easily forget that I'm in one of the harshest environments on the planet. But, for me at least, I do need to go outside everyday. I work in a smaller building a quarter of a mile out in the "Clean Air Sector."

Antarctica is basically a gigantic, continent size, pile of snow. We are almost positioned at the top of this 9,000 foot pile which creates some pretty stable and predictable winds. Air settling over the center of Antarctica picks up speed as it moves towards the coast, where storms can be massive and devastating. But, here at the top, we rarely see winds over 25 knots, and 95% of the time they come from a single 140 degree wedge. This makes it perfect for us to monitor. The "Clean Air Sector" sits in this wedge, upwind from the station generator and thousands of miles from the nearest source of exhaust. We sample air here in order to find out what it's made of when you get as far away as possible from humans, their cars, aerosols, leaking refrigerators, and general dirtiness. Not to rip on humans, but we DO spew a lot of nasty stuff in to the air. Some of that nasty stuff creates the ozone hole each year, which lets me have a lot of fun each week launching huge balloons.

These ozone instruments fly to 100,000 feet while measuring the ozone present at each altitude. Most ozone measuring instruments, ground based and satellite, use the sun in their measurements. The good thing about these balloons is that they work just as well in the dark of winter as the 24 hour daylight of summer. The only thing is that it's much colder for the volunteers used to help launch them.

As well as the "Clean Air Sector," there is also a "Dark Sector" which is populated with some massive telescopes, and a "Quiet Sector" where the vibration of vehicles is prohibited.

Life here is altogether pretty normal. We work, eat three meals a day, watch some TV, and play sports together. The main difference is that you can't really go anywhere to get away, you miss family and friends, and you don't see the sun for six months. Not to say people don't get a little stir crazy, or TOAST, but we get by. The chefs are excellent, and we definitely don't go hungry. We have a state of the art growth chamber which produces our only source of greenery. We're still trying to work out the tomato issue that has plagued South Pole for all time, but lettuce, radish, jalepeno, kale, basil, and all sorts of herbs are churned out like they're growing in fast forward.

On holidays, we get together for fancy dinners. Our next one is the midwinter celebration where we will take a deep breath and know in our hearts that the sun is coming back to us.

I get out of here in November. Until then: I'll play some ping pong...

climb some routes in the cave...

and enjoy the beautiful and amazing night sky.

Thanks for letting me write this. It's been fun. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my time here, freeze my gear a bunch more, and then be ready to soak in the color, smell, and sound of nature when I get back. Can't wait to hit the slopes, climb some routes, and take some pictures. Later Rich.

I am an engineer working here in Antarctica keeping our instruments running, NOT a PhD scientist. Everything I write is for a blog and for entertainment purposes. A lot of the info presented are major generalizations and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Patrick

...where did I leave that reflector?????

2009-05-16T06:58:00.000+10:00

Some people wonder about the world of assisting for commercial location photographers. Well let me tell ya. The world of Chris Shinn (his new website is coming soon) is pretty diverse, which definitely keeps me, an him, interested. 6 out of the past 7 weeks Chris and I have been jumping around the country on a whole mess of jobs. Now given the time of year it has mostly been "higher ed" marketing campaigns. I usually dont carry around a camera of my own, although we do carry 3 cameras, so just for a look I took some blackberry pics. So here is a quick "Day in the life of an assistant"

You download a ton of cf cards, anywhere you can, when there is a break.

You drive around in sweet carts, occasionally off road if the client isnt looking.

You eat in cafeterias if you are making photos for college admissions campaigns, usually wasting condiments

You find yourself in small towns with stores that sell mainly salad and booze

You stare out the window with a buzz after multiple 12hr days running around with a creative minds.

All joking aside the world of assisting be very helpful for young guns like myself, trying to break into the industry. You learn things you cant learn in school, you meet a ton of creative directors and designers, it pushes you creatively, physically and mentally. A great test for making it on your own.

Here are some resources:
ASMP
One Pro Photo

busy busy busy.....

2009-05-05T01:58:00.000+10:00

With unemployment rates at 8.5%, and under employment rates at somewhere much much higher, I feel very lucky to be working so much. Talking to a wide variety of very talented photographers lately has been depressing. The stories of absolutely no work within the first quarter of 2009 makes you count your blessings. In a nice article by Port Authority's Selina Maitreya , entitled "Thriving, Not Just Surviving" I found the inspiration to keep working hard and to not be affected by this psychological market around us.

This has lead me to 10 week out of 12 being away from home. This sounds horrible when you factor in the countless hotel beds, the lack of home cooked meals and misplaced loved ones.... but in fact it gives you drive to keep going and have confidence in the work you are doing.

I thought I would share my main way of drawing inspiration from others.... WEB 2.0.
I know, I know.... loaded buzz word. But youtube, blogs, social networks have allowed me to follow the best of the best. Its easy to take ideas and spin them together into your own. While in Fine Art school at ASU, now its just "school of the arts", I was beaten in with the idea of maintaining a community of artist around you to stay inspired and working. Now that Im in a unfamiliar setting and new to the community with very little "free" time I find it easy to join this upcoming online community of photographic learning.
Here are some sites I enjoy:
Chase Jarvis - all around bad ass, knows whats new and fresh
Shoot Smarter - Some useful tips
Momentum Video Mag - I love climbing, you should too!!
Big Up productions - best in the climbing biz
Tim Kemple - knows whats going on in this new market, young and very good.
Still Motion - yea they do wedding, but they are AMAZING cinematographers
Communication Arts - Always cool new stuff
Corey Rich - He made adventure sports photography

Thanks to the clients:
Chris Shinn Photography
DeadPoint Magazine
CCA
Hilbert College
Augustana College
Sysco
Lipman Hearne
UTA
Gilbane
Keen
Sea to Summit
Prana
VLine
Core Concepts

Ill have pictures up ASAP

We are back....

2009-03-25T03:05:00.000+11:00

2 flappers, 6 rashes, and 60 "Pain Killers" later we are back home to CO. Over all it was a great shoot. Between the exploring on the boat, on the inflatable with USVI Rock Climbing, and one foot throughout Virgin Gorda we found tons of stuff that kept us occupied for the week we were there. Due to possible publication of many photos this is going to be a limited post. I just wanted to give you an idea and overall rundown. These pictures/caption pretty much tell the story
Nathan enjoyed himself

The skys had nice sunsets with huge clouds

Flappers were common

When the hotel said they didn't have room numbers only names like "Poinsettia" I knew it was going to be a good week.

Our driver James had two kids who LOOOVEED the camera and taking pictures

James was a little nervous

But they loved it.

Ben and Nathan hiked a lot through caves/boulders with 3 pads

Ben enjoys modeling

Too wavy for this one....
Ben does not enjoy falling into water anyways

Me on my traverse I found with just a headlamp

Night bouldering on the beach. doesnt get much better

This was after "Im feakin out man, get me a pad" FA of Snail Slab

You had three choices fro landings, pad, rock, catus

The rock was chossy in places

about to explore

I was really wanting to climb this blank face.

Shoes get wrecked in Virgin Gorda

Nathan liked modeling too.

Nathan hoping Climb On works

Scouting out a trad line.

We spent some time hiking the jungle too.

After exploring on a boat in the rain all day we stopped at a floating bar off og Norman "Treasure" Island

Here is a little taste of the "real" photos