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Features

Life in Focus: Tim Kemple on Shooting in the Wildest Locations

Chris Gampat
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05/17/2013
3 Mins read

The Phoblographer Tim Kemple Life in Focus F-Stop Gear images (5 of 5)ISO 2001-800 sec at f - 4.5

Tim Kemple is an adventure photographer who recently partnered with F-Stop gear to create a series called, “Life in Focus.” He has shot campaigns for North Face, Black Diamond, and loads of others. Tim’s work has also been featured many times by Phase One as he takes his gear out to capture vast landscapes and death-defying scenes.

In between hikes, we had some time to chat with Tim about his work and the spirit of adventure.



Phoblographer: How do you prep to go on journeys like this in terms of both gear and human needs?

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Tim Kemple: I try and divide my gear into categories. What do I need vs what do I want. Weight is a huge factor so picking lenses, cameras, food, etc are all important decisions. The important thing is that you get your bag to a weight that is manageable for several days and lets you keep up with the athletes (that are probably in better shape than you are!).

Phoblographer: Where do you get your inspiration from besides nature? Whose work do you really digg?

Tim Kemple: I’m not inspired by other photographers as much as I am by athletes. Seeing people devote their lives to sport is super inspirational for me. I know that they are the best at what they do, so I need to rise to the occasion and try and be the best at what I do. That inspires creativity and collaboration, which lead to new and special images.

Life in Focus E01 – Tim Kemple from f-stop || Gear on Vimeo.

Phoblographer: People love going out hiking and taking photos of great locations like this. But you combine environmental portraiture with landscape photography. How do you break into a gig like that?

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Tim Kemple: When you travel, climb, ski or whatever it is a multi sensory experience. When I photograph I try to bring home the sounds, the taste and the smell of a placeâ€Ĥ and in order to do that you need to see faces, textures, and details that compliment the landscape.

Phoblographer: Tell us about your gear and why you choose it?

Tim Kemple: This is a loaded question. I’ve shot with nearly every camera under the sun over the years. They are all tools and do different things really well. So I pick the best tool for the job. Right now I’m shooting a bunch with the Phase One iQ180 and Schneider Optics and the Nikon D800 with Zeiss Lenses. I’ve also been dabbling a bit with shooting stills on RED as we use that a bunch on my motion productions. I also love me some Nex-7 for an around town camera.

Phoblographer: When you go out shooting, how much time would you say is generally devoted to waiting for the right light, finding the right location, setting up, etc?

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Tim Kemple: Great question. The difference to me between a good shoot and a great shoot is in the prep. My team and I do a huge amount of research on locations, athletes, etc weeks before we shoot. We search Google, Flickr, buy local guidebooks, and talk to fixers to see what we can find that is unique or special. One advantage of hiking hut to hut is that you are always out for sunrise and sunsetâ€Ĥ so there is no excuse not to be shooting!

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The Phoblographer Tim Kemple Life in Focus F-Stop Gear images (4 of 5)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 4.5

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Adventure camera Life in Focus North Face outdoor phase one Photography sony Tim Kimple zeiss
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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