Alex Messenger: Climbing from alex messenger on Vimeo.
This is the first in a series of posts on outdoor/climbing photographers that have inspired, entertained and enthralled me with their images of ascent and mountain based activities. Alex is first simply because he managed to get the interview back to me in a rediculously speedy time. The above film has been seen over 11000 times after it was posted on UKC, and features lots of Alex’s work.
To give you some of a background, Alex Messenger is the editor of the BMC Summit magazine, by default of being shipped to all the 70000 members of the BMC, it is the most read of the UK print based climbing media. More than that though the covers of the Magazine have been truly inspirational over the years, as such Alex has a great breadth of knowledge about photography, which I shall try to pick through a series of questions.
I first met Alex on an international meet through the BMC, I was hosting, drinking and taking a few images, and Alex was doing similar, just less climbing and more of the other, taking photos that is! Over the years I have seen a great many of Alex’s shots in print, which really do show his ability to capture the action of ascent and some even show his humour.
Alex has both a website with a few of his shots, and a photobox gallery where you can buy some of his images as well. I haven’t put any of Alex’s images here, but encourage you to read through the interview and explore the links
What or who inspired you to get into photography?
Absolutely no idea, which is weird. Normally people say things like Ansel Adams at this point, but until my mid-20s I wasn’t into photography, just climbing. Something must have happened. Anyway, one thing’s for sure: I’m better at taking photos than I am at climbing.
Have you done any formal studies in photography, if so how has it helped you?
A few courses. Nothing serious. If I could go back in time I’d do a Photography degree, that’d be a blast. Maybe not at £9,000 a year though.
What’s best Digital or Film, and why?
This debate seemed so important a few years ago but slides are dead now. I loved slides, everything about them: the colours, getting the sheets back from processing, the slight worry of lugging five week’s worth of exposed slide film around. It dictated your whole climbing photography style too: you had to use Velvia 50 to get those saturated colours and make your shots stand out but you also needed the late evening or early morning light. Climbing photography basically came down to hoping that your 200mm f2.8 lens wouldn’t be blurred at 1/60s or less. Most of the time it was, but out of 20 slides one would stand out as a winner and you’d send that off to a magazine…by post. Now they’re gone, but that’s OK. A whole new world has opened up in their place, a world of multi remote flashes, crazy wide-angle lenses, seemingly infinite low-light capability…and no more sticking slides in the post.
What has been your favourite photoshoot, and why has it stood out for you?
Bishop in 2007, when I managed a total rarity: to climb OK (well, for me) and take some good shots. So easy when the weather’s perfect.
You have an impressive collection of published images, which are you most proud of?
Perhaps the series of portraits for the That’s Me section of Summit. Portrait shots are harder than climbing shots; you’ve got to deal with what you find. Like the shot of Johnny Dawes in Summit 61 – taken in a dirty alleyway on a rainy afternoon in Sheffield with a distracted friend acting as a lightstand.
What style best describes your photography?
No idea, I should have done that Photography degree then I could tell you. It’s not so much about the climbing – it’s about distilling the form down and using light and shapes to evoke feeling.
If there was anyone in the world dead or alive you could photograph who’d it be and why?
Dunno. Dan Osman on El Cap with a load of FHM models?
What do you look for in your images?
In the days of slide: a climber, and if I was lucky, a climber in focus. Nowadays, something that stands out. Sometimes you get it, usually you don’t. The easiest way is to leave the shots for a few weeks then go back to them. You’ve got less attachment to them and the good ones stand out.
Are you a chimper?
Nah. Taking thousands of photos a day at events like weddings soon cures you of that. You look like such a geek with your head down; it totally doesn’t inspire confidence.
Any top tips for the next generation of snappers or the keen amateur who is looking to improve their climbing photography?
There’s no simple answer. Well, there is: gear is so good these days that there’s no excuse for taking technically bad shots. The hard bit is developing your own take on things. And to do that you’ve just got to get out there and wear your shutter finger out.
What’s your next project?
To finish my DIY marathon and re-enter the land of the living.
How is it juggling editing the BMC summit magazine and finding time for taking your images?
That’s not a problem, it works pretty well. It’s all the other stuff that gets in the way: other work, climbing, life, DIY…
The cover shots of summit have been outstanding as the editor what are you looking for in a cover picture?
Thanks. Well, it needs to be practical (right orientation, work with the masthead, relate to the content, be seasonal). But if those boxes are ticked it needs to just say wow. It needs to be a stop-and-stare shot. You don’t get many of those. I like the one on the latest issue – makes me want to pick up the mag even if I have written every (very exciting) word.
Any tips for people trying to get there images published? Or what annoys you the most with picture submission?
To get published your great hi-res photo just needs to be in the right place at the right time. But this is easier said than done.
Climbing and outdoor magazines don’t have picture editors, or editorial assistants, they just have one or two people pulling everything together and a frantic designer stuck behind a mac at the printers.
Really good shots will always get published, but to stack the odds in your favour, you need to make it easier for everyone involved. If you send in a CD they won’t have time to look at it, if you send a website link they’ll forget they’ve seen it, if you send in a load of average jpegs by email they’ll just delete all your future emails. What works for me are people sending in a handful of high quality pics by email with a bit of thought (i.e. don’t send winter pics in July even if they are incredible) and then just send a few follow-up emails to jog my memory.
Pick your five best shots, email them to the magazine and ask them how they source photos. They might have a mailing list you can join, an ftp site you can dump stuff on, a flikr pool.
Pick your target though. The more specialist mags are easier to get into. Magazines like Trail have a staff photographer and the mass market mags will just use stock images. If you do take a once-in-a-million shot (like a basejumper, a wild canoe waterfall shot, ice climbing in London, polar bear eating you) then you can try to sell it to a picture agency for use in the mainstream media.
And finally, just remember:
You probably won’t get as reply unless your shot is being used but don’t take it personally. No one does.
Nothing’s 100% in until it’s printed.
…but it’s great when it is.