Hiking, Not (Yet) Climbing Smith Rock State Park

I’m ashamed to say that I live 3 hours from Smith Rock and have only been once for a day hike (from whence these photos came). I’ve been dying to go back ever since.

Which is why I’m going to spend the second half of September climbing and playing on those gorgeous rocks. Looks like I’ll even be around when Bend hosts its annual Oktoberfest.

Good times are ahead for this pixie.

Anywho, I shot these images nearly a year ago. It will be interesting to go out there and see what I come back with.

To see how a year of snapping countless frames on other adventures around the world has changed and (hopefully) improved my craft.

Climbing photography is still entirely new to me. Actually, climbing itself is still pretty new. I tend to forget that it’s only been about a year, on and off, since I bought a pair of shoes and a chalk bag.

Now that I think about it, these were the first climbing shots I ever took. The second being those in Cat Ba, Vietnam and the third during my stay in Tonsai, Thailand.

(Shameless plugs. Had to.)

Here’s hoping I can spend this next particular adventure making some progress in climbing photog and, well uh, climbing itself.