Climbing Photographer On Assignment in Yosemite (Video)

Photography Tips

Jimmy Chin Cover Photo

This video (shown below) has been receiving a lot of attention recently. It follows professional climbing photographer Jimmy Chin on a daring assignment for National Geographic as he attempts to tell the story of climbers who are on the cutting edge of what is possible.

Some of the greatest climbing feats in history have been happening recently on the cliffs of Yosemite, imagine if your job was to capture photos of those events.

The cover photo shown to the right was captured by Jimmy Chin and shows Alex Hannold taking a moment to reflect during one of his free solo climbs up Half Dome and El Capitan. Free soloing—climbing without a rope—represents the ultimate extreme in rock-climbing.

This 40-foot-long sliver of granite on Half Dome, named the Thank God Ledge, is the only way to get beyond the Visor, a massive roof that looms over the Regular Northwest Face route. Most people crawl, but Hannold prefers to walk it, face out. The 30 seconds it takes to get across requires absolutely no technical climbing skill, but even Honnold admits it’s sobering to look at 1,800 feet of air.

Many consider Jimmy Chin to be one of the best adventure photographers in the world. He is a North Face athlete and is regularly recruited by National Geographic to follow explorers to the edges of the earth. He was recently recognized by National Geographic as one of their Emerging Explorers. Although Chin faces the challenges of being creative under duress, he is still able to capture the experience to bring back and share with others.

Jimmy Chin says, “The success of the expedition and safety are the priorities. As a climber, you face a lot of challenges on these expeditions. As a photographer, one of the great challenges is trying to be creative under fairly stressful conditions. You try to be smart about what you are shooting by anticipating the key moments and being efficient with your creative energy as well as your physical energy.”

Video created Renan Ozturk and Camp4Collective.  Shot on the Canon 5d, Canon L series Lenses, Kessler Crane​ Pocket Dolly V2 and a Rodemic​ Video Mic Pro.