What does it take to capture the BANFF world tour poster shot: we asked Aussie photographer John Price
Just how do you go from being a kid in a lecture theatre in Canberra to a professional adventure photographer living in Canada? For many it is a dream but John Price has made it his reality. Attending the Banff Mountain Film Festival screenings when they were in a lecture theatre at ANU in Canberra, inspired Price to dream of bold adventures, big mountains and foreign lands. Having grown up in Canberra, graduated from school and landed a job in the public service, Price decided to pack it all in and head abroad in search of adventure.
He ended in up in the mountain town of Banff. Working in an outdoor store the bare minimum number of hours to support his climbing habit and meals of ramen, kale and peanut butter (yes you read that correctly). Price spent as much time as possible exploring the local mountains, climbing and learning to ice-climb
An impulse message to a local photographer he admired was the unexpected kickstart to Price’s journey to becoming a professional photographer. It turns out that Paul Zizka is as nice a person as he is a talented photographer and he came straight back to Price with an invitation to meet him that night to shoot the Aurora, he’d even bring some spare camera gear for Price to have a play around with. This prompted a frantic google search by Price of terms such as: ISO, aperture, shutter speed and night time photography who at the time was still a complete novice.
The rest, as they say is history. John was a fast and passionate learner. He took every opportunity he could to get outside and capture unique images, mostly of the activities that he was passionate about, climbing and the mountains. Living in a place like Banff there is no shortage of either and after years of juggling jobs like Rope Access Technician, working standby rescue for confined space at a local hydro dam, Price finally took the leap and became a fulltime photographer.
Price’s life now is pretty varied and 100% focused on adventure photography…. when he’s not climbing of course. In the week prior to our catch up Price had just returned from an assignment in Chamonix, established a new ice/mixed route with his buddy Kris Irwin and shot a promo piece for BMW.
Price’s photo of Larry Shiu ice climbing on Cascade Mountain has been selected as the signature shot for the 2017/18 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. That means it will be on the big screen at over 1,100 screenings across 45 countries and seen by over half a million people worldwide. Not bad for a kid from Canberra.
*all images John Price Photography http://www.johnpricephotography.ca/
