COMMERCIAL CASE STUDY / PETZL

Above
the action.

DART CAMPAIGN
JEFF MERCIER
CANADIAN ROCKIES

Product photography and field logistics.
A DART crampon campaign with Jeff Mercier.

Overhead view of Jeff Mercier climbing Big Brother

CLIENT

Petzl

CAMPAIGN

DART & ice climbing equipment

ATHLETE

Jeff Mercier

LOCATION / DURATION

Canadian Rockies
7 to 10 days

01 / THE BRIEF

From configuration
to climbing.

The campaign followed Petzl’s modular DART crampons from preparation at home to use on ice, showing the change between configurations with two front points or a single front point.

The wider brief also included a tool for making V threads, screw holder and ice screws. Product details and climbing photographs needed to work together, keeping the equipment visible in the terrain it was made for.

Petzl DART crampons laid out for configuration before the climb

Jeff Mercier working on a Petzl DART crampon at home

DART / PREPARATION AT HOMEModular front point configurations

Close view of a Petzl DART front point being adjusted in the field

Petzl DART crampon engaged on ice at Buddha Nature

FROM PREPARATION TO THE FIELDAdjustment & use on ice

02 / BEFORE THE SHOT

The preparation
behind the perspective.

For Buddha Nature, I hired Quentin Roberts to help with advance access and rigging. More than six hours of climbing and fixing static lines the day before made it possible to get ahead of the athletes for photographs from above.

That preparation was part of the assignment: creating the access needed for a different perspective on the climbing and the equipment.

Quentin Roberts climbing on Buddha Nature

Jeff Mercier high on the ice and rock of Buddha Nature

BUDDHA NATURE / CANADIAN ROCKIESQuentin Roberts & Jeff Mercier

03 / IN THE FIELD

Big approaches.
Close attention.

The approach to Big Brother took four to five hours. Overhead positions brought the climbing, exposure and equipment into the same frame.

Spindrift added another layer to the conditions on the route. The photographs move between product detail, athlete and environment, showing the equipment at work in the Canadian Rockies.