Tom Bol - Adventure Sports Photography: Creating Dramatic Images in Wild Places

Creating Dramatic Images in Wild Places

Tom Bol

ADVENTURE SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY
Creating Dramatic Images in Wild Places

Tom Bol

Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510/524-2178
510/524-2221 (fax)

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Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education.

Copyright 2012 by Tom Bol

Acquisitions Editor: Ted Waitt
Project Editor: Rebecca Gulick
Development Editor: Stephen Nathans-Kelly
Copy Editor: Liz Merfeld
Production Coordinator: David Van Ness
Compositor: Kim Scott, Bumpy Design
Proofreader: Patricia Pane
Indexer: Valerie Haynes-Perry
Cover Designer: Charlene Charles-Will
Interior Designer: Charlene Charles-Will with Kim Scott, Bumpy Design

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact .

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit Press shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

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Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

13-digit ISBN: 978-0-321-80982-7
10-digit ISBN: 0-321-80982-3

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Printed and bound in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my wife, Cree, and my son, Skyler.
Their endless support, patience, and encouragement have
allowed me to pursue my photography dream.

This book wouldnt have happened without a lot of help and support of others. The list is long; Im grateful to all.

First, Id like to thank Rebecca Gulick, Stephen Nathans-Kelly, Sara Jane Todd, Ted Waitt, Charlene Will, and all the other hard-working people at Peachpit who made this project a reality. Their tireless efforts brought my words and images to life in these pages.

Id also like to express my gratitude to the many talented photographers who have given me sound advice during my career, including Dave Black, Peter Dennen, Patrick Endres, and the late Galen Rowell.

To the great folks I teach workshops with, including Colby Coombs, Mirjam Evers, Najat Naba, and George Theodore.

To Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski; their humor, energy, and knowledge are insurmountable.

To Adam Rothman, who can make even me look good on video.

To Mark Astmann, Kriss Brunngraber, and Will Holowka for their support and technical advice.

To my friends at Nikon, Lowepro, and SanDisk, who always have a solution for my precarious shooting situations.

To Steve Glass and Randy Pfizenmaier for helping me out on numerous shoots.

A lot of credit for this book goes to the outdoor athletes Ive photographed through the years. They are the ones who make these images possible. I hope this book captures some of their adventurous spirit.

Id also like to thank my family, who have always supported my interest in photography and the outdoors.

I still vividly remember that frosty winter day I graduated from journalism school in Colorado. I had spent five years of my life learning everything there was to know about taking photographs and writing magazine articles. I was ready to conquer the world with my new education. But I had one distractiona very big distraction. I was obsessed with adventure sports.

While my college roommates went off to job interviews in three-piece suits, I was lacing up my climbing shoes for another bouldering session. Three weeks after graduation, my roommates were settled in a nice apartment in Denver with promising careers. I was hunkered down in a tent at 20,000 feet on Aconcagua in Argentina getting ready to take National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) students to the summit. Ten years later, my college roommates had moved into a nice house and were very successful. I had also moved up in the world, teaching kayaking and climbing in remote parts of the world like Patagonia and the Himalayas.

I spent month after month in the backcountry pursuing my passion. My total material worth consisted of a beat-up blue Toyota truck, my climbing gear, and my cameras. No house, no cell phone, no computer. I spent my summers climbing on jagged Alaskan peaks and my winters paddling warm ocean waters along the Baja coastline. I was living the dream of a climber, kayaker, and wilderness junkie.

But then I got distracted again, this time in the opposite direction. I had always carried a camera with me to document my expeditions. But I started to notice that same creative urge I had experienced growing up and in journalism school. The desire to create got stronger and stronger. Soon my passion to create overtook my desire to climb the next peak or paddle the next river. I wanted to share my outdoor adventures with others, to communicate my deep appreciation and respect for wild places. Adventure sports and wild places had become a permanent part of my makeup. Now I needed to show the world the incredible sports taking place in some of the most beautiful places on the planet. My love of adventure sports and my passion for photography merged.

Today Im more settled, living in a house instead of a truck. I dont spend as much time on lengthy expeditions, but I shoot more adventure sports than ever. Society has changed its views of climbers and kayakers. Instead of being viewed as outcasts, climbers and kayakers are in vogue. Indoor climbing gyms have popped up around the country and many schools have their own climbing gyms. Whitewater parks have been built in rivers, some in the middle of downtown urban areas. You can sip your Starbucks coffee, then drop right off the sidewalk into a surfing hole. The outdoor industry has become a multimillion-dollar revenue source. A photographer can make a living working in this industry.

Other things have also evolved in adventure sports photography. Digital cameras have become more advanced, allowing photographers to capture scenes that, only a few years ago, would have been unthinkable. Flash technology is rapidly advancing. High-speed-sync flash photography using studio packs has come of age. I can shoot an airborne skier at 1/2500 of a second and illuminate him 60 feet away using my Elinchrom Ranger, an impossible feat only a few years ago. Camera technology will continue to improve and open up new frontiers in adventure sports photography.