Hueco Take 3
Getting caught up with all of these… Here is the third set that I edited. Lovin it out here, even had some snow again last night. Enjoy:
Pictograph in the Kiva Cave.
Pictograph in the Kiva Cave.
Katja Vidmar on Choir Boys.
Katja Vidmar on Choir Boys.
Abbey Smith on 1969.
Abbey Smith on 1969.
Jason Kehl on a project.
Jason Kehl on a project.
Jason Kehl working the bottom moves of a project.
Jason Kehl happy to be taking out some slack.
Happy Birthday Caine!
So last night at Hueco, it rained, sleeted and snowed. This morning was super chilly, overcast and nasty, but the desert weather never ceases to amaze me. The end of the day turned out to be super beautiful, and I some how convinced Caine to climb on his North Mountain FA for a photo shoot on his 30th birthday. The Australian pulled through, and we got some killer shots. Happy Birthday Caine, and thanks so much!
Caine on his North Mountain FA Low Expectations.
Hueco Tanks – Part Deaux
So I was kind of waiting on approval to post some images that I took, but I haven’t heard back yet, so I guess I’ll skip posting those, because I want to show you some more of what I got. Hueco has been a blast, and it’s so beautiful out here. The days tend to fly by, even the days that I am resting. The trip is half way over now, but there still seems like there is so much more to do both climbing and photographing. Here is the second set of images I got out here taken about a week or so into the trip. Enjoy.
Caine looking cool, Jason looking... cool?
Caine matching up on High Ideals.
Jason Kehl high on High Ideals.
Abbey Smith on Dark Silouette.
Hueco Tanks – The first days
Ahhhhhhh…. Finally making my post from Hueco Tanks. All I can say is, other than the one day of rain, the weather has been absolutely amazing, the people here are great, and as you probably know, the climbing here is world class. It’s such an awesome opportunity to be able to be here for an extended period. Seeing old friends, seeing people come in and out and getting to know the area on an intimate level has been awesome. I feel so very fortunate to having such a wonderful and loving wife in my life who is allowing me to be here for so long because she understands my passion for climbing and photography. I love her a lot, and miss her tons. But enough with the mushy stuff, here are some images because that’s what you really came here for.
Ann Raber on King Cobra. Climbing with Ann on this day was super fun.
Caine Delacy from Australia getting in his target practice.
Glenn Johnson exploding the clay pigeon.
Heather Johnson and her .410 at sunset.
Ditch digging on the rest day.
Jaime Cavasos sending Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive.
Backside of North Mtn, looking at West and East Mtn.
Eric Quait on the classic Ghetto Simulator.
There’s definitely more, but I’m going to try to spread it out over time 
Here are some more images from the trip:
http://merrickales.com/hueco020910/
Albert Pujols – Marucci Bats
I had the awesome opportunity to work with Marucci Bats again. This time we were shooting head shots of Albert Pujols as well as grabbing some photos of him training at batting practice. He was a really great guy, but as most famous people out there, he didn’t have a lot of extra time to give us for the photo shoot. We were able to set everything up before he showed up, and I think we were able to grab some really great content. I wanted these images to have a sort of gritty/photojournalist feel to them. I was shooting at pretty high ISO which got me some nice grain effect, and I applied a few actions that I created to help set the mood that I was looking for. Here are some images of Albert Pujols at the batting cages, and a couple of portraits I was able to get as well:
85mm - f/1.4 - 1/500 - iso 3200
85mm - f/1.4 - 1/500 - iso 3200
28mm- f/2.8 - 1/320 - iso4500
19mm - f/2.8 - 1/320 - iso4500
19mm - f/2.8 - 1/320 - iso4500
19mm - f/2.8 - 1/320 - iso4500
105mm - f/3.2 - 1/400 - iso1600
85mm - f/2.8 - 1/400 - iso1600
