©Jamie Fike 2009

My name is Jamie, and I am a photographer and videographer, I’m also a rock climber….this is my story.  Climbing is a way of life.  Some people quit their high profile job in order to climb the world.  The obsession runs deep in some individuals and since I am a part of that community, I wanted to document this way of living to show to the world what it’s like to live and breathe this adventure sport.

I was planning my summer Utah 2009 trip and shooting schedule. And, from last year’s experience, I knew I had to tweak my set-up.  I wanted to capture the tension in the climber’s arms, the concentration in their eyes, the gritting of their teeth when they pulled with their full strength.   I needed versatility so I could capture as many angles as possible.

I had big plans for this nine week trip to Utah; my focus was taking stills of climber as well as getting a wide variety of interesting scenery along the way.  I would be scouting locations and shooting some test footage for an upcoming climbing documentary film scheduled for 2010.

I had a checklist of things I wanted to be capable of doing, because really, sometimes your gear can limit your creativity so I decided to make a trip to Vistek.

To be continued…

Maxime Dugal on Homerpalooza, Utah, July 2009 - ©Jamie Fike 2009