Javi Pérez, the rarity of a photographer specialized in climbing: "The rock hurts, but there is no better place to take photos"

The climber Patxi Usobiaga climbs a wall and in his eyes you can see that he has been trying to climb that route for months and his feet support him although they barely touch the rock and his arms underline the effort and in the fingers of his right hand, right in the fingers , in full grip, a ray of sunlight falls that relieves so much tension. It is an image of Javi Pérez López-Triviño, nicknamed Javi Pec, one of the few photographers specialized in climbing in the world.

“I have a special memory of that photo of Patxi in Oliana, near Lleida, one of the best places to climb in Spain. When he started trying that route he had already been world champion, he was injured just at that moment and then, when he returned to climbing, he became obsessed with completing it, he was crazy, he either did it or something gave him something.. I needed to close the circle. We were going for months and months until he made the road and the truth is that I had a very cool photo,” recalls Pec in a chat with EL MUNDO about a profession so specialized, so specialized, that it almost has no competition.. From Adam Ondra to Alberto Ginés, from Chris Sharma to the Pou brothers, from Jakob Schubert to Jorge Díaz-Rullo, the best climbers have passed, pass and will pass their goal. “If I count those of us who live off of this, I don't think there will be ten in the whole world,” he admits.

How do you photograph someone who is many meters high on an impossible wall? Hanging yourself too. Sometimes you can take photos from the ground or from a nearby ledge, but the normal thing is to go up a nearby road, a simpler side road, and there hang from a rope to go up and down.. You have to know how to climb and it has its risks, that's why not many people do it.

Pec says that he climbs with a backpack weighing between eight and 10 kilos in which he carries his Canon camera and three lenses, including a long zoom and a wide angle, and that he has suffered the occasional accident.. “I once dropped a lens, but luckily it was a cheap one. In the end, if you are on the ground and you drop a target, it will still be damaged.. In my case it is shattered, because it falls from several meters high, but the problem is the same,” reveals the photographer who carries a shoulder bag to have his tools at hand at heights and who assures that he has never feared for his life, If anything he has had to reinforce some rope that was almost stripped due to his continuous movements between shots.

Philippe Eizaguirre

“I have to stay in shape, but I really like climbing and I have friends who are over 60 years old who continue climbing. I think I can retire doing this,” says Pec, 46, who started selling his snapshots to climbing magazines and now works mainly for the brands that sponsor climbers and the events and competitions organized by all the planet.

How does one become so specialized? I studied History and worked as an archaeologist until 2010, when I became self-employed. When I was young I climbed in Toledo, where I'm from, and I started taking photos of friends of mine who also climbed and were making a name for themselves.. Those photos reached magazines and brands and it got out of hand.. For example, Patxi [Usubiaga] called me to go with him to a La Sportiva meeting and there I met Adam Ondra, one of the best in the world currently, through Adam I met Chris Sharma and thus a wheel.

Pec, already adapted to video and the immediacy of social networks, plus working with celebrities like Ondra, who has a million followers on Instagram, still has to do pedagogy among climbers, special athletes who dedicate themselves to their connection with the rock before the obligations of his job. “It has always happened, especially with young people. The climber wants to climb, they don't want to waste time taking photos, but the brands pay them for it. Many times, for example, they want to climb without a shirt and I have to ask them to put it on because that logo will appear in an advertisement and that's where their paycheck will come from. Although there is more and more competition, the romantic part of climbing is always there,” summarizes Pérez, who also takes photos in climbing walls, many photos in climbing walls, more and more, although he recognizes that there is nothing like the mountain.

“The rock stings, it hurts, it hurts you, but taking photos on it hooks you,” concludes Pec, one of the few photographers specialized in climbing in the world.