Tour De BIFF 2017 at The Depot Manchester
Last Friday, I was lucky enough to take some snaps at the 2nd Round of the Tour De Biff at The Depot Manchester. This competition is a little unlike most others, with competitors not being allowed use of their feet! You might think this would make for an impressive show - and you would be right - but it also makes it a little trickier to capture really engaging photos.
Normally when shooting climbing, I try to capture either the emotions on people's faces, or the cool shapes that their bodies make with the wall...When people are campussing however, they don't look down at all!
Equally, capturing wild moves, or unlikely positions is also a great way of creating an intriguing photo. But when campussing, people tend to stay quite controlled, because the forces involved are put down solely through the arms and hands, instead of by the legs and feet. This means that it is way, waaay harder to hold these unlikely positions, and far harder to generate the sorts of forces that you let you get into them in the first place.
Nevertheless, I got my flash involved, and with a loaned 24-70 lens, I got stuck into the action and tried to get a good variety of shots to cover the different problems that were up around the centre.
Full credit to the Routesetters for managing to split a pretty competitive field, and massive thanks to the Depot for sorting out such a quality competition once again!
Raven Tor - Andy Burgess - Mecca
I got out on Sunday to the Tor for a climb and to continue shooting Yann on 'Kabbah'. While there I met a cool guy called Andy Burgess who was trying the super famous 'Mecca'. On one of his burns I wandered up the hill to take a few shots.
Eyes Wide Shut - Joe Heeley - Dovedale
A few weeks ago, I got the call from Joe about a new route he was trying, and the offer to play with his new drone. I love the scenery in Dovedale, so I jumped at the opportunity and here is the resulting film.
CWIF 2016 Finals
Images from the Finals of CWIF 2016
I might not have had unlimited access, but I'm dead chuffed with the set.
http://www.acefilmandphotography.com/cwif-2016-finals
Let me know what you think.
Archie
CWIF 2016 Semi Finals
Pictures from the Semi Final round of the CWIF 2016 can be found here: www.acefilmandphotography.com/cwif-2016-semi-finals
Depot Summer Boulder League 2015 Final Round Photos
Pictures from the Final Round of the Summer Boulder League - if you would like any of them in higher res - please message me through my contact form - Here.
Dovedale/Kailas Snaps
This weekend, my friend Leanne invited me to Dovedale to take some pictures to enter in a competition. I had never been to Dovedale before, so a quick google, and check of my guidebooks showed me the stunning surroundings, quite unlike any of the Peak District limestone crags I was familiar with.
The picture used in the competition can be found here and I would massively appreciate it if you took the time to throw a vote on the pile...Winner gets a paid trip to the Yangshuo Climbing Festival!
Anyway, take a look below and let me know which you like
Archie
CWIF 2015
One of the largest climbing competitions in the country took place this weekend in Sheffield.
I have wanted to take part in this competition for many years, and never quite been fit enough to put in a good performance. This year, however, I was feeling good enough to put in a show, and came out very happy with my performance.
My beautiful assistant, Abigail, came along to take pictures of the event, and after editing, I think we came out with a really nice set!
See the rest here on my flickr account.
Archie
Voyager and The Ace
Today, one of my friends came up from Bristol to try and snag an ascent of the famed gritstone testpiece 'Voyager'. For those that dont know, Voyager is fiercely sharp, and one of the hardest boulder problems in the Peak District. The sitstart was completed in 2006 by Ben Moon and given the grade 8B+, it has not been repeated...
Hamish had been trying the line earlier in the season, but hadn't succeeded. When I saw the facebook post about it, I knew that I had to get there to take some pictures when he got back on it.
While there, I also took some snaps of James Squire, and Nathan Phillips who were also trying the line. No doubt one of them will grab an ascent within another couple of sessions.
After we were done at Voyager, everyone packed up to head over to Stanage. While we were in the carpark, we met Billy Ridal, who had just done Careless Torque. Conditions were good for the day. Despite this news, Hamish, James and Nathan chose to try their luck on another of the hardest grit problems by tackling 'The Ace', which is another 8B - this time put up by Jerry Moffatt.