EP 16: Tara Kerzhner — Capturing Moments, Telling Stories, and Shooting What You Love

Tara Kerzhner is an award-winning photographer, cinematographer, and accomplished rock climber. We talked about being creative while stuck at home, the importance of shooting what you love, balancing her work with art and climbing, becoming a more powerful climber, and telling stories through film.

Support on Patreon:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing

Show Notes:

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/tara-kerzhner

Nuggets:

2:06 – Using the podcast to hangout out with friends

2:51 – Cactuses

5:50 – Working from home, “the snack loop”, and Tara’s favorite tea

11:33 – Working in restaurants, learning to manage money, not having mentors, and a sheltered upbringing

15:21 – Learning to believe in herself, “garbage collecting”, and increasing your percentage of good photos

17:37 – “Shoot what you love”, being grounded for 6 months, and taking risks

19:29 – Some of Tara’s favorite photos and what made them memorable

23:51 – Learning about storytelling and film making, and why Tara feels like she hasn’t made her best film yet

25:16 – Tara’s new film camera

26:50 – Tara’s photo tick list, shooting “new” angles, and Jim Thornburg

29:59 – Balancing working with art and climbing, sending ‘Vesper’, and going in and out of shape

34:24 – Why Tara is considering doing more strength training for photo/video work

38:22 – “Un-Smithing” herself, seeking out more powerful climbs, and ‘Don’t Call Me Dude’

44:26 – Why grades “don’t really make sense”

47:06 – Tara’s goal routes at Ceuse, trying ‘Sprayathon’, and the irrelevance of grades

50:38 – ‘To Bolt’, and why climbing it would be such a meaningful route for Tara

53:33 – Alex Honnold’s free solo big wall tick list

55:02 – Multipitch sport climbing, wanting to go climb ‘Logical Progression’, and why multi-pitch trad climbing isn’t always type 1 or 2 fun

57:55 – Why free climbing El Cap isn’t a current goal

58:53 – Cats

1:00:08 – House cat —> ocelot

1:01:39 – What Tara feels especially grateful for

1:04:25 – Sladies 2, the ethics of what we choose to do right now (during COVID), and why Tara isn’t planning any trips right now

1:06:40 – Why Tara is excited to explore more editorial/journalistic photo and video work in the future, shooting in Fiji, and photos vs videos

1:08:50 – Tara’s website, Instagram, and why she prefers email when responding to people

1:10:32 – Climbing on the home wall, why 45 degrees might be the hardest angle in rock climbing, and “it’s all about body positions”

1:12:13 – Wrap up, why Tara doesn’t like some of her earliest films, and “it’s good to be up on the wall”