Combining photography with sport is an explosive combination. Being able to capture the beauty of a mountain as you climb it, or to frame a breaking wave must give you a feeling of unimaginable power. Many photographers try to achieve this skill, but not all of them succeed.
In today's post we introduce you to Jimmy Chin. Although you probably already know him, this climber, photographer and lover of life has a very interesting story - and some photographs.
Who is Jimmy Chin?
When we talk about Jimmy Chin, we are probably talking about one of the best adventure photographers of our time. Passionate about mountains and cinema, combining both hobbies has led him to win an Oscar for the photography direction of the documentary “Free Solo” in 2019.
In 1996 Jimmy graduated from Carleton University in Minnesota and, moving away from conventionalisms and established routines, decided to travel the world in search of mountains to climb and ski, using his van as a home for 7 years.
His first contact with sports photography took place in 1999, when, during the descent of El Capitan in Yosemite, Chin took a photo of his climbing partner with a borrowed camera and sold it to a sportswear brand for about 450 euros. From that moment on, the climber-photographer's career began to grow without limits.
In addition to his photography skills, Jimmy Chin is an accomplished climber and skier, and has been pursuing these disciplines professionally for over 20 years, always accompanied by his camera and an exceptional vision to capture the essence of both sports and the grandeur of the mountain.
“You don’t realize how good a skier he is because you’re stuck with the art, which is probably what he wants. He went up Everest to photograph and film a ski descent. I think he skied more than the people he was filming,” said Jon Krakauer, a well-known mountain journalist and writer.
Chin has been a photographer for National Geographic since 2002, and his photos have appeared on the covers of magazines such as the New York Times Magazine. He has also directed advertising campaigns for well-known brands, including Apple, Red Bull and The North Face.
Jimmy currently resides between New York and Wyoming with his wife, who is also involved in the film industry as a director and producer, and their children Marina and James.
Which are Jimmy Chin's climbing achievements?
In the early 2000s, Chin began to undertake expeditions quite frequently.
One of the climber/photographer's first achievements was when he and his teammates became the first Western athletes allowed to climb the Kondus Valley in India.
In 2001, Jimmy made two unsuccessful expeditions with his friends and companions Conrad Anker and Brady Robinson, one to a K7 in Pakistan, and the other, solo, to Torre Cerro in Patagonia. Weather conditions made these ascents impossible, but at the end of that year, undaunted, Chin went to Mali and headed for the Hand of Fatima, to the summit of Kaga Tondo, one of the meccas of climbing and the highest desert sandstone tower on the planet.
In 2003, Chin and his sports team set out to climb the North Face of Mount Everest, but his life becomes more complicated when an avalanche of glaciers breaks off onto them.This fact prevents them from continuing their route, but not forever, because the following year Chin reaches the summit, a fact that they take advantage of to film a movie about the catastrophe that occurred in 1996, in which 8 climbers lost their lives on the summit of the peak due to a severe storm. The film was called: Everest.
Over the next few years, Chin's career is a series of constant adventures; he becomes a climbing instructor, returns to Mount Everest to ski down it and thus become the first person to do so. In 2007, he returns for the third consecutive time to this mountain that became almost his second home, to film the movie "The Wildest Dream”.
Among his most frequent teammates are iconic climbing figures such as Conrad Anker and Alex Honnold, with whom he has experienced extreme situations; in 2009 they ventured together into the Ennedi desert in Chad, where they were attacked, without any protection, by a group of looters.
We also highlight his ascent of Shark's Fin in 2011, located at an altitude of more than 6,000 metres on Mount Meru, one of the most difficult climbs in the world. In 2017, Chin made his first ascent to Antarctica and climbed the peak of Ulvetanna, located in Queen Maud Land.
Which are Jimmy Chin's photographic achievements?
Chin is building up quite a track record. He currently has an Academy Award, seven Emmys and a BAFTA. Jimmy was exclusively dedicated to capturing still images until, in 2002, he stepped out of his comfort zone when National Geographic commissioned him to be the camera director on the filming of a documentary about an expedition to Tibet. Chin had never used a video camera before, but from that moment on, he never let it go; the following year he decided to shoot the film Everest, in 2007 he directed Wildest Dreams, in 2015, together with his wife, he directed and produced Meru, and in 2018, the documentary that has had the most impact on his career was released: Free Solo.
What projects has Jimmy Chin done for National Geographic?
Chin joined the National Geographic team as a photographer in 2002, which allowed him to continue doing expeditions, routes and ascents while taking photos and filming his adventures, which later appeared on the covers and pages of National Geographic magazine.
Jimmy has made, with the help of the NG, an expedition to the Changtang Nature Reserve in Tibet, a feature film in Yosemite about the climbing culture in this symbolic place. In 2012, also on assignment from the group, the photographer spent several weeks on the Musadam Peninsula in search of inhospitable walls and cliffs.
The photographer has also captured incredible images of the climbers who made the first ascents of one of Asia's highest peaks, the Karakoram. He has also left a visual record as a gift to the world of the first skiers who ventured down the Himalayas.
The Wildest Dream
The film The Wildest Dream tells the story of the famous mountaineer and climber Conrad Anker who discovered in 1999 the body of Gregory Mallory, a climber who lost his life trying to ascend Everest in 1924. His sudden disappearance remains to this day the greatest enigma of mountaineering, as Mallory was seen that same morning 250 meters from the summit.It is not known whether the climber was still ascending to the summit of the mountain or was already descending from it when his trail disappeared. Researchers claim that the position of his body indicates that Mallory was returning from the peak; therefore, the first ascent of the highest point on the planet would actually date back 29 years before the official one, made by Edmund Hillary and Norgay Tenzing in 1953.
Meru
In this feature film, Chin is the director, cameraman and star along with Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk. It tells the story of the first ascent of Shark's Fin to the peak of Meru. The interesting thing about this ascent is that it had been banned since 1986, and finally, in 2011, Jimmy and his companions were given permission to embark on the adventure. More than three years passed between the time they reached the summit and the film was released on the big screen in independent cinemas.
The film, in addition to having spectacular visual quality and leaving a mark on everyone's retina, delves into values such as love, friendship and the passion for life of these three mountaineers. Chai Vasarhelyi was the co-director of the feature film, who contextualized the plot and gave voice to the story.
Free Solo
This documentary directed and produced by Jimmy Chin and E. Chai Vasarhelyi tells the story of how Alex Honnold, a climber who climbs alone, without partners, without restraints, without a harness, who simply uses his hands and feet to tie himself to the mountain, and his mind to stay calm, climbed the face of the most famous rock of all time: El Capitan, in Yosemite.
This feature film is not just about one of the sporting achievements in history, because, although the entire plot revolves around the ascension, the film raises some arguments such as the duality between perfection or death, selfishness, perhaps, in the face of such direct exposure to risk by a person who has loved ones and people who care about him, or the almost absolute and irrational lack of fear.
The photography is one of the film's strong points, as we constantly find high-angle shots of Alex in the middle of the immensity of the wall, at dizzying heights and attached to nothing. The capture of the landscape and the atmosphere perfectly conveys a feeling of adrenaline, fear and, in a certain way, envy, seeing Honnold in a wonderful, peaceful place that no one - or almost no one - will be able to know in the same way as he does.
We hope that reading about Jimmy Chin has motivated you to want to know more about him, because he is a photographer who is well worth following. And as you know, it is never too late to start climbing, or taking photos, or both!
