The Onsight Chronicles

Here’s the thing; when you watch the two videos in my previous post you may have gotten the impression that in the making of these, I was only using the Nikon D3s to shoot video footage. Well, fortunately there were several other photographers who were solely shooting video (on D3s) which allowed me to also concentrate on the other part of my job — which was of course to shoot stills. Nikon wanted to film me doing a normal (stills) photo shoot that I had been planning to do for some time.

So there I was shooting stills AND video at the some time. Some photographers call this a “hybrid” shoot. And how did I find it? Well, it’s challenging, that’s for sure, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was, and with the results I could achieve. I’d had the D3s in my hands for less than 24 hours before the shoot, so I’m sure with practice I’ll only get more used to changing between modes.

I think if you want to get the best of both worlds out of the one shoot, then deciding the priorities at any moment is key. You could of course throw more time, people (camera operators), and resources (and a lot of money) at the problem BUT:

a) that wouldn’t be as much fun.

b) this is not a studio shoot, it’s climbing photography and throwing more time and resources at the problem isn’t necessarily going to solve anything. There is only so much time and energy. Only so many things you can or should ask a climber to do. Light changes. There are safety considerations. There may only be room for one photographer. You might only get one chance at nailing a shot — you’ve got to be in the right place, have worked out the best angles and perspectives on the climb, have the right light, be fully set, anticipate the movement — and then nail the action, capture that fleeting grimace — then decide when to put the camera down and quickly move to the next position and get ready again. So now add the choice of video or stills to that mix and the challenge has just grown.

Fortunately, I think most shoots will have a clear emphasis on either the video or the stills — and therefore the decisions will be a lot more evident at the time. Personally I remain a stills photographer but it’s fun to have the option and I’m sure some of my clients will enjoy it.

So anyway, here are some of my still photos from the photo/video shoot. When you consider the amount of material we produced (stills and video), I think these were very productive shoots. Let me know what you think. I hope you like the shots.

We did an early morning shoot on the climb Debris (23) at Pierces Pass:

14-24mm f2.8:

70-200mm f2.8 VRII:

16mm f2.8:

600mm f4:

We did a late afternoon shoot on the climb Wild Wild West (23) at Hanging Rock. This is where I rigged a 90 metre rope to pull out from the beautiful orange wall:

70-200mm VRII:

14-24mm f2.8:

70-200mm VRII:

14-24mm f2.8:

I also took a bit of footage at a third location — of Monique on Tripe (30) at Boronia Point — which is used in the first video.

Thanks again to climbers Vince Day and Monique Forestier.