The trip had its problems from the start, the largest being a delay in our gear arriving (thanks to the airlines), which ultimately cut the trip short by five days. This meant scrambling at the last minute to pack a full seven days of photography and climbing into the last two, and the work suffered because of it. When I revisit these images I am reminded of my past shortcomings as a photographer, but I am also reminded of the importance of chasing a creative moment.

Significant time has passed since this experience, but as I’m sure other photographers in love with an image they made can relate, I come back to this first image every few months, just as I did today, as I took a friend on a tour of my updated website. The image is simple, and there’s very little action to it (a valid criticism I received after submission), but what it lacks in traditional photographic expression, I believe is made up for in creativity.

While I do believe it’s all been done before, at the time of making this image I felt that I had found a new perspective, even if just for myself. I found myself drawn to the silence in the frame and the elimination of the environment. I found myself obsessed with the ice axes and their attachment to seemingly nothing. I found myself curious about the conversation between the two climbers, and my own feelings of visually eavesdropping as I made the photo from a distance.

This career as a freelance commercial photographer has had its failures, and I know there are more to come, but these moments of failure and these images made surrounding that failure are a reminder;

A reminder not to neglect the nagging creative urge and the power

of a single image.