El Capitan rises 3,000 feet in Yosemite National Park. Rock climbers call it "El Cap," and its sheer granite face is an irresistible challenge to their skills and dedication. The dozens of named routes to the top are long and tough.

This spring, Tommy Caldwell, considered the world's greatest rock climber, and his climbing partner, Chris McNamara, spent four days on the rock, with Tommy exploring, testing routes and working through specific moves in what amounts to an aerial ballet. Capturing their efforts for a documentary film were Big Up Productions' cinematographer, Cooper Roberts, and extreme sports still photographer and cinematographer Corey Rich, who'd brought along his D90. "I had a traditional HD video camera as well," Corey says, "but I ended up shooting most of my video footage with the D90."

To get in position to capture Tommy's moves, Corey rappelled from the top. "As a photographer and cinematographer, I don't need to make the climb," he says. "My job is to be in position. Tommy was essentially looking things over, studying the options, trying different moves in preparation for a free climb of the rock. It was essentially a reconnaissance mission. I was always trying to anticipate where I wanted to be to tell that story, and it's not enough to lock the camera in a static position and allow the motion to work through the frame. I want the camera to move, to follow the action, to pan with it."

But the camera's moves have to be intentional. "Dangling off a rope with the wind coming in at 40 miles per hour makes it difficult to keep the camera steady. I'd often use mybody as a tripod: the rope is one leg, and my legs, ideally against the wall, are the other two." In some cases Corey would secure himself with another rope, and what also worked very well was clipping his camera strap into the rope system and then pulling the camera strap against the ropes, creating tension for a steadier support.

Corey also carried a D700, which he used to take the 900 sequential shots that went into the sunrise on El Cap opening of the video he shot for Nikon. His two primary lenses for shooting still and video with his Nikon D-SLRs were the AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED and the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED. Corey's D90 video footage turned out so well that much of it will be included in the documentary film Progression, produced by Big Up Productions. "The film is about the evolution of rock climbing and how the limits are being pushed by today's climbers."

Corey wasn't at all surprised that his D90 footage made the cut. "I'd been shooting video with the D90 for a while. I knew what that camera could do."

To learn more about the Nikon gear Corey uses, see the Gear Guide in the Sports & Action section of Learn & Explore. Corey's website is at www.coreyrich.com. For information about Big Up Productions and Progression, visit the company's website at www.bigupproductions.com.

Corey Rich has been an NPS member since 2008.