Dave Black Brings Light Painting to Sports Photography

To get the shot, sometimes

you do crazy things. Like clinging

to a wall of ice in the dark, wielding

a 2-million-candlepower

spotlight. Then doing it over endlessly

until you get it right.

That’s what sports shooter

Dave Black did to make this

incredible image. With no prior ice-climbing experience, he

spent four long nights perched

on the edge of an ice gorge

in Ouray, CO, as world-class

climbers Chris Alstrin and Mike

Anderson repeatedly ascended

for his camera.

Even crazier, he used a creative

but unpredictable photo technique no one else uses for

sports. He calls it “light painting.”

This involves holding the

camera’s shutter open for a long

exposure while sweeping light

by hand across the subject.