A quick update while I've got a minute in between jobs - I'm stoked to see my work in this months Climb magazine. Here's a PDF of the article, which is about rock climbing at an amazing venue in the south of Germany (just across the border from Luxembourg) called Ettringen.

If you can get your hands on a copy its definitely worth a read (if its off the news stands by the time you read this you can buy back issues direct from the publishers, Greenshires here) Even better if you can get yourself over to this fantastic sandstone crack climbing area you wouldn't be disappointed. Its sometimes referred to as the 'Indian Creek' of Europe (Indian Creek is a global destination for crack climbing enthusiasts in the USA. Excellent, long, parallel splitters and corner cracks in Wingate sandstone, surrounded by spectacular desert scenery) because of its outstanding crack climbing. If cracks are your 'thing' then this place is as close to Nirvana as you're going to get while keeping your clothes on! The cracks vary in width from thin tips and finger to hand, hand to fist and for those masochists amongst you, even the dreaded offwidth.  The climbing is mainly trad (place your own protection) with the occasional sport route thrown in for good measure.

               Here's one of the photos from the shoot which didn't quite work for what we wanted,

                                                    but those tattoos certainly "pop"

                This is the lighting set-up we used, two rim lights and a main light

               The Make-up room looking busy                                           Matt Pyecroft filming Abbey

       Deon aka Talluhla Bunne finishing things off                  Another BTS of Matt creating his masterpiece

            Matt Pyecroft and Adrian Samara check angles while Talluhla Bunne applies Abbey's make-up

Just thought some of you "Die hard" outdoor fans might be ineterested in this news. Outdoor clothing manufacturer Marmot are opening their first dedicated clothing store here in the UK, (they already have one in Germany) That means ALL, I repeat ALL of that lovely shiny outdoor apparel they make will be in one place and its all in one very cool looking store.

The stores based in London at the Westfield shopping center, Stratford City, which is very close to the main Olympic site.

I'm heading down there tomorrow to do a photoshoot, mainly of the lovely store itself and a few portraits, we're also going to be making a short bts video which will be up on this site in the near future, come along and say "Hi" if you've got nothing better to do, always nice to see you guys.

TIM

I had a dream.

Hmm, maybe this isn’t the time or place for my “Dream speech” Anyhow’s dream is probably to strong a word. Ok, I had an idea.

More often than not my ideas don’t amount to much. They flash by at warp speed, resonate for a second or two before disappearing into the ether. If I’m lucky and I have a hand free, I’ll write the idea down in a little black book I carry with me everywhere. When this gets full (it doesn’t take that long) I pop it into my “ideas bag” along with all the other books, scraps of paper and napkins with squiggles all over them that live in there. So if I ever have an ideas draught I’ll know exactly where to look!

I’d been toying with the idea of shooting 3 very stylized photos for a while now. I like to think of them as my “white” period. I wanted each photo to be completely representative of the chosen sport it depicts in a very simplistic way, yet produce an image, instantly recognisable to both “core” and layman.

My dream.

The idea always comes first; I can see the finished shot in my mind before I ever pick up a camera. A conversation here, an email there and eventually the idea starts to take shape, it doesn't always. Sometimes I'm to busy shooting everybody else's images to concentrate on my own, but personal projects are what drives me, so this ones for me.

The first shot isn't complicated, a guy, a skateboard, that’s it really, simple. Only it’s never that simple! I need to work out what I want the skater to do before I can decide on a skater. Like I said, I want the photo to be simple. Yet portray something Iconic. Something representative of skating, something that even the layman would immediately recognise.

Simple, yet Iconic?

I know, a kickflip. You can’t get more iconic than a kickflip, it’s one of those “core” skateboarding tricks.

A kickflip without distractions! Rider and board photographed against a white background. Most likely in a studio with an infinity wall and controllable lighting.

Now I have my trick I can think about my skater. I don't want just any old skater, I need them to go huge from a standing start, time and time again. Not an easy ask.

As luck would have it I know a man who knows a man who, over the ensuing months (it nearly always takes at least 6 months from the inception to fruition of an idea, ah Logistics how I love/hate you) becomes affectionately known as “The kickflip guy” his actual name is Dave, Dave Rees. I’ve never met Dave, but I'm assured he can go "BIG" as often as I need him to and he’s going to drive for 6 hours down to my studio so I can take his photo, what a star.

The rest is relatively straightforward; the hardest part of any shoot is always getting the photographer and subject in the same place at the same time, sounds simple doesn't it? it never is!

Once I got Dave in the studio I decided to shoot three different scenarios. First up the "kickflip" against the white background. The lighting set-up was what I like to call "Stupid-simple" two lights fired straight at the white background to make sure it stayed white and a main light on a boom, directlty above and in-front of Dave, which was fired through a 100cm Elinchrom “deep” octobox - the idea of the "deep" is that it focuses the light. I chose to shoot on a Hasselblad H3Dll - 39 (as the finished print would be "lifesize") which was placed on an old and very sturdy Gitzo tripod at about waist height. I wanted a low angle so that when Dave was at his optimum height his head would be higher than the camera and I'd get at least a little of his face in. I used the Hasselblad HC 50-100mm f3.5/4.5 for three very simple reasons. Its brilliant, its flexible and its one of only two Hasselblad lenses that I had (the other being the extemely wide HCD 4/28) I set it at f8 and fired away happy in the knowledge that everything would be sharp - "F Eight and you're great" as they say!

I was shooting at about the 50mm end of the zoom which would allow me to crop the photo in post. Once we got started we both very quickly settled into a rhythm, four or five kickflips, check the images, repeat the process. After about an hour of almost continuous kickflips it was time for a much needed break and a cup of tea.

Next we moved outside the studio to shoot a portrait, I love texture in photos and decided to shoot against the metal shutters of the studio. For this I opted to shoot on my Nikon D700, mainly because I wanted to use a ring flash and the Elinchrom ECO isn't big enough to accommodate the bulkyness of the Hasselblad 50-100mm. After shooting some close-ups, head and shoulders and three-quarter lengths I decided to try a few more kickflips outside as I really liked the cobbled street, it would look great in a shot with the sun bouncing off it. Same camera and flash set-up, after a few minutes of lying on the floor in a puddle I realised the shots were nice, but they weren't really in keeping with my original "un-cluttered" kickflip idea, but hey you gotta try right!

Back inside, a change of clothes, a change of camera and lighting (back to the original set-up) fifty more kickflips and the jobs a good un, its in the bag.

The whole shoot was captured on video so hopefully by the end of the week the final edit will have been done and you will be able to watch exactly what went on as well as read about it so watch this space.

I'd like to say a huge thanks to Dave Rees for being such a star on the day and agreeing to do the shoot in the first place - check out his website www.daveyr.co.uk here

Last week I posted a piece about a recent shoot I did in the studio with uber talented skater Dave Rees, aka the kickflip guy, I promised a short behind the scenes video of how it all went down and so here it is, short and sweet, I don’t want to bore you guys! The video was shot and edited by another young and very talented guy, film maker Matt Pyecroft

As the video ends the photo you can see on the back of the camera is the one below, now edited.

I also wanted to ask you guys which photos you prefer, the colour on this page, or the Black and White ones on last weeks post, click here to have a look and please be sure to let me know your thoughts – enjoy. Tim

I’ve been staring out of my wet window for what feels like the last two or three weeks. March here in England was the hottest on record with temperatures reaching 23 degrees, but just as I unpacked my trusty shorts from the bottom of the drawer the temperature took a dramatic fall and in just under a week dropped to just 3 degrees, yep you read that right, and parts of the country experienced nearly two feet of snow, luckily I managed to miss that bit, Sheffield got away with just a few inches that disappeared the following day. But then it started raining and it doesn’t feel like it’s stopped since!

You can only do so much editing before you need to get out the house and there are only so many wet dog walks you can go on before you start to get bored. So far this week I’ve already tidied up twice, sorted through piles and piles of books and magazines for a “charity” shop, gone climbing indoors and even built a sliding shelf that pops out under my desk to house my new Wacom tablet. So today I needed to do something different and get out the house, it didn’t matter it was pouring down with heavy rain, after all I’m sponsored by an outdoor clothing company.

Twenty minutes later the family are all heading into the Derbyshire Peak District for a walk and a spot of phototherapy, with all this water around I thought I might as well take advantage of it and go photograph myself a river.

We head to the “surprise view” car park, park, cross the road and head into an old quarry called Lawrencefield where they used to blast stone for making Millwheels. The old Gritstone Millwheels lie abandoned, waiting for a horse and cart that’s never coming to pick them up and deliver them. Almost 100 years have past and the wheels are regressing back to nature. Everyone’s taken a picture like the one I’m about to take. Including me, but hey I like taking photos. The rain steadily beats down on me and it becomes a bit of a game trying not to get my camera too wet. Today I’m packing a tiny Lumix GH1 and a couple of Lenses. The camera zips up neatly inside my waterproof jacket and the spare lens easily fits in my pocket, at times like these there’s a lot to be said for going small, in fact the camera / lens combo is so small it neatly fits under the brim of my baseball cap and stays at least a little dry while I’m working out angles and exposures.

Once I’ve snapped enough Millwheels, Lu and I chase through the wonderful Silver Birch trying to catch up with our wandering dog Buis. Next we head down into Padley Gorge, we hear the river before we can see it, all the rain over the last couple of weeks is washing down off the hills.

The river when we finally get down to it is a ferocious mixture of brown and white. The brown is from the peat in the water, the white from the frothing movement. I shoot a few frames off and decide I best make use of the lightweight Gitzo Carbon monopod I’ve been lugging around for the last hour. We walk up the Gorge, hopping from rock to rock when we can and staying as close to the river as possible, stopping now and again to look through the viewfinder. I crouch down so my eye-line is only a foot or so above the swirling water, focus on a black, stationary rock (nice contrast against the colourful and moving water) compose and fire the shutter off at 1/5s, nice movement. Finally we pop out the top of the Gorge and into an open field, we’ve all been engrossed doing our respective things for what seems like ages, Buis playing with sticks in the water, Lucy taking and editing photos on her Iphone.

Its still raining and there’s not much of photographic interest about so we head back to the van making sure we take the long way round past the sheep with new born lambs, Buis hasn’t had her breakfast yet and dogs and Lambs don’t really mix.    

Now when I say I'm talking about 'SIZE' I'm not, I repeat NOT talking about pixel numbers! I'm talking about physical size and therefore the weight of the camera and lenses. For me the size and weight of the system is hugely important. Its important because it’s usually me that has to single handily lug it into all those "hard to get to places" that I work in a lot of the time and that means carrying it in, in a backpack.

For most of my shoots I use my trusty Nikon system and as rule of thumb take with me as an absolute minimum a D700 (full frame but smaller and lighter than my D3) a D300s (DX, small and light with video capability) 3 zoom lenses (14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8) I may also take a 50mm f/1.4 (very fast for low light situations) or an 85mm f/1.4. Add in at least 2 SB800 flashes, remote triggers, spare batteries, filters, cleaning stuff and a couple of mini tripods and you start to get the picture - it weighs a lot before I even start to think about adding the necessary rigging gear, climbing gear, skiing gear, whatever gear I might need to utilise in order to “keep up” with my subject, so to me SIZE really does matter!

Week one saw me running around the streets of London. I decided to be really mobile, I wanted to go as light as I could, while still maintaining the versatility of an interchangeable lens system and without loosing too much quality in the finished photographs. Earlier in the year I’d used the Panasonic Lumix GH1 with a variety of both fixed and zoom lenses on a trip to the Cogne valley in Italy, the results were surprisingly good and gave me a lot of confidence in such a small camera.

Everything packed into a tiny sling pack, including camera, two zooms, a 25mm f/1.4, a flash, charger and two spare batteries and Eight Gig CF cards. Back at the hotel was a MacBook Pro, a card reader and a couple of external hard drives and that was it. Charging round Covent Garden and the Southbank I hardly even noticed I had a pack with me.

The following week I had two shoots in and just outside a studio. For this I packed a Hasselblad H3Dll-39, HC 50-110mm f3.5/4.5 AF and HCD 28mm f/4 AF. Fabulous system, bloody heavy though. Hand holding this little baby makes your arms ache, a marked change from the tiny, light Lumix of the week before.

It’s amazing how many times I get asked “what gear do you use” most people actually mean camera gear, but in order to take a lot of the more specialist photos that I take you also need quite a lot of very specific gear (the chances are if your photographing Skiing you’ll need to be able to Ski, therefore you’ll need a full array of ‘Ski specific’ gear) so I thought I'd post a pic of "what gear I use most of the time when I take both editorial and commercial climbing photography" Obviously I don't carry all of the gear, all of the time, but on the whole the gear in the photo (apart from the Profoto and Elinchrom flash heads and packs) gets used 90% of the time.

Clockwise from the top:

Black Diamond Cams:

Camming devices I use for belays and deviations. I carry about 10 of varying sizes from tiny, smaller than your little finger up-to giant, almost the size of your head. I can quickly pop these into cracks and pull myself in and clip into them or alternatively clip my ropes into them to reposition myself – getting into exactly the right place before you even think about pushing the shutter is so important.

DMM Karabiners:

You can’t ever have enough Karabiners. I usually carry a minimum of 10 Screw-gate and 10 Snap-link with me. My personal preference is to use Screw-gates for the main belays and attaching myself into the system and the Snap-links for things like deviations and attaching things to myself.

Marmot Backcountry 30L Backpack:

I'll carry a small backpack for putting things like rigging gear, food and water in, but since the photo was taken I now use the F-Stop Tilopa BC which the design of allows me to carry all of the above and all my photo gear in the same backpack - result.

Gitzo Explorer Tripod Carbon 6X & Arca Swiss Ball Head:

Love this combo so much – the tripod is super rigid and super lightweight, which is a very important consideration when you have to ‘pack it in” The Arca Swiss ball head is without doubt the best ‘ball head’ I’ve ever owned.

Petzl Podium Seat:

This little seat is a ‘must have’ if your spending any amount of time hanging on the end of a rope. After about 20 minutes hanging in a harness the leg loops start to cut off the blood circulation to your legs and the waist harness digs in. Clip the seat instead of your harness into your abseil device, climb aboard and clip your harness to the seat with a short sling (you don’t want to be sliding off your seat!) attach to the rope with your preferred abseil device (mine is a Petzl GriGri) and away you go for one comfortable ride. 

Marmot Zeus Down Vest:

I carry this in the top of my pack or camera bag, its so lightweight it lives there permanently. If I start to get cold I throw this on top of whatever I’m wearing and it keeps my torso warm without restricting movement.

Static Rope 10.5mm:

You can never, never, have enough Static rope. All told I’ve probably got a couple of 1000 meters of the stuff. I’ve got short 25m lengths for the small Gritstone outcrops of Derbyshire, 100-meter lengths for the larger Limestone escarpments and sea cliffs and 200m lengths for the substantially bigger stuff. If 200m aren’t long enough you just join them together.

Marmot Pipeline Jeans:

Ok, perhaps these aren’t essential (I do have to wear trousers though) and these jeans from outdoor clothing manufacturer Marmot aren’t just cool looking threads, but stretchy (lycra in the weave) and water resistant to boot.

Patagonia Scree Shield Approach Shoe:

I wear whatever the weather dictates. If I’m in a mountain environment or abseiling down an Icefall I’ll wear the appropriate footwear (most likely the Scarpa Phantom Ultra) but for everyday use and walking around the low lying crags in Britain and Europe I like to wear an approach shoe. All the big brand outdoor manufactures make their own version and to be honest they’re all a “much of a much ness” some fit your feet better than other, some fit broad or narrow feet, some have extra grippy soles, I suggest you shop around and get whatever works best for you – I love the Patagonia Scree Shield.

Petzl Navaho Harness, Croll, Footloop and Hand-jammer:

Petzl are the biggest manufacturer of Industrial rope access gear in the world. The equipment they produce is designed to make your life technically easier while hanging in uncomfortable situations. The Navaho is a harness designed for sitting in “all day” it has an extra wide fully adjustable waist belt and leg loops and 3 built in “D” rings (attachment points) and some extra “beefy” gear loops. The Croll and Expedition hand-jammer are used for ascending ropes in conjunction with the foot-loop or Etrier. I have quite a few extra jammers and quite often carry two with me, which I use for sideways positioning once on the rope.

Helmet:

I don’t always wear a helmet; it’s a choice I make. I assess the dangers of where I’m going to be working and then decide. If I’m working on a cliff face with unstable or loose rock I’ll always wear one, if there happens to be other people in the area or on top of the cliff then I always wear a helmet. Over the years I’ve been hit in the face on more occasions than I care to remember! This helmet is a Petzl Elios, although you won’t be able to buy it with a paint jog like this – it’s custom made for Marmot team members.

Nikon D700 with 24mm-70mm f/2.8:

If I had to take just one camera and lens combo with me on a trip, up a mountain or cliff face then it would be the Nikon D700 full frame camera and Nikkor 24mm-70mm f/2.8. The D700 weighs about half the weight of the D3, but still allows you to put an extra grip / battery pack on it for added versatility if you like. The 24mm-70mm isn’t the lightest or smallest lens in the world, but for me it’s an ideal focal length and pin sharp even when you shoot wide open.

Nikon 24mm f/3.5 Tilt-Shift:

This is a lens I’m starting to use more and more. Quite often I’ll use it as a standard lens for shooting at the crag, but for those scenarios where I want to produce something a little different, throw an area out of focus or minimise converging verticals this little baby is “Da man”

Nikon 14mm-24mm f/2.8, 70mm-200mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4  & 2 x Converter (in bag):

Zoom lenses aren’t and probably never will be as good as fixed lenses. If I’m working in the studio I’ll always try and shoot on a prime lens, but when your out on location, up a mountain or hanging on the end of a 300m abseil versatility is king and you can’t get much more versatile than a zoom lens. I own four of them and will always pack the 14-24, 24-70, 70-200 f/2.8 and when the location dictates I also have the 200mm-400mm f/4 VR MKll, a beast of a lens which weighs 5kg’s – remember versatility only works if you can be arsed to carry the thing!

Nikon D300s with 200mm f/2:

When I take two cameras I’ll pack a D300s, primarily for its video capability but also if I might need to “extend” the range of my telephoto lenses. The D300s DX crop means you get a bit more “bang for your buck” which is very useful on the telephoto end e.g. my 200mm f/2 becomes a 300mm f/2 (obviously I can also do this in the crop mode on my D700)

I’ve got several long telephoto lenses in my arsenal but tend to only carry them when I know I have a specific use for them. The 200mm f/2 is an amazingly fast lens, which throws out all those unwanted backgrounds, but weighing in at almost 3kg’s it doesn’t get packed into many far-flung places, at least it doesn’t if I have to carry it!

Mini Tripod:

You can never have too many mini tripods. I use them for placing flashguns on. There’s loads of different makes on the market, I prefer the no-nonsense, uncomplicated type, although the flexible Gorilla pods are pretty funky and allow you to attach them to things like tree branches by wrapping the legs around them.

Nikon SB800’s & 900:

I always carry at least two flashguns, most likely the SB800’s (they’re physically smaller than the SB900) If I take just one or need a quicker recycle time then I’ll go the SB900 with an external Battery pack. I very rarely, if ever use the flash mounted on my camera. If I’m up on a wall I’ll hand hold it or use a pole, which I’ve adapted to get an extra few feet. If I’m down at ground level I’ll quite often use both flashes as a main and a fill.

Pocket Wizard Plus ll Remote Triggers (any number between 2 and 6):

Nikon cameras and flashguns now come with a built in triggering system so they can “talk” to each other. In theory this means my D700 will talk to my SB800 or SB900 without any external wires or 2^nd user triggers. In practice I find this system at best to be very limiting / annoying (although it seems to work just fine for legendry Nat Geo photographer Joe McNally) especially outdoors or in bright light, so to make sure I’m concentrating on getting the shot and not shouting at an inanimate object I always pack my Pocket Wizards, which allow me to remotely trigger both camera and or flashguns from a distance.

Hoodman Loupe:

This Loupe is a great piece of kit especially when your outdoors in bright sunlight. Just pop in on top of your screen and immediately it shields the image from any extraneous light and enables you to get a close up of the image – I use this all the time, especially when shooting commercial work.

Fuji X100 Rangefinder:

I loved this camera momentarily. It was such fun to use and took me right back to the days when I first learnt how to use a camera (Periflex Interplan A rangefinder) I loved the ease of use with which it all worked and of course how light it was, but eventually its fixed lens limited when I took it with me and it got relegated to shooting “filler” images for the articles, and ultimately retired and then sold as it was an expensive luxury to have just sitting around – Fuji have just replaced it with their new X-Pro1 a camera not unlike the X100 but with interchangeable lenses.

Various Camera Bags:

Don’t get me started on bags. I love and hate bags in equal amounts. I have different bags for different situations and for carrying different items. It used to be a Kata Beetle-282PL for packing the gear into the crag and a Think Tank Shape Shifter for carrying gear onto planes and around town. It’s so small and light and doesn’t particularly look like a camera bag, which in today’s economic climate is a definite bonus. The big flash packs and heads are packed into either a large Peli-case 1600 (for flying or transporting in a van) or into a large Lowepro DryZone 200, a waterproof backpack. However since the photo at the start of this article was taken I now exclusively use F-Stop bags. For packing in to the crag the 48L Tilopa BC, for using in a more urban environment the 28L Guru and for carrying Lighting packs and heads the Lightroom Roller – perfect.

Bog Roll (at least two):

Never, ever go anywhere without my double ply, Andrex toilet paper. At least if everything else goes to “sh_t” you’ll be able to wipe away the stress with the softest tissue out there.

Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX Heads and Packs:

What can I say about the award winning Quadra that hasn’t already been said? For me they have all the versatility and features of a studio system but in a package about the size of a small breakfast cereal packet. Add in the flash-head’s which are also tiny, about the size of a tennis ball, and the built in wireless triggering system and you start to get the picture. Even though they’re physically small they still take all the Elinchrom accessories and Light-shapers.

Profoto AcuteB 600 Head & Power Pack:

If I need a slightly more powerful (600 ws) but still relatively portable pack and head combo I’ll take the Profoto AcuteB 600. I’ve taken this set-up everywhere with me over the years, its got bashed and dropped, rained on and even left out in a sand storm, but still worked and of course it take’s all the legendry light-shapers (Octaboxes, softboxes, beauty dishes etc)

Petzl GriGri’s:

There are a lot of ways you can attach yourself to descend a rope, classic wrap it around you, old school Figure 8, for long descents a rack, for industrial applications a Stop or Rig, but my personal favourite over the years has to be the GriGri. Yes for abseiling while taking photos you need to be able to lock off the rope so you can shoot ‘hands free’ I’ve used pretty much used all of the above methods, except the Classic but my favourite piece of kit is the GriGri. I’ll carry at least 2 with me, so not only do I abseil in on one, but have a second which I can attach to a separate rope for positioning myself left or right. Very light weight (although I prefer the older one to the current smaller, lighter model)

Thought I'd take a few minutes and post some photos of editorial work thats recently been published. Obviously they're just the opening double page spreads not the whole article, I've also included the original shot so you can compare the "before and after" so to speak, I thought you might like to take a look. First up is an article on the Churnet Valley, a collection of small Sandstone crags lying along the banks of the river Churnet, between the picturesque villages of Oakamoor and Alton here in the UK. You can read a little bit more about the day here Interesting to see the difference in the blues between what was sent and what was printed!

Next up is another "Crag of the month" feature for the same Uk based magazine Climber. The opening double page spread I've included here actually wasn't the one they finally went to print with. I sent them a colour image (see below) which I really liked, the rest of the article only featured B&W images. My idea was that the colour opener would add impact to the next four pages in black and white, the magazine had different ideas and sent me this PDF. After a few "back and forths" via email the final piece

ran with the colour shot as seen below, which I prefer. The photo depicts a beautiful December morning at Bowden crag in Northumberland where Lucy (my partner) and I spent a fabulous Xmas. The day I took the photo was the only day when the wind eased enough to actually "pull on" to the rock, then the sun came out, the start to a perfect day. You can read a previous post about the day here

Around the same time I also shot the photo of Lucy Creamer (below) on the classic Peak district gritstone mega classic, Eye of Faith at Gardoms edge, Derbyshire, another fabulous but very cold day.

In January I wrote about the forthcoming Sheffield adventure film festival or ShAFF for short. I'd been asked along with two others (Lucy Creamer and Nikalas Cook)  to be one of the judges and watch a selection of almost 100 films.

Well i can happily report that the festival came and went last weekend and was a unanimous succes for all those that attended.

The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival is delighted to announce that ‘Unbreakable: The Western States 100’ has won the 2012 ShAFF Best Film award.

Festival Director Matt Heason says:  “It’s a double first for ShAFF - the first ever running film to win and the first feature length film to win.  What makes it stand out in a year where we’ve had a record-breaking number of films on show is the brilliant story telling and characters.  And it proves you need nothing more than a pair of trainers to have an adventure.   And just to prove what a great film it is, with a week to go, it’s sold out.  But don’t worry - we’ve put an extra showing on Sunday evening.”

Sheffield Adventure Film Festival Judge, Team GB duathlete and Adventure Sports Writer Nikalas Cook says:  “My fellow judges Lucy Creamer and Tim Glasby and I were in total agreement about ‘Unbreakable’.  The 2010 Western States 100 was a perfect storm of a race with four of the greatest, undefeated mountain runners on earth fighting to win the oldest and most prestigious 100-mile foot race in the world.  Even if you already know the result, it’ll still have you on the edge of your seat right down to the final few miles.”   

Fellow judge, Lucy Creamer, the UK's top female climber, says: "I’m not a runner, so having to watch a running film that was an hour and a half long was not an exciting prospect. But I have already watched this twice and now can’t wait to see it on the big screen. It is an extremely well put together film that combines different stories interweaved throughout to create genuine interest in these world class athletes; the race itself leads you towards an incredibly nail biting finish. How can a running film be nail biting? Well, watch this and you’ll find out. An absolute joy that almost made me want to go out running- not a hundred miles though!"

Here's the full list - we'll be adding more reaction from winners & judges as we get them.

ShAFF 2012 Best Film - Unbreakable: The Western States 100
Director: JB Benna
Producer: JB and Jennifer Benna (US, 106 mins, 2012)
Website: www.ws100film.com
Review:  http://runbritain.com/little-runbritain/156/
Synopsis:  Feature length film about a perfect storm of a race - in 2010 four of the greatest undefeated mountain runners on earth toed the starting line at the oldest and most prestigious 100-mile foot race in the world, The Western States 100.

ShAFF 2012 Best Climbing Film - Obe and Ashima
Director:  Josh Lowell, Brett Lowell and Cooper Roberts
Producer:  Josh Lowell (US, 23 mins, 2011)
Website:  www.reelrocktour.com
Synopsis:  A nine year old girl from New York is taking the bouldering world by storm and her name is Ashima. Under the tutelage of her ex champion coach Obe she's cracking problems and crushing her competition. Through her he rediscovers his passion for climbing but can she cope with the pressure and avoid the danger of burnout?

ShAFF judge and the UK's top female climber, Lucy Creamer says:  "Big Up Productions have created yet another quality offering that ticked a lot of boxes for me. You’ve got; raw emotion, hard climbing, high production standards and two characters with interesting stories. To say that 9 year old Ashima is a future star would be an understatement, she is a star now! Her climbing ability is difficult to believe and with Obe’s passion for coaching, her development in comps and on rock is fascinating. Watching her climb some of the hardest boulder problems in Hueco, Texas, that the majority of hard core boulderers would find desperate is a sight to behold and not to be missed."

ShaFF 2012 Best Environment & Culture Film: Spoil
Director/Producer:  Trip Jennings (Canadian, 44 mins, 2011)
Website:  www.balancemedia.tv
Synopsis: The rare white 'Spirit' bear lives in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia but its habitat is under threat from a proposed oil pipeline. A group of world renowned photographers and videographers teamed up to help the Gitga'at First Nation campaign to protect the forest by documenting its wildlife and culture.


ShaFF 2012 Best Short Film: Pillow Line
Director/Producer:  Kari Medig (Canadian, 5 mins, 2010)
Website:  http://www.karimedigphoto.com/
Synopsis: An amazing, amusing short that uses an innovative stop motion technique to show the world of skiing in a whole different light. Ski the pillow line without ever getting out of bed.

ShaFF 2012 Best Adrenaline Film: Sketchy Andy
Director/ Producer:  Nick Rosen and Peter Mortimer (US, 20 mins, 2011
Website:  www.reelrocktour.com
Synopsis: He has a tremendous amount of talent, but no fear. It's part insanity, part genius. Slack lining pioneer Andy Lewis solos the world's longest highlines going harder and faster with climbing, slack and BASE.

ShaFF 2012 Best Spirit of Adventure Film: Journey On the Wild Coast
Director: Greg Chaney
Producer:  Glacier Light and Shadow (US, 45 mins, 2011)
Website:  www.groundtruthtrekking.org
Synopsis: A young couple sell-up to spend a year trekking the coast from Seattle to Alaska. Proof you don't need a Hollywood budget to make a great adventure film - just a shared sleeping bag, toothbrush and plenty of cheese.
Director Greg Chaney says:  "Hey ShAFF! Thank you for the recognition of the "Spirit of Adventure" award.  I helped put this film together in part to show the power of a couple working together to achieve a goal in the wilderness.  It was also a great opportunity to show the beauty of a strong woman in the wild.  And I also hoped that we will inspire some people who have adventurous spirits that they can make an engaging movie even with a tiny budget.  Cheers to the true "Spirit of Adventure"!"
Erin, Hig & family say:  "We are pleased to accept the "Spirit of Adventure" award.  Adventure is a mistake one makes on purpose.   It springs from a naive optimism that we can, in fact, do something that seems impossible, and  from the stubborn perseverance to make it actually happen.  It's  probably a good thing that humans have poor memories for physical  discomfort.  Because the adventures that look uncomfortable on a  screen are the most addictive thing I can imagine.  I'm sorry we can't be there in person today.  But I wish you all adventurous lives."

ShaFF 2012 Hammer Design Best Artistic Film: Solitaire
Director:  Nick Waggoner
Producer:  Ben Sturgulewski, Zac Ramras, Michael Brown (US, 52 mins, 2011)
Website:  www.sweetgrass-productions.com
Synopsis: A poetic celebration of back country skiing and snowboarding in South America. The hypnotic Spanish narration (based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness) and hauntingly beautiful ski and board sequences reel you in to create a real connection between the sport and its natural environment that makes this film stand out from the crowd.
Zac Ramras from Sweetgrass says:  "We at Sweetgrass Productions are so honord to win Best Artistic Film among such a talented group of filmmakers. We wish we could be there to accept the award in person but we are in the middle of filming our next film. Thank you to the ShAFF Staff for putting on such a great festival and all the filmmakers out there pushing the boundaries of what we all thought was possible."



ShaFF 2012 Steve Peat Best Bike Film: Industrial Revolutions
Director: Stu Thompson
Producer:  Mike Christie (British, 5 mins, 2011)
Website:  www.mtbcut.tv
Synopsis: Danny MacAskill is the definitive adventure sports viral overnight success story. 3 years ago the Scottish street trials riders uploaded a video of his bike stunts filmed by his flatmate Dave Sowerby - it's now been watched over 28 million times. 'Industrial Revolutions' has already clocked up more than 3 million hits. Turn off the iPad, sit back and enjoy MacAskill in cinematic style.
ShAFF judge Lucy Creamer says:  "Danny MacAskill, what more can you say? This short gem packs in Danny doing some gob-smacking tricks, a great track and superb editing and visuals. Nearly five million people have watched it on the web, they can’t be wrong. Look out for the tight rope cycling, unreal!!"

ShAFF 2012 Best Viral Film:  Industrial Revolutions
Director: Stu Thompson
Producer:  Mike Christie (British, 5 mins, 2011)
Website:  www.mtbcut.tv
Synopsis: Danny MacAskill is the definitive adventure sports viral overnight success story. 3 years ago the Scottish street trials riders uploaded a video of his bike stunts filmed by his flatmate Dave Sowerby - it's now been watched over 28 million times. 'Industrial Revolutions' has already clocked up more than 3 million hits. Turn off the iPad, sit back and enjoy MacAskill in cinematic style.

So there you have it, the winners and what a fabulous mix they were. Of course the real winner was Sheffield for having such a fabulous festival and Danny for winning two catagories, greedy boy!