stuart buchanan

Kit: F90x, 28-70mm, 24mm, Velvia, mini-tripod

Technique:

- Always carry a camera and shoot where most people don't

- Remember you're photographing light

- Put the extra effort into photograph at the magic hour.

Composition:

- subject and pleasing background receding into the distance, with a vertically composed 24mm shot.

Nothing particularly startling I'm afraid!

I was torn between the two a couple of years back.

At the time I had a 28-70 and wanted something wider from climbing photography. I eventually went for the 20mm, figuring that the 24mm was too close to the 28. This was despite the fact I had been quite happy with a 24mm and 28-70mm combo on my old manual Minolta kit previously!

Anyway, since then I've often found the "steeper" perspective of the 20mm is a bit too much, and wished I'd got the 24mm instead. Two weeks ago I decided to buy a 24mm.

I was hill-climbing last weekend and I spent almost the entire time shooting with the 24mm - the 20mm didn't get on my camera once. While this is probably largely due to having a new toy, if I had to choose between them again, I'd go for the 24. Certainly if weight is an issue, the 20mm will stay at home.

Most of my photography is of mountaineering in Scotland, where the hills and landscapes are (relatively) horizontal, so a 20mm can often mean that the hills in the distance are a bit too small. In comparison, when I've been shooting in the european alps, everything is much more vertical and bigger so the 20mm has worked much better.

Hi Jordan,

As Chris says, you have to decide which is more important to you, climbing or photography. I have a similar problem, in that I love climbing and photography.

The problem is that carrying a big SLR (I have a Nikon F90X with (usually) 28-70 and 20mm lens) puts me off balance. If I'm leading something serious (HVS/E1 British, equiv to 5.9/5.10) it is a real problem! I was over in the US in Grand Teton, Wind River and Yosemite a couple of months ago and have plenty of shots on some easy routes and none at all for climbs when I've been too busy climbing to get the camera out! For some climbs I ended up carrying a tiny light P&S (an old Olympus XA1) which I used a bit more.

Another problem is that it is quite tricky to get good shots when climbing hard things, simply because they tend to go straight up, so you either have bum shots (subject leading) or heads and ropes (subject seconding). I have found that my best climbing shots have been on easier routes, such as the Wolfs Head Ridge, Snake Dike or alpine climbing in Chamonix.

Serious climbing photographers set up top-ropes and rappel down or to the side with contraptions to put themselves out from the rock to get the best shots. Personally I don't have the inclination as I'd much rather climb the route myself!

Good Luck.

-Stuart

-Stuart