Tara Kerzhner is an award-winning photographer, cinematographer, and accomplished rock climber. Born and raised in Bend, Oregon, Smith Rock is her heart’s home — even though she’s graduated from living in a truck to an apartment in Boulder, Colorado. A decade of adventure sports and rock climbing has since established her as one of climbing’s most sought-after storytellers. You can follow her on Instagram @tarakerzhner.
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Q&A with Tara Kerzhner, The Smith Rock Photographer
Summit Journal: One prominent characteristic in your photographs is shadow. Contrast, in general, is almost as central to your images as the subject itself. What do you look for in scenes that move you?
Tara Kerzhner: I like the idea of adventure photography leaning a little bit towards fine art.
Scenes shaped by light, architecture, and shadow. It’s exactly what you don’t expect to see and yet there it is. I’ve actually seen a huge shift in climbing photography over the past five years. Photographers are leaning into this more conceptual approach, and I love it.
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SJ: You started in photography shooting in B&W and developing your own film. What lessons did you learn by beginning with that medium?
TK: I do think starting out in black and white influenced me, especially learning to process my own film. A lot of what I learned came through trial and error. My first camera also had a pretty significant light leak (not in a cute way) that forced me to be pretty deliberate with high contrast environments. Not to mention I was in a deep Edward Weston phase at the time.
As an aside, I really miss the hands-on aspect of creating a photograph. I even miss the smell, which was probably toxic. We definitely weren’t wearing gloves in 2003.
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SJ: How have those lessons carried into your work today? How has your practice developed since moving into color and digital?
TK: It’s been helpful to have a strong foundation in light as it relates to shaping an image.
I think it’s helped me become a pretty intuitive photographer, which matters a lot more than the tools I use. As I grow, I’m still listening to light, but I don’t assume it has every answer.
I think if you look hard enough, the light is probably wherever you are.
SJ: French painters have often remarked about the particular light along the Mediterranean coast of France, the Côte d'Azur. What are some of your favorite climbing areas for light?
TK: If we’re talking specifically about light, places like Smith Rock, Cuenca, Siurana, The Fins, Verdon Gorge, Cochamó, Rocklands, and Mallorca all stand out.
Each has a way of shaping the rock with light rather than just illuminating it. But I could go on here because it’s not always about the place. I think if you look hard enough, the light is probably wherever you are.
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SJ: Along those lines, your photo essay in Summit Journal 321 (Fall 2024) was titled, Into The Light: A Smith Rock Portfolio. It's a place close to your heart, and also a climbing area which you've covered extensively before, including several short films (Last Light (2015) and Defy The Dark (2017)) that showcase the state park from sunrise to headlamp climbing.
What were you hoping to depict in the SJ piece, in particular?
TK: When I go climbing at Smith, I watch the light move across the volcanic tuff like a living creature.
Some of those images feature light slivers that only exist for a couple of weeks each year, depending on how high the sun is. I like seeing those images together because they feel a bit like collecting something rare rather than just making a photograph.
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SJ: What makes Smith Rock so compelling for you?
TK: I have a deep connection to that place and the landscape. I grew up nearby, learned to climb there, and much of my personal history is tied to that landscape. It’s a deeply meaningful place to me.
I love to joke that it’s made of crumbling bits of petrified hummus, but it’s also home to some truly world class, historic, and very proud lines. What’s not to like?
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SJ: My Instagram feed seems to be populated by AI-generated skiing videos lately — climbing not so much, yet. How are you thinking about the future of visual media?
TK: If I’m being honest I don’t really think about AI too much in that context. I don’t think that my industry is more or less at risk than anyone else’s. In which case, we may have bigger fish to fry than visual media if AI truly does start taking that many jobs.
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SJ: Ending on a lighter note, is there such a thing as perfect light?
I don’t think perfect light is really the point. What interests me more is how individual photographers interpret light. I think it’s what makes photography interesting.
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Feature Image: Paige Claassen revisits an old muse, To Bolt or Not To Be (5.14a), which she first climbed in 2013. From below, the route looks like a blank parking lot turned on its side. The tiny handholds are only visible because of the white chalk that stands out against the orange volcanic tuff. To Bolt was first climbed by Jean-Baptiste Tribout in November 1986. Despite the once extraordinary grade of 5.14a having become commonplace for many elite climbers today, the number who manage to redpoint it remains quite small. I've always joked that in order to climb it, you must be either very good, very lucky, or French. Photo and caption by Tara Kerzhner.