Well, that's Alex Honnold. He's a personal hero of mine and the most famous climber in the world (for good reason). I got to take photos of him and many other cool people two weeks ago at 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell.
24HHH was possibly the most fun event I've shot. Last year I made a little video of it. However, doing stills liberated me of crew and equipment and allowed me to cover more ground, find more stories, and feel more relaxed all the while. You can check my gallery of images from 24HHH here.
But for all the shots of people crushing that I worked for, it's this portrait I took of my friend Aaron Baka shortly after the end of the competition that I'm perhaps most proud of.
It was a chance encounter. I was walking down the road towards my campsite after photographing people turning in their scorecards when I happened upon Aaron resting in the shade on the tailgate of a truck. As we talked I noticed the elements one by one: how haggard my friend look, the quality of the diffused light on him, and his eyes catching some direct light.
I asked if I could take his portrait and he was kind enough to consent. As I framed the shot I began seeing more elements: his blue shirt, the red truck, and the blown-out grass making a sort of pale yellow rounded out a primary color scheme. The punch of green in the top-left of the image complimenting the red while being analogous to the yellow and blue worked out better than I had anticipated. What's more, Aaron required no direction to give me a face that conveys everything he was feeling at that moment. The moment I captured this particular frame, I knew I had something I'd be very happy with, and I'd say it's firmly among my favorite portraits to have taken.
By the time you're reading this I'll be in Washington State. Is there anything there you fine readers think I should try to capture? Places I'll visit include Seattle, Olympia, and Stehekin (North Cascades National Park).
