Summer 2021 saw the opening of Manchester’s brand new independently owned and run bouldering wall, Bloc Haus. Core Climbing of Sheffield provided the matting and a lot of the holds for the wall, and so Core commissioned Dave to visit the wall just prior to opening to photograph the matting for use on Core’s website, and also to interview wall owner Richard about his motivations, inspirations, and hopes for his new venture.

Photographing a brand new clean and untouched climbing wall is a rare privilege, although in the final stages of preparation this is not without certain hurdles, especially when parts of the facility are still a literal building site. Bloc Haus is a unusually spacious, airy and light facility so Dave chose to maximise this feeling in the images produced, using a mixture of ambient light and a little flash to add shape and enhance in inherent striking geometry of the structure.