Nevermore/Raven Rock
-
Eric Cox
Wow, you guys can sure make a guy feel good 
!!!
It's my pleasure to do it.
The story behind this is so much better than the photograph I just have to share it.
This set of photographs almost never happened.
I saw this shot the first time I saw Raven Rock maybe some twenty years ago. Every time I would pass Raven Rock I wanted to photograph this scene more.
It seemed like such an easy thing to do, but to get everything timed right was way out of my control. When I tried in March, 07 when Matt Tackett and Ryan Adams climbed it, I chose a location down stream that looked more straight up and the end result was okay but not what I wanted.
Not being on the top ten locations for climbers to go, finding folks doing it when I could get free seemed impossible.
Last fall, I was hired to do some aerial photography of the gorge and surrounding areas for Lloyd and Debbie Little. I was under contract so I can't post what I took, (i can show you in person though
) and that really sucked because I wanted to share what I took and couldn't. I took around 700 photos during the peak fall colors of landmarks everybody knows. Stanton, the rest area and campground, Phoenix Paintball, the State Park, Millcreek Lake, Global and Lady Slipper, and several areas in the gorge.
Some of what I was going to be shooting was real estate and at a couple thousand feet, I needed foacl length, I didn't have a telephoto but Jeff let me use his 80-200m and saved the day.
Most of what was of use looks more like paintings than photographs. The light was perfect!
Here is a view of Chimney Rock and Half Moon that I was allowed to post.
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... veStar.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... veStar.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
I somehow forgot to tell Jeff that I planned to hang out the window of the airplane with his expensive lens while we flew 100 miles per hour 3000 feet off the ground. I felt confident I could keep his equipment safe by attaching the camera redundantly to my body and my body to the airplane. This always worked shooting the climbing shots where I'm hanging somewhere. I could come back inside the plane and change lenses so there wouldn't be a chance I could lose anything.
It by far was the hardest photography I have ever done. The wind was so strong the lens would get sucked all the way out to full zoom which made it really hard to compose anything else. I also had to hang on to the camera so tight because the plane was bouncing all over the sky. The wind also caused my eyes to water so bad that I couldn’t see anything through the view finder, while the pilot added to the pain by turning my side of the airplane straight down while we dropped 500 feet as we did these hair-pin tight turns. I told him to quit it on our second pass over Sky Bridge or I was going to puke my mushroom and swiss burger all over his instruments.
On one of these turns over a group of people on Natural Bridge, as I hung shoulders and elbows out the window, I accidentally hit the lens release button. All of a sudden I had Jeff's lens in one hand....... and a redundantly attached camera body in the other.
My ass was grass if I dropped anything on a tourist. Replacing the lens would be the least of my worries for sure.
Getting back in the plane was extra hard because I had to move against the force of the turn with no hands to help. Once I got the window closed, I started to breath and reattached the lens. We finished our trip back to the Mount Sterling airport without me losing my lunch or Jeff’s equipment and except for having motion sickness for two days, it all ended without harm. Never eat before you do anything like this!
Over the next several months, Jeff and I talked about the lens and he told me that all was cool and when he needed it back he would let me know.
I got an email from him last Thursday telling me that he was going to be climbing Nevermore on Friday and wanted to get the lens. He also said that he had been wanting to climb Nevermore for 12 years. We arranged a meeting time that night, but this strange desire for Miguel's Pizza over came me. He missed my note, and we didn't hook up. I called him Friday morning to see if I could run the lens out to their cabin and he said that he really didn't have room for his camera and trad gear in his pack so he wouldn't be taking the camera.
Then it occurred to me that I needed to use the lens one more time.
I had an appointment in Stanton that morning at 10:30 to try for my motorcycle license. I knew the time that they were leaving to climb that morning and believed I might get my shots this day, and if all went well this time with the KSP, I would have my motorcycle license also.
The officer told me that it was going to be hard on such a big bike, but when he said if I hit five cones I would fail, I knew I could do it. I hit one cone and removed my foot from the peg one of two times allowed. He gave me my card and I went back to the court house to get my license !!
But because I live in Wolfe county now the clerk in Stanton told me I had to go to Campton to get the license. This added another hour to the mix. I knew the first pitch was for sure behind the trees so I was hoping that would save me. As is turned out, I was in place with 20 minutes to spare when I first saw Matt's white tee shirt behind the tree tops.
Was I excited there on the bridge? You bet your ass I was. Photographing them climbing that beautiful chunk of sandstone against a perfect sky, knowing so many dreams were being fulfilled that morning was too much for me to contain. People would stop on the bridge to see what I was looking at and I would point them out. It took a while for the bridge to stop shaking whenever a car would cross so there were several lost shots. I was able to put two legs of the tripod on the rail and one in the road keeping most of the lane open.....
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore005.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore005.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore053.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore053.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore079.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore079.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore109.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore109.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore136.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore136.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore188.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore188.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore213.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore213.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
and of course I redundantly attached the tripod to the bridge rail and the camera body to the tripod so I could get the lens way out over the river.
!!!It's my pleasure to do it.
The story behind this is so much better than the photograph I just have to share it.
This set of photographs almost never happened.
I saw this shot the first time I saw Raven Rock maybe some twenty years ago. Every time I would pass Raven Rock I wanted to photograph this scene more.
It seemed like such an easy thing to do, but to get everything timed right was way out of my control. When I tried in March, 07 when Matt Tackett and Ryan Adams climbed it, I chose a location down stream that looked more straight up and the end result was okay but not what I wanted.
Not being on the top ten locations for climbers to go, finding folks doing it when I could get free seemed impossible.
Last fall, I was hired to do some aerial photography of the gorge and surrounding areas for Lloyd and Debbie Little. I was under contract so I can't post what I took, (i can show you in person though
) and that really sucked because I wanted to share what I took and couldn't. I took around 700 photos during the peak fall colors of landmarks everybody knows. Stanton, the rest area and campground, Phoenix Paintball, the State Park, Millcreek Lake, Global and Lady Slipper, and several areas in the gorge.Some of what I was going to be shooting was real estate and at a couple thousand feet, I needed foacl length, I didn't have a telephoto but Jeff let me use his 80-200m and saved the day.
Most of what was of use looks more like paintings than photographs. The light was perfect!
Here is a view of Chimney Rock and Half Moon that I was allowed to post.
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... veStar.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... veStar.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
I somehow forgot to tell Jeff that I planned to hang out the window of the airplane with his expensive lens while we flew 100 miles per hour 3000 feet off the ground. I felt confident I could keep his equipment safe by attaching the camera redundantly to my body and my body to the airplane. This always worked shooting the climbing shots where I'm hanging somewhere. I could come back inside the plane and change lenses so there wouldn't be a chance I could lose anything.
It by far was the hardest photography I have ever done. The wind was so strong the lens would get sucked all the way out to full zoom which made it really hard to compose anything else. I also had to hang on to the camera so tight because the plane was bouncing all over the sky. The wind also caused my eyes to water so bad that I couldn’t see anything through the view finder, while the pilot added to the pain by turning my side of the airplane straight down while we dropped 500 feet as we did these hair-pin tight turns. I told him to quit it on our second pass over Sky Bridge or I was going to puke my mushroom and swiss burger all over his instruments.
On one of these turns over a group of people on Natural Bridge, as I hung shoulders and elbows out the window, I accidentally hit the lens release button. All of a sudden I had Jeff's lens in one hand....... and a redundantly attached camera body in the other.
My ass was grass if I dropped anything on a tourist. Replacing the lens would be the least of my worries for sure.Getting back in the plane was extra hard because I had to move against the force of the turn with no hands to help. Once I got the window closed, I started to breath and reattached the lens. We finished our trip back to the Mount Sterling airport without me losing my lunch or Jeff’s equipment and except for having motion sickness for two days, it all ended without harm. Never eat before you do anything like this!
Over the next several months, Jeff and I talked about the lens and he told me that all was cool and when he needed it back he would let me know.
I got an email from him last Thursday telling me that he was going to be climbing Nevermore on Friday and wanted to get the lens. He also said that he had been wanting to climb Nevermore for 12 years. We arranged a meeting time that night, but this strange desire for Miguel's Pizza over came me. He missed my note, and we didn't hook up. I called him Friday morning to see if I could run the lens out to their cabin and he said that he really didn't have room for his camera and trad gear in his pack so he wouldn't be taking the camera.
Then it occurred to me that I needed to use the lens one more time.
I had an appointment in Stanton that morning at 10:30 to try for my motorcycle license. I knew the time that they were leaving to climb that morning and believed I might get my shots this day, and if all went well this time with the KSP, I would have my motorcycle license also.
The officer told me that it was going to be hard on such a big bike, but when he said if I hit five cones I would fail, I knew I could do it. I hit one cone and removed my foot from the peg one of two times allowed. He gave me my card and I went back to the court house to get my license
!!But because I live in Wolfe county now the clerk in Stanton told me I had to go to Campton to get the license. This added another hour to the mix. I knew the first pitch was for sure behind the trees so I was hoping that would save me. As is turned out, I was in place with 20 minutes to spare when I first saw Matt's white tee shirt behind the tree tops.
Was I excited there on the bridge? You bet your ass I was. Photographing them climbing that beautiful chunk of sandstone against a perfect sky, knowing so many dreams were being fulfilled that morning was too much for me to contain. People would stop on the bridge to see what I was looking at and I would point them out. It took a while for the bridge to stop shaking whenever a car would cross so there were several lost shots. I was able to put two legs of the tripod on the rail and one in the road keeping most of the lane open.....
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore005.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore005.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore053.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore053.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore079.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore079.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore109.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore109.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore136.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore136.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore188.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore188.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore213.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp4/ ... ore213.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
and of course I redundantly attached the tripod to the bridge rail and the camera body to the tripod so I could get the lens way out over the river.
"On one of these turns over a group of people on Natural Bridge, as I hung shoulders and elbows out the window, I accidentally hit the lens release button. All of a sudden I had Jeff's lens in one hand....... and a redundantly attached camera body in the other."
I never heard that part!!!
Awesome Eric!
I never heard that part!!!
Awesome Eric!
What you didn't know didn't hurt you!Jeff wrote:"On one of these turns over a group of people on Natural Bridge, as I hung shoulders and elbows out the window, I accidentally hit the lens release button. All of a sudden I had Jeff's lens in one hand....... and a redundantly attached camera body in the other."
I never heard that part!!!
Awesome Eric!
What I love about running is you can meditate while running. It's a peaceful place.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd, Runs marathons to raise money and awareness about children orphaned by AIDS
Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd, Runs marathons to raise money and awareness about children orphaned by AIDS
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Eric Cox
Hey Clif, I was glad to be there for you that day. I'm always happy to lend a hand like that. I remember meeting you that morning at the computer desk at RRO. I couldn't believe it when Amy told us it had happened. I'm so thankful for your recovery. Let's all pull together and send healing energy towards Mike so he can return soon. When these things happen, it touches everybody in the climbing community in some way. I always hope we can all learn from them and become wizer climbers.
