How These Adventure Photographers Capture the Perfect Shot

Jules Jimreivat, who splits her time between Washington and Oregon, is a seasoned cyclist, climber, and skier. One morning in January of last year, she drove two hours to Oregon’s Celestial Falls to learn more about a sport she was unfamiliar with. “Kayakers are a different breed—fearless and calm, but also giddy,” Jimreivat, 28, says. The roar of the waterfall made timing this shot challenging. “I had to crouch in the mud as minutes ticked by, finger on the trigger, ready to grab frames the second I saw a colorful blip make its way toward the drop,” she says.

After spending a week exploring Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon, Irene Yee, 35, knew that this was the shot she wanted. But it wasn’t until she climbed Sky Ridge herself that she saw how it would photograph. “To my delight, the rock fell away on both sides to reveal Crooked River,” says Yee, who lives in Las Vegas. The image, taken during the summer of 2021, shows Genevive Walker scaling the 5.8 route. “This photo was taken by a woman of color, of a woman of color, and to me that’s a powerful statement,” Yee says.

Ryan “Chachi” Craig, 41, snapped this photo of surfer Moana James Wong at the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout, a team contest that takes place annually on the North Shore of Oahu. To get this shot while swimming, Craig donned kick fins and waterproofed his camera. “In surf photography, the landscape is fluid and moving moment by moment,” says Craig, who lives in Santa Cruz, California. “It’s exciting to think about the moments yet to come.”

In October of last year, Idaho photographer Alex Pashley tagged along with Cariboo Jack bike-race founder Nate Kirchner to scope out some trails in the Tetons. Because of the terrain’s difficulty, the pair spent more time pushing their bikes than riding them. “What we thought would be a relatively mellow day turned into a ten-hour epic,” Pashley, 43, says. “Had I known what I was in for, I wouldn’t have brought the full camera kit.”