The December 2010/January 2011 issue of Gripped Climbing Magazine has a couple of my pretty pictures running it. The climber in both is my good buddy Dale Sood who managed to string a couple sentences together (and very beautifully so) and craft a great article about training toward goals in your climbing. Have a look/read. It should be on the stands now.

Here are the photos:

Also, here's a link to Dale article which you can ready online on Gripped site:

http://gripped.com/2010/12/sections/articles/think-and-climb-hard-the-five-habits-of-successful-climbers/

Good job Dale! Let's work more together!

Kam

Tags: bc, clients, climbing, Dale Sood, gripped, magazine, published work, squamish.

Words won't do justice to how fun Squamish can be when you get a few good friends together. We've dubbed it "summer camp for adults." With a slight chance of rain looming in the forecast, the chance was played and the crag was hiked to. We left Peter's house and about an hour later we arrived at Fern Hill, a small sport climbing crag behind Valleycliffe in Squamish. A touch of rain drizzle didn't faze us, and we spent the day hanging out, shooting photos, and trying new routes.

The crag has a wide range of routes for most climbing skill levels, but tends to focus on the intermediate and higher grades.

Here are some photos from the day with commentary where appropriate. (Click to enlarge, Esc to get out).

A bit humid on the approach.Right, Guido Vettoretti?

Long walks bring out the most atrocious ideas in men. They will not be mentioned here.

Walking through the humid fern forest of... Fern Hill.

Dale Sood racking up. Style points for the button-down.

Taking it simple and easy.

Scotty Winston in his very proper belay stance. Rep-ing heavy for patagonia.

If only we knew what he was thinking. If we did, I would not be able to write it here.

Guido Vettoretti on a new route at Fern Hill called Hot Chaude / Yellow Fever. 5.12 hard.

The creator of said route (Hot Chaude / Yellow Fever 5.12 hard) Dale Sood says, "do it right ! is easy! eat yo vetables!"The dude, takin'er eas'.

Dale Sood on upper crux of Hot Chaude / Yellow Fever. Still takin'er eas'.

Guido's whipped with slack in-hand. A touch scary.

Guido Vettoretti back on it (Hot Chaude / Yellow Fever). Workin out the sequences.

Yes! Tastes so good. Guido on the upper cruxes of Hot Chaude / Yellow Fever at Fern Hill.

Thanks to some reggae music, the clouds went away, and the sun came out for the great hike back, and beers at the Shady Tree.

Thanks to the gang (left to right, hiking out): Guido Vettoretti, Dale Sood, Scotty Winston, and Jen Mansour for a good time.

Like the photos? Drop me a line: contact@kamilbialous.com - I'm always interested in hooking up with new people to photograph.

Kamil

Tags: active lifestyle, bc, fern hill, hanging out outdoors, hiking, patagonia, petzl, rock climbing, sport, squamish.

I'm so excited to be living in Vancouver, and checking out all the potential for outdoor adventures in the area. It has been almost a year since I've been in Squamish, and I was super excited to head back up there and shoot some sport climbing at Fern Hill. Good people, good area, and in the shade for a good part of the day. Squamish sport climbing seems to be an untapped gem, although perhaps also oxymoronic to some, and the people developing new areas talk about them with genuine enthusiasm.

Anyway, here are some photos from Fern Hill. Squamish local Peter Winter at home at Fern Hill, on Burning the Coil 12d (or harder depending on who you ask).

And Dale Sood developing a new route at the same crag amidst a cloud of lichen dust.

(Click on the photo to enlarge.)

See you in Squamish this summer!

Kam

Tags: climbing, dale soond, fern hill, peter winter, photography, sport, squamish.

Climber Stephen Vindler on the first pitch of Apron Strings, Grand Wall, Squamish, BC.

This blog post accompanies a completed photo story of climbing in Squamish, BC. You can catch it on my site here.

I loved my time spent in Squamish this summer, and I'm sure those of us who visit share the same feelings. Perfect weather (too perfect if you ask the fire fighters) allowed for extended periods of climbing and photography. The Stawamus Chief, affectionately known as the Chief, stands tall above the logging town, slowly becoming Canada's outdoor recreation mecca. It is very to see why this is; although the winters can be rainy, wet and long, the climbing and rec season that does arrive is spectacular in weather and potential for different activities.

For years I've heard of the mass migration of eastern climbers to Squampton in the summer, either pitching a tent at the Chief Campground right underneath the monolith, or finding a couch or backyard to surf for a good couple months. This amount of time provides for projects to be set and hopfully sent, relationships to be made and then cheated on when the next party arrives, and for long-time traveling climber friends to see each other again. So I had to go. It worked out that a few of my good friends were heading there as well, and hence, we had a blast.

Although I haven't really climbed in about 5 years, aside from dabbling in it here and there, the granite was really inspirational ans satisfying. I did a bit of climbing and instantly felt a void filled by the solid and textured rock. I was just as, if not more excited to photograph the people that commune in Squamish to spend their well-earned vacations, and sometimes lifetimes.

I brought almost everything in my photo arsenal which consisted of Nikon digital bodies, everything from wide angle to 300mm lenses, flash setup, and a kit of ascenders, and aiders to shoot from the rock. From the EXIF info, I can tell I shot 50/50 wide and long. My favourite lens, the 85mm made it out for a few occasions as well. I was looking for new compositions, compressing scenes, shooting into the sun, as well as slowing down shutter speeds to create some blur in the climber. I feel that too much of the current climbing photography that gets published is just super crispy crisp, and looses some emotion of "the moment", especially in a sport as dynamic as climbing.

Climber Scott Winston makes his way up Cat Crack at the Smoke Bluffs, Squamish, BC.

The second part of this post concerns itself with the use of black and white photo conversion in adventure photography. Upon sorting through the 2000 images from Squamish, I narrowed them down to about 30 or so that I felt did the place and climbers justice. While I love colour in photos, I do use black and white conversions for presenting my photos for several reasons. I should preempt this by saying that if you don't have a good photo in the camera, a bw conversion in post to make something of nothing (add moodiness?) will not work. Zero multiplied by anything is still zero. I use it not to add, but take away. Climbing expecially, is a very personal experience. an article I once read called it a selfish experience, because it really is - it's about me, figuring out the route, for my own benefit and glory.

To me, a bw conversion allows for that personal experience to be represented that much more clearly. In all the photos in this post, it is about the climber, Stephen, Scott or Dale, their environment, and the rock they're on. No colour. No mess. Just them. It literally simplifies the scene in our eyes, so that our brain is not bothered by colour (which not all of us can see anyway) and instead focuses on shapes, lines, and emotions. However, I am not a colour or bw only nazi. Take a look at my portoflio to see for yourself.

Climber Dale Sood climbing Exasperator crack on the Grand Wall, Squamish, BC.

Thanks to all those who made the Squamish time wonderful, in particular: Scott Winston, Dale Sood, Jessica Bettencourt, Guido Vettoretti, and Peter Winter and his lovely wife whose name I regrettably forget.

If you made it this far down, thanks for reading!

Kamil

Tags: bc, black and white adventure photo, climbing, granite, photography, photography trip, squamish, Stawamush Chief, the Chief, trad climbing.