THE ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHER
JETHRO KIERNAN is an award-winning photographer and Mountain Leader who lives just outside the village of Llanberis in Snowdonia. After growing up in North Wales then relocating to pursue a career away from the outdoors, he found the lure of his native mountains too strong to resist and moved back to raise his own family. He now balances the demands of a day job with his love for photographing the mountains of Snowdonia and passion for raising his kids in the environment he loves. (jethrokiernan.com)
Work for me involves juggling a few career strands. Like many people who choose this lifestyle, mine includes photography, work as a rope access contractor and a developing career in the outdoor industry. This adds a few extra layers of complication to the work-life balance conundrum but is what a lot of people take on to allow them the flexibility to get in the mountains and lead that outdoor lifestyle.
Having grown up on the North Wales coast and spent time in the mountains as a child and a student at Bangor Uni, it took moving away to really appreciate what I’d always taken for granted. It didn’t take too many years for me to gravitate back to the mountains and the people who live there, photographing climbing and mountains on slide film for climbing magazines in the ’90s while travelling and hanging off ropes fixing things as a rope access worker. For a while the financial practicalities of raising a family meant that photography and the mountains took a bit of a backseat. However, inspired by friends and my own kids’ growing interest in the outdoors I began to pick up the camera seriously again and gain qualifications in the outdoor industry, starting with Mountain Leader with a view to spending more time in the mountains and at home, and less time behind a desk or hanging off a rope (unless it was taking climbing pictures).
Climbing and adventure photography isn’t the most lucrative occupation, but by shifting the balance between my various jobs it’s allowed me to spend time climbing and mountaineering while satisfying my creative urges without bankrupting us.
For me, it’s not just about being in the mountains but being around people who share that love for adventure and the outdoors, meeting up for coffee and hatching plans for climbing, cycling, camping out or next winter’s trips to Skye. And, it’s pretty handy to have friends available to go out and photograph.
Living in the mountains also allows a little flexibility and spontaneity. You can grab a quick evening scramble, a mountaintop sunset or an evening swim in the lake to cool off.
The one thing I would change would be to have begun to shift the balance in the various jobs much sooner. Being able to share this with people, either through taking them up into the mountains or by sharing it through my photography, is a privilege. And having my kids grow up with the outdoors as part of their lives is priceless.