Climbing with photographers

A good friend and climbing partner of mine is also a photographer. If the photographer is on belay and wants to step aside to shoot, what are your best recommendations for escaping the belay? I'm thinking I can anchor myself off and my belayer can then attach his end to an anchor point, step away and shoot then get back on before I continued climbing. I want to do this in the safest way possible. I appreciate suggestions. If you think it's a bad idea just say, yer gonna die!

Bad idea. Just climb with a third and take really good photos.

Just climb with a third. Small static line. Good camera strap. Don't sacrifice safety for speed. You will get faster with the three climber system as you go.

Thanks guys. It's most likely just going to be two of us this weekend on sport routes in JTree. Don't think there's enough length on the climbs for a third if we can find someone. I'm familiar with climbing in threes on multipitched routes. I definitely won't be trying anything sloppy or risky. At the least the photographer can set up a tripod and do some time lapse. I'll let him figure out the camera and I'll keep him focused on belay. Maybe we can get some good butt shots!

Just have him/her belay with a munter or atc guide and belay directly off the anchor. When s/he wants to take pictures, s/he can simply tie you off with a mule knot and click away. If your partner is uncomfortable with this procedure you should likely find a new partner.

belay with one hand, camera with the other. Autofocus lenses are your friend.

Nothing wrong with escaping a belay. If you don't know it already, might as well learn it and practice for photo purposes so that it'll be second nature when you really need it for an emergency or nature calls or whatever. It's one of those core skills any climber should have. Getting back on the belay is less common but I think the same techniques apply.

Sounds like it would be weird to climb with a camera on your back just on the whim you may be able to shoot an adjacent climber. Typically its a little more premeditated and in that case I'd probably climb to the anchor, fix the rope and rap back down the single line. Then the line is fixed and the photographer is free to ascend/descend shooting photos as they please while you are free to climb more or have a beer, snack, nap. When they are done they ascend to the top, reconfigure the rope for a regular rappel, and rappel back down to the ground.

matt c. wrote:Just have him/her belay with a munter or atc guide and belay directly off the anchor. When s/he wants to take pictures, s/he can simply tie you off with a mule knot and click away. If your partner is uncomfortable with this procedure you should likely find a new partner.

Partner is good with that scenario. Thanks. Great idea. I'm sure he would like to shoot a shot from up top.

Legion wrote:Nothing wrong with escaping a belay. If you don't know it already, might as well learn it and practice for photo purposes so that it'll be second nature when you really need it for an emergency or nature calls or whatever. It's one of those core skills any climber should have. Getting back on the belay is less common but I think the same techniques apply.

This is what I was thinking. I know how it works but haven't practiced it much. Not sure we will try it yet, but it could be a good time to practice on something short. I'll be in Josh but only breifly.

JoeGaribay wrote:I'm thinking I can anchor myself off and my belayer can then attach his end to an anchor point, step away and shoot then get back on before I continued climbing. I want to do this in the safest way possible. I appreciate suggestions. If you think it's a bad idea just say, yer gonna die!

The idea of this sounds very odd to me...

Your friend is going to shoot with you anchored off? Are they going to take photos of you hanging from bolts? Or take photos of wildlife and scenery in the middle of your climb?

If you want photos of you climbing, what about going to a popular area, asking someone else to belay you so that your friend can shoot, and offering to take photos of them in exchange?

JoeGaribay wrote:Don't think there's enough length on the climbs for a third if we can find someone.

You don't need length. Just have them hang from the top of a route. The cool thing about JTree is that you can walk / scramble up to the top of a lot of formations, or climb up one route and access several others.

Kent Richards wrote: The idea of this sounds very odd to me... He's going to shoot with you anchored off? Is he going to take photos of you hanging from bolts? Or take photos of wildlife and scenery in the middle of your climb? If you want photos of you climbing, what about going to a popular area, asking someone else to belay you so that he can shoot, and offering to take photos of them in exchange? You don't need length. Just have them hang from the top of a route. The cool thing about JTree is that you can walk / scramble up to the top of a lot of formations, or climb up one route and access several others.

You're right. It seemed a little odd to me as well. I was more just thinking of scenarios that would appeal to a photographer. I don't know much about getting the shot and he may think of something random. Who knows. Excitment sets in when the sun moves around.
And then I got curious about escaping the belay. Exchanging pics for belay is the best way to go. Escaping the belay is a topic I can easily research through old threads or other sources about guiding or self rescue.

In almost every case, the photographer really has to get off the ground to get a shot that looks good. You want to see the climber's face, or at least part of the face. Escaping the belay could work if there's a situation where you can wait for a bit at a stance and then climb a little to make the shot look right (only if this is safe on a given route, of course). Then if your belayer can scramble up something to the side, or quickly run around to the top, you might get something good. But this will be a real hassle and much more limiting than having a third person to belay, so the photographer can just focus on shooting, whether from a fixed line or the top, or perhaps an adjacent formation. I recommend trying to make some friends while you're there, and offer to get shots of them too--that was a good suggestion. You'll end up with more, and better shots, and maybe meet some new people, and perhaps climb something you wouldn't have otherwise.