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Outdoor adventure photography is fun to look at, but it can get old fast. If you've seen one really gnarly skiing or climbing photo, you've kinda seem them all.
That's why Ray Demski's new project is a breath of fresh air. He hauled several studio lights with giant reflectors out to an icefall in the Avers valley in Switzerland this winter and used the battery-powered, 1200-Joules strobes to shoot ice climbing like we've never seen.
"I always try to do something new every time I go into a shoot," says Demski, an adventure sports and commercial photographer based in Munich, Germany who's shot for companies including Red Bull, BMW and Adidas.
Demski's photographed plenty of rock and ice climbing before so he had no problem rappelling off the top of the almost 100-foot icefall with a backpack full of gear. His arsenal included an 80-megapixel digital back on a Phase One 645DF+ camera. An assistant also roped off the top to hold one of the Broncolor Move 1200 L lights Demski used to create his lighting palate.
Another assistant was lowered off a bridge in front of the icefall so he could shine a light up. It took almost a full day to set the shoot up and then Alex Luger, a professional climber, climbed for several hours while Demski made pictures. Demski says he likes the way Luger is isolated, but was particularly drawn to the way the lights gave life to all the detail in ice, which is often blown out when it's shot in the sunlight.
Demski says he'd eventually like to turn the night shots into a series. This location in Switzerland was chosen because it was right next to a road and easy to access. But from here, he says he'd like to try and find more remote locations and more difficult climbs.
"It's always onto the next thing," he says.
All ice climbing photos: Ray Demski
All behind-the-scenes photos: Thomas Schermer
Ice Nights Project - BTS with Ray Demski from f-stop || Gear on Vimeo.
