In fact there are multi-layered relationships going on in the climbing wall industry. The client-business interplay is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s the way the physical space makes users feel, and if they’ll want to return time and time again. Deeper still there’s also the way good problem setting forges that relationship between the setter and the customer, with the resin holds and the setter’s creativity being the go-between. And the business’s relationship with their suppliers is one which is often hidden and easily overlooked, but where, as is often the case, working together benefits both parties.

My brief for this project was to shine a little light (pun intended) on some of those relationships. The Depot wanted images to document that relationship between their customers and the space, in the act of climbing, for website, social media and promo use. Core needed action shots of their products being used in situ - the centre’s matting, holds, and sewn goods. And finally images to promote the competition Core and The Depot were collaborating on; to dig into the process of problem setting - taking a blank space and creating the climbing routes, the medium by which the setters communicate their creative vision. Shooting all this in a busy working climbing centre is not without challenges, but putting a few of those good relationships to good use ensured a very productive day at the office all round.