{"id":97715,"date":"2019-12-11T08:45:22","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T16:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=97715"},"modified":"2020-05-22T13:03:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T20:03:17","slug":"this-isnt-your-average-photo-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/this-isnt-your-average-photo-book","title":{"rendered":"This Isn\u2019t Your Average Photo Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corey Rich got into rock climbing and photography around the same time in his life. He was 13, growing up in Antelope Valley, California, when a teacher took him rock climbing for the first time near\u00a0the Needles, a popular granite-spire climbing zone in <\/span>Sequoia National Forest<\/span>, not far from his home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love with climbing immediately,\u201d Rich said. \u201cIt was a physical, mental and emotional experience\u2014challenging in every meaningful way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A week later, he picked up a camera to capture his next climbing adventure. He\u2019s been doing both things pretty much nonstop ever since.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich\u2019s new book, <\/span>Stories Behind the Images:\u00a0Lessons From a Life in Adventure Photography<\/span><\/i>, published by Mountaineers Books in September and <\/span>now sold at REI stores and online<\/span><\/a>, is a photo book, certainly\u2014it contains dozens of beautiful images of legendary climbers and explorers in far-flung locations\u2014but it\u2019s also way more than that. It\u2019s storytelling at its finest. Woven between the imagery is Rich\u2019s personal history and the detailed, humorous backstories behind his captivating images. Included here are a few select photos from his new book, as well as behind-the-scenes stories in\u00a0Rich\u2019s words.
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\u201cAs a classically trained photojournalist, I\u2019ve always learned that I should make myself as inconspicuous as possible\u2014that is, simply document the story without judging, influencing or participating in the outcome of the events. But when you tie in to a rope with two other climbers, you aren\u2019t just the photographer; you\u2019re a member of the team. This can create complex, sometimes logistically conflicted situations, in which you are focused on making pictures, but you also don\u2019t want to slow the climbers down. For this picture of David Lama and Daniel Steuerer approaching the slender turret of granite and ice that is Cerro Torre [in Patagonia], lit by the rising sun, I made the decision to fall behind and move to the left. I was happy to have made this image, but I quickly realized that I had fallen so far behind that I would need to double-time it to catch up with my partners.\u201d \u2014Corey Rich<\/p><\/div>\u201cIt was never my intention to make a book,\u201d Rich said. \u201cOne of my favorite things in the world is sitting around the campfire and telling and listening to stories. We live in the day and age when you can do that online now, so I started telling these stories on my blog. It was always fun and people seemed to respond to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich\u2019s <\/span>photography career<\/span><\/a> has spanned three decades, and along the way he\u2019s shot nearly 100 magazine covers and worked on global photo and video campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world. When he started telling stories on his blog about some of his favorite images, he\u2019d record a voice memo on his phone, the backstory of how he captured that shot. He typically recorded them while he was on the go\u2014on planes, at hotel bars, while pedaling his mountain bike. He would transcribe the voice recording, and then work with climber, writer and friend Andrew Bisharat to spin that into a well-crafted piece for his website. Eventually, Rich realized he had enough stories to write a book. The result? A 285-page glossy photo book you\u2019ll keep on your coffee table or bedside table and read voraciously in one sitting.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s been on\u00a0<\/span>tour with the book<\/span><\/a> all fall, including speaking at many REI stores around the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cOn April 27, 2013, Rebecca Rusch shattered the record on the Kokopelli Trail\u2014a 142-mile stretch of rugged desert wilderness between Moab, Utah, and Fruita, Colorado. Most people take five or six days to complete the ride. Rebecca did it in less than 14 hours. When we met Rebecca at the finish line, she collapsed. We captured joy and relief, which poured from her face like the sweat on her brow, and the pain of having endured her harrowing thirteen-and-a-half-hour effort.\u201d \u2014Corey Rich<\/p><\/div>\n

The goal of the book, Rich said, is to entertain, educate and pay it forward. \u201cI had a lot of mentors growing up\u2014teachers, older photographers,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to help pass what I\u2019ve learned along to others.\u201d He said the book is not a portfolio of his best images. It\u2019s more like a collection of the images with the best stories behind them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, renowned rock climber Tommy Caldwell and his family visited Rich and his 6-year-old daughter at home in South Lake Tahoe, California. The two dads and their kids got into the hot tub at Rich\u2019s house one night under the stars. \u201cTommy and I start telling stories. Then our kids wanted in on the storytelling, too. They\u2019re finishing our stories, telling their own. It was the most beautiful thing. That\u2019s what this book is about: The tradition of storytelling and passing it forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich said his advice is to read the book and enjoy it. \u201cThen put the book down and go out and make pictures as often and frequently as you can,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope this book inspires people to go outside and make pictures. Because at the end of the day, the experience of taking photos and telling stories has been the most enjoyable part of my career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI had just finished my freshman year of college when I landed a coveted summer internship at the Modesto Bee newspaper. \u2018Get the safe shot first, Corey,\u2019 the photo editor always said. \u2018Then, and only then, start taking risks.\u2019 These were important words for a young, ambitious photographer to hear. Years later, during a trip to the island of Malta, these lessons came back into play. This image of Tommy Caldwell trad-climbing the side of an ancient quarry isn\u2019t the greatest image I\u2019ve ever taken, but it found its way into numerous catalogs, magazines and ad campaigns. It was this first shot I took\u2014the \u2018safe\u2019 shot\u2014of Tommy scaling this unique stone wall that ended up being my favorite.\u201d \u2014Corey Rich<\/p><\/div>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corey Rich got into rock climbing and photography around the same time in his life. He was 13, growing up in Antelope Valley, California, when a teacher took him rock climbing for the first time near\u00a0the Needles, a popular granite-spire climbing zone in Sequoia National Forest, not far from his home. \u201cI fell in love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":97724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,388],"tags":[739,734,727,1578,53,473],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-97715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climb","category-snowsports","category-travel","tag-books","tag-climbing","tag-latest-posts","tag-outdoor-photography","tag-photography","tag-skiing"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/climb\/this-isnt-your-average-photo-book","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"This Isn\u2019t Your Average Photo Book","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/this-isnt-your-average-photo-book","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/this-isnt-your-average-photo-book"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/11\/Corey-Rich-Author-Image-copyright-BRYAN-LISCINSKY.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/11\/Corey-Rich-Author-Image-copyright-BRYAN-LISCINSKY.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Climb","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["books","climbing","latest posts","outdoor photography","photography","skiing"],"dateCreated":"2019-12-11T16:45:22Z","datePublished":"2019-12-11T16:45:22Z","dateModified":"2020-05-22T20:03:17Z"},"rendered":"