I’ve been climbing since my sophomore year of college when a friend invited me to the school’s rock wall. Before that moment, I genuinely thought that it took a crazy person to scale tall cliffs and mountain walls, and that it was out of reach for anyone born without pure adventure in their blood. Now I’m not sure if I’ve simply joined the ranks of the crazy few, but my view has changed completely. It’s not out of reach for anyone that’s interested, and I try to introduce climbing to as many people as I can.
For a while, I was sticking to gyms because of the ease and convenience. I still climb at gyms a lot. It’s easy to meet other climbers, and it provides an opportunity to find new people to work with outdoors.
It was when I started climbing outdoors that I made the transition to being a climbing photographer rather than just a photographer who climbs. It wasn’t difficult to see that the landscapes and great views that climbing provided were worth capturing.
Being an adventure photographer means that I need to be able to hang with the athletes I’m working with. If I can’t get to the top of a climb, if I can’t ride my bike to the bottom of the mountain, if I’m just unable to keep up the pace, then it kind of puts a damper on being able to capture the images that I need to. Because of that, I’ve definitely pushed myself to my own limits a few times. I’m not necessarily climbing at a high level, but I get my camera where it needs to be.
Climbing is a slow sport. It’s methodical and usually well thought-out, especially compared to other sports that I often shoot. It’s really taught me that I need to be slow and deliberate with my work, and that’s something that I’m still working on.
Climbing and photography each motivate me to become better practiced at the other. They both inspire, and I think that they complement each other quite nicely.
Explore more of Ramon’s work here.