Photographer Brian Sweeney

Interview with photographer, videographer and climber Brian Sweeney 

by Jackie Hueftle

Nip9 Photography 

Slickfoot Studios

 

How long have you been climbing?

About 12 years now

Do you have any sponsors?

            I just recently started working with Flashed, which I'm pumped about because I have been using their pads since I started climbing outside.  It's really cool to get some props from a company that you respect; especially when they also make bomber products.

How'd you get into photography?

I initially got into photography as a method to show my parents what I was doing while living in the dirt for months on end.  But not long after my first photographic escapades, I became enamored with the possibilities of the photographic medium.  Namely the use of multiple exposures, which has had an interesting and profound effect on other art mediums throughout the history of photography.

What kinds of photos do you take?

My photographic work has two main veins.  One is my "fine art" stuff that I wrote my thesis on (in 2007 I received a Bachelor Fine Arts in Photography).  These art images are time-lapse photographs of me covered in lights doing climbs in the dark.  The resulting image is a document of my specific movements through space over a span of time.

The other vein of my photography are more predictable "documentary style" images of my adventures climbing and all of the new climbing that my friends and I have been developing over the past few years.

What are you trying to do with the pictures you take?

My thesis artist's statement:

It has been said that I paint with light, and while I enjoy this analogy to "real" artists, my work is more of an investigation into light moving through space over a span of time.  It is a truthful representation of an aestheticised conscious action, which has been transfixed on photographic film.  The work is an elapsed span of time existing in a single view.  Through this presentation of the passage of time, I am defining the concept of the "Transitory Moment."

My work consists of time-lapse photographs presented as backlit transparencies.  My imagery is a mix between abstract colorful forms and figurative elements.  All of my photographs are self-portraits and function as documentations of my "performances" with varied light sources in a space.  The work is presented in various sizes of light boxes, from small-scale sixteen by twenty inch and large-scale forty by fifty inch.  Most of my photographs are shot on four by five transparencies and Polaroids, but some are shot with a digital single lens reflex camera.  All of my photographs are shot straight, meaning that there is no digital manipulation.

Art is the process of turning the ethereal into something tangible, not only the finished product, the piece on the wall.  True art is experienced by the art maker during the art making process.  It is the process of thinking, of creating.  It is the trial and error, the success, and the failure.  The work that is produced by the art maker is simply a relic of the art making process.  Art is the journey, not the destination.

Have you been published?

I have been fortunate enough to be published several times in a variety of publications for all different types of my work.  I do a bit of commercial work as well.  It is always fun to see your work out in the world.

Ø  2004

o   Photographer's Forum, Annual "Best of College Photography."

o   Rock and Ice, December.

Ø  2005

o   Work of Art, published by Black Rock Press.

Ø  2006

o   Verve Clothing catalogue.

o   Brushfire 58, published by the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Ø  2007

o   Central Washington Bouldering, Sharpend Publishing.

o   Brushfire 59, published by the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Ø  2008

o   Urban Climber, #24

How'd you get into video?

I have been into making videos since early high school when we used to make skateboard and snowboarding videos, so we could turn pro...which obviously worked out well.  But not until the last few years of college did I start to take videography seriously: it became a fun method for me to take what I knew about photography and apply it to a time-based medium.  Now I am as involved with stills as I am with video.

What is Slickfootstudios?

Slickfootstudios.com is a collective of a few friends making climbing videos that we find entertaining.  There is no way that I could compete with Fryberger, Mortimer, or Lowell's budget so I figure that I might as well have as much fun as possible while working out of my room.  So, instead of the most studly/bodacious climbers on the world's sickest new lines, slickfootstudios (link) has silly vignettes of unknown dirt bags sending sick new climbs around Tahoe.  I find climbing to be fun, so why not make videos that are fun as well? There are much more important things to be serious about, so lets have a good time with climbing.

Tell me about the areas you've developed around Tahoe.

There has been an explosion of new bouldering areas all around Tahoe.  A close-knit group of friends and I have been establishing several areas on the north end of Tahoe, Donner, and the Sierra Buttes. One of the main Truckee developers, Ty Fairbairn, started visionbouldering.com as the first steps of a guide that we are producing featuring new climbing that has been established in several areas.  The first area is Castle Peak, CA, which is some rad granite bouldering near Donner Summit; the newest video on slickfootstudios.com is a flick exclusively dedicated to a few of our Castle Peak first ascents.  The place is relatively low key and fun for of climbers of all styles and abilities. 

The other main area is the Sierra Buttes, and it is the best climbing I have ever done, hands down.  The rock is quartz porphyry and I am told that it is very similar to RMNP.  Just like Castle, there are only a handful of people going out and establishing new lines.  It has been a really amazing experience being so lucky to put up so many first ascents over the last three years.  I am constantly baffled at how lucky we are to have such amazing untouched climbing all around us.

Is the Sierra Buttes a big area?

The Sierra Buttes are mind-blowingly expansive.  There is so much rock of all different types of climbing that the Buttes are a pick-your-own adventure mountain.  Or as we like to say "you go boulderneering when you climb at the Buttes."  To get the best feeling for "boulderneering" you have to imagine bouldering minus all the lazy bits mixed with a dash of mountain adventuring.  Walk as far as you can and you will be presented with truly amazing climbing, scenery, and a workout.

How much potential is there?

It is really hard to surmise the amount of climbing potential still untouched at these areas, because literally every time we go out we get some first ascents.  But, to give you an impression, we have been establishing new lines in these areas for three years and it has become a game to see who can snag the most and hardest FAs each day.  Ty holds the standing record of 26 FAs in one day, several of which were in the V8 range.  There is also some serious route development occurring.  The place is amazing and I am blown away every time I go out there.

What is your proudest FA?

My proudest FA in terms of the grade is a toss up between Stake Your Claim V11 at the Buttes and Tsunami V11 at Castle Peak.  But there are a ton of lines that I have established that are not as hard but are amazing aesthetically; a few are: Jaberwalkie V9, The Only Traverse V8, and Black Hole V9 at the Buttes, and Cougar Killer V10, Endless Summer V8, and Skeeter Glen V9 at Castle Peak.

What is your favorite photo you've ever taken?

Favoritism over my images is strange for me.  As soon as I produce a piece of work for public consumption, I instantly feel alienated from the work.  My relationship to the piece has changed from a hands on "work in progress" to a stand alone "finished" product, and I find it really hard to judge my work in an objective manner after it's out there.  So, for me, my favorite images are the ones that inspire me to make new and better work.