Here is a picture of my band playing at the summit on New Years Eve. I have trouble remembering the show but the pictures from it spark certain memories. Photos are like the bread crumbs left by hansel and gretel. They can help you find your way back into the past.

Supercrack

Indian Creek is a well know place for most climbers that live in the Durango area. Splitter cracks are found for miles and miles in this sandstone climbing mecca but for all it's glory, not much has been said about the founders of the area. This film trailer seems to be portraying the history of Indian Creek. The first ascent of Luxury Liner now known as Supercrack was the first climb done in Indian Creek. The year was 1976 and the climber was Earl Wiggins. Wiggins was a colorado boy who eventually went into the film business rigging for movies such as cliffhanger. His untimely death ended an era that he helped to usher in. This trailer depicts original footage as well as the other members of the first ascent party reliving their teenage adventure in the canyonlands of 1976.

Ad deconstruction

Gore-Tex is a company that sells waterproof clothing. This particular ad is featured on a full page of Rock and Ice magazine. This magazine is a climbing publication and it is convenient that Gore-Tex provides protection against the elements that the sport often faces.
The Gore-Tex ad is striving to sell their new fabric that the company compares to a shark’s outer layer. The target audience for this ad is outdoor enthusiasts and more specifically climbers. The ad draws the attention of readers with the illustration. The design of the head of a shark combined with the body of a male pulls readers into the ad. The point of the ad is to make the reader believe that the new Gore-Tex fabric will keep anyone protected. Gore-Tex provides one paragraph of text based on the strength of a shark’s outer skin and then compares this to the strength of their new product.
The actual product that the advertisement is about is unclear. They mention that as a company they have developed a solution to extreme conditions of nature called Gore-Tex Pro Shells. What are these shells? Are they similar to a turtle’s? The question of what the product looks like and what it actually is remains unanswered.
The advertisement is definitely designed to appeal to climbers. It could also be argued that the ad caters to males due to the fact that the head of the shark shares a body with a naked male. It seems that Gore-Tex targeted males under the assumption that the majority of climbers are male. The male body in the advertisement is also quite muscular. This could be viewed as a technique that appeals to males who desire a muscular physique or males who value being in shape. This in turn could speak to male climbers who might be reading the magazine.
The advertisement claims that the Gore-Tex solution provides “protection under the toughest conditions.” The ad also states that a shark’s solution is quite similar because they also have “an extremely tough exterior of scales [to] protect the body.” The weakness of the language only lies with the content. This is because more attention is given to describing the shark’s tough skin than actually describing the product they are selling. The ad does state, “To find out more about the Gore-Tex Product solutions visit gore-tex.com.” It seems they should have used their two paragraphs of text more wisely and included the information in the actual advertisement instead of leading potential customers on a wild goose chase to find out what in the world they were actually trying to sell.
The composition of the advertisement is very interesting. As I mentioned before, the head of a shark is combined with a male’s body and this creates a striking image that draws the attention of readers because of the obvious juxtaposition. It seems that the location of the ad is underwater but it is unclear. This is just insinuated by the combination of the content and the colors of blue used throughout the ad. The shark is an underwater creature and the majority of colors in the ad are blue.
There is a key phrase within the advertisement that grabs the reader’s attention as well. The bottom center of the ad hosts the Gore-Tex logo. The logo includes the slogan of the company, which is “Guaranteed to Keep You Dry.” The slogan within the context of the advertisement seems ironic. What does a shark living its whole life submerged in water know about “staying dry.” If a shark were to stay dry it would die. This seems a bit contradictory to the advertisement if the company wants to appeal to the safety obtained through wearing their “pro shells.” This is certainly an unintended effect I got from the advertisement.

Eggleston Photo

This is a photograph taken by William Eggleston. Eggleston is the godfather of color photography and is from the Mississippi delta which is where I was born and raised. He now lives in Memphis, Tennessee and is still active in the photography world. I relate to his photographs. They are the type of photographs that when once viewed plague your everyday visions. You seem to ask yourself or tell yourself rather that everything you see should be photographed. "I should take a picture of that" you seem to say to yourself. I guess his photos also remind me of home and excite a kind of nostalgia within me. Eggleston once commented on the fact that everything around him was so ugly to which his friend responded "Well take photos of the ugly stuff then." Well what he seemed to do was not just take photos of ugly stuff but transform the ugly stuff into beauty. The ordinary is gorgeous.

Dave Birkett Climbing in the Lake District

So this is a short clip of the movie "Set in Stone" by Alastar Lee. He is a british climbing film director and his films are far better than most other climbing movies in my opinion. There is a beauty in his cinematography that is unmatched for me. The angles are incredible and it seems like he moves on a track or something. I don't really know how it's done but I love it. There is a point that is reached in his films that makes the viewer super aware of the beautiful area in which his subjects are in. Dave Birkett is also an incredible muse and his climbing is well matched with Lee's directing.