Jeremy Jensen

Today on the show I have Samuel Crossley, a talented documentary filmmaker and photographer who was introduced to a camera at a young age, when his dad handed him a DSLR in manual mode and insisted he learn how to use it the hard way. Years later, after continuing to pursue his interests in photography, he ended up in film school and after being inspired by Alex Honnold on 60 minutes - quickly found his way to climbing and immediately fell in love with the sport and capturing its intricacies through a lens. Ironically enough, a few short years later Samuel ended up working directly with many of the biggest figures in climbing and was even asked by Jimmy Chin to work on the academy award winning documentary Free Solo. 

This conversation is chocked full of some great wisdom nuggets and a lot of real talk, and I have to say - the chat with Samuel proved to be one of my all time favorites I’ve had on the pod, and I think you’ll shortly see why. Namely because Samuel is just so thoughtful and has a unique ability to gracefully articulate what he’s thinking.

Oh yeah, and keep the google machine handy - Samuel is going to shed some light on the anatomy of an amazing big wall climbing photograph, and you’ll want to check out the photo below while he walks us through it. 

Before we dive in, a quick reminder that as we move closer and closer to election season it’s important to start thinking about your role in the fight against climate change. My go to resource is Protect Our Winters. They make it easy to get your friends and family registered to vote and have lots of information on how to make informed decisions and get involved. Head over to their website or check them out on the socials for all the deets.

Show resources and links:

Samuel’s website and instagram page

Free Solo movie with Alex Honnold and Sanni McCandless

Jordan Cannon and Mark Hudon

Arc’teryx video projects

Jimmy Chin

Sufferfest with Cedar Wright

AMGA skills videos

Tommy Caldwell

Matthew Mitchum