Climbing guidebooks are representation; they are the face of outdoor climbing, be it trad, sport or bouldering. We reach for them whether we are venturing outside for the first time or the hundredth time. But the photos of climbers in guidebooks aren't really reflective of the whole climbing community. Through my work with Our Shared Outdoors, we have been looking into the statistics of representation in climbing guidebooks, and (surprise surprise) we're finding that it's pretty monotonous.
To address this, in conjunction with the SMC and Emily Nicholl, who has been the force behind this series, I've been spending time photographing a diverse range of climbers on Scottish rock across the central belt of Scotland. It's been a wonderful journey of meeting new friends and climbing partners and discovering new ways to photograph the art of climbing.
