One of the most fun i've had doing a school assignment.

This climbing project is one of my favorites at Brooks so far (not because I feel like I did a particularly awesome job at it... actually there are a lot of things I wish I could change or that I didn't get to and would love to do) but It was awesome because I got to go play and climb and blame it on homework!! :) I was in a nature course last session and the final for the session was to do an editorial piece on something nature-related. Of course the thought of having tons of excuses to rock-climb appealed to me. :) I chose to do my editorial on popular climbing places on the Central Coast... mostly San Luis Obispo. I feel that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to sports photography, as this was my first attempt at anything like this. I was on rope for most of these photos... meaning I was dangling as high if not higher on a separate rope next to the climber being photographed. That in itself was an interesting thing to get used to... let me take my expensive equipment up a rock and trust myself not to drop myself or the camera. It took a few trial runs to figure out if me climbing with my camera and then having the belayer just hold me in place while I took photos, or if me ascending up the rope myself is a better theory.... actually they both work.. still not really sure both kind of a feat. Anyways... I ellicited the help of many of my friends... especially Grant... this project wouldn't have been finished without him. Thanks so much for setting up the routes and helping me figure out the best ways to go about taking these photos, and for going out multiple times with me to get this done! Thanks everyone who helped, or was one of my models! I really appreciate and had a lot of fun with you guys! :)

Here are some of my favorites.
Ooo and LIghtroom 3 has a way to export a watermark on the photos now! so i'm trying that out for the first time in this posting :)
Emily Jio climbing The Fly (5.8)at RockLand off the Quarry trail in Los Osos
Grant Frempter Cimbing Step-up(5.11) at Rockland off the Quarry trail in Los Osos


Grant Frempter and Josh Blacksmith hiking down the trail after a climb at Bishops Peak

Josh Blacksmith Lead-climbing a Mouse Maze(5.9)
Josh Blacksmith climbing Camel (5.10b)
Josh Blacksmith sitting on top of Cracked Wall at Bishops Peak, San Luis Obispo
Olivia Haverly Climbing Lie-back Annie(5.7) At Lower Gibralter Rock, SB

Jordan Flowers Climbing the Main Wall (5.6) At Gibralter Rock, SB
View from Lower Bibralter rock Belay station
Grant Frempter Standing at the beginning of the trail to get to Lower Gibralter Rock, SB

London Gailey (age 3) waiting at the bottom of Rockland while her daddy sets up the Corner (5.4) route for her.

This little Girl is only 3 years old! She's such a stud climbing this 5.4 like a pro :)
London and her dad Todd celebrating the summit of the climb
Josh Mcwaters lead-climbing a 5.10a at Wheeler Gorge in Ojai
Emily Jio shown climbing the Chimney (5.8) at Rockland off the Quarry trail in Los Osos.
Todd Gailey Climbing Old Stone Face(5.11) also known as Tiki Head.
Emily Jio and Grant Frempter climbing The Fly(5.8) at Rockland in Los Osos at sunset

Kretschmer Family

Meet the Kretschmer Family. I was referred to this family from one of my previous clients who happens to be Naoko's good friend. The Kretschmer family moved back to Japan the day after we did this photoshoot! It was extremely foggy and the biggest little one didn't like being in front of the camera too much which made it interesting, but overall it was a really fun shoot and we ended up getting some good shots. I recently got an email from Naoko saying that the cute little dog in these photos passed away just a few days after the photoshoot which makes these photos extra special for them. I'm glad we got to take some photos with him in there!
Thanks Kretschmer Family! Hope you have an amazing time in Japan!