The Story Behind the Picture: Thomas

Photo: Thomas Schermer. Daniel Olausson on Mon Gout 7c, Ulorna, Sweden. This is Thomas' story behind this picture:

The alarm goes off before dawn and I wonder whose brilliant idea it was to try to catch that early light. I meet the tired eyes of Daniel at the breakfast table, wordlessly expressing the same thoughts. We sluggishly follow the plan that sounded like a good idea the night before while having a beer, now even too tired to realise we could just crawl back to bed.

The drive to the coastal crag Daniel told me about passes by without speaking much. From the parking we start downclimbing a 15m rusty metal ladder with too many crash pads and a backpack full of camera gear - I’m still wondering what we were thinking about.

But the moment I see the boulder the lack of sleep is gone. Since the tide is coming in I hastily set up the light and check possible angles. I decide to wade barefoot into the water to get more of the reflection in frame and Daniel does what little warming up is possible. After a couple of minutes and a few tries the sun is higher up and the morning colours gone for the day.

It usually takes a while for me to realise if I got a significant shot. Not this time - I knew right away we had achieved something special. This photo is still among my favourites and on top of that it ended up being on the cover of Climbing Magazine a couple of months later.