{"id":8141,"date":"2016-05-09T13:13:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T20:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=8141"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:34:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:34:36","slug":"woman-behind-the-lens-krystle-wright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/travel\/woman-behind-the-lens-krystle-wright","title":{"rendered":"Woman Behind The Lens: Krystle Wright"},"content":{"rendered":"

To snap her stunning images of paragliding in the Pakistani Karakoram, expedition skiing in Alaska, BASE jumping on Baffin Island or freediving off the coast of Sardinia, Krystle Wright has had to literally dive into the adventures she\u2019s shooting\u2014adventures many would consider dangerous. \u201cI certainly agree with that,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I also think it\u2019s far more dangerous to live a life full of regret and play the ‘what if?’ game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Krystle<\/p>\n

Setting up tents in blizzard conditions on Sam Ford Fjord, Baffin Island.<\/em><\/p>\n

Avoiding regrets in life is something that floats in the forefront of Krystle\u2019s mind. While others in her shoes as an adventure photographer might be in a constant search for the next moment to relax or check e-mail, it\u2019s those times completely off the grid that mean the most to her. \u201cThe further off-grid I am, the happier I am! I absolutely love disconnecting and getting offline. Removing all the daily distractions in my life allows this incredible revelation to just be present in the moment. These periods of time are the reward of working so hard to make them happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Krystle<\/p>\n

The last time Krystle had even a rented apartment to call home was in 2011. Stashing her stuff in a storage container at her grandma\u2019s house in Australia, she base camps there when she\u2019s in the area and lives out of her Toyota 4-Runner in the U.S. \u201cI have been living out of bags, sleeping in cars, adopted many couches throughout the world, hammocks, and whatever forms a bed for the night,\u201d she says. And it\u2019s this eternal traveling that opens the world to her as a photographer. \u201cPhotography gives me this incredible purpose so that when I do travel, I am able to meet wonderful and unique characters along with discovering the weird and awesome places off the beaten path,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"Krystle<\/p>\n

Hernan Pitocco performs a series of wingover maneuvers above the Karakoram Range, Pakistan.<\/em><\/p>\n

Krystle\u2019s self-described personal stubbornness has come in handy for nailing hard-to-get shots. She\u2019s captured images of people doing spectacular things in remote, amazing landscapes that few have ventured to\u2014and even fewer have photographed. And when she has something in mind, she\u2019s unstoppable. \u201cI spent 4.5 years chasing the one singular image of BASE jumping,\u201d she says. But her drive to capture particular moments is something she\u2019s had to self-examine lately. \u201cI was so intently focused on the shot that it wasn\u2019t until the journey was over that I realized there were so many layers. Once I started to decompress and grapple with the entire situation, I basically had a complete meltdown,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Losing close friend Mario Richard to a wingsuit accident during that period made Krystle step back and reevaluate how she sees the world. \u201cPerhaps one of the biggest things I\u2019ve learned has come from my great friend, [climber] Steph Davis.\u201d She continues, \u201cSteph has taught me so much over the years. She told me, \u2018That\u2019s the brutality of life, we really don\u2019t get to keep anything. I know that\u2019s a hard and real truth in your life and probably why you are so driven to take images of those ephemeral moments. But at the same time, we really do keep everything we love, even if it\u2019s not where we can see it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So Krystle keeps seeking to capture those moments, passing up a quote-unquote normal life to go to the places and meet the people she dreams of shooting.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed Krystle\u2019s photos in this article, head on over to her website<\/a>\u00a0or follow her\u00a0on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To snap her stunning images of paragliding in the Pakistani Karakoram, expedition skiing in Alaska, BASE jumping on Baffin Island or freediving off the coast of Sardinia, Krystle Wright has had to literally dive into the adventures she\u2019s shooting\u2014adventures many would consider dangerous. \u201cI certainly agree with that,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I also think it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[388],"tags":[572,597,53,12,651],"internal-tag":[547,1684],"class_list":["post-8141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-interview","tag-krystle-wright","tag-photography","tag-travel","tag-women","internal-tag-hilary-oliver","internal-tag-pre-redirect-travel"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/travel\/woman-behind-the-lens-krystle-wright","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Woman Behind The Lens: Krystle Wright","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/travel\/woman-behind-the-lens-krystle-wright","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/travel\/woman-behind-the-lens-krystle-wright"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/Desert-4.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/Desert-4.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Travel","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Angela Crampton"}],"creator":["Angela Crampton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["interview","krystle wright","photography","travel","women"],"dateCreated":"2016-05-09T20:13:07Z","datePublished":"2016-05-09T20:13:07Z","dateModified":"2018-11-12T06:34:36Z"},"rendered":"