Racing the setting sun at Flinders Cave | How Nathan O'Neil got the shot

When Queensland-based photographer Nathan was asked to be part of a shoot with Ben Cossey at his local crag, he jumped at the chance. He planned his perfect shot, and waited to see if the stars would align with lighting, flash and position… and if so, would Ben have enough skin left on his fingers to pull through the crux one last time?

Climbing days for me lately have unfortunately been few and far between. With two little bundles of joy (well, one bundle of joy and one two-year-old terror) coupled with the responsibility of keeping a roof over our heads in this economy, this dull boy is basically all work and no play at the moment. 

Needless to say, I was damn excited when I got a phone call one afternoon asking me to jump on a shoot with Blue Mountains based filmmaker Brecon Littleford, for a project they were shooting for The North Face with their athlete and president of the Garden Training Club, Ben Cossey. Their plan was to travel from Sydney to Coolum Beach in Queensland and climb consecutive days at the best cave climbing crags around. The first stop north of the border (i.e. my turf) was to be Flinders Cave in the Scenic Rim. Brecon was planning on meeting local climbers and photographers at each location and asked if I would be interested in joining them at Flinders, along with Queensland crusher, Lucy Stirling. 

The crux of the day was to capture Ben climbing the recommended hard classics with Lucy, with all the filming taking priority, but I was told that if I had a particular image in mind that I wanted to capture, they would do what they could to facilitate it. The day prior to their arrival I decided to head up to Flinders for a climb to re-acquaint myself with the routes Lucy had recommended Ben get on. It was also a chance to do us all a solid and dump some static ropes up there to save us from hauling them up along with camera and climbing gear on shoot day—a back-breaking load I’ve done too many times to count.

After their convoy of two classic climber vans arrived at the car park, and after Brecon and Lucas Corrotto had finished their happy dance when I told them they could leave their ropes in the van, we set off up to the cave of wonders. It’s always nice to get a first timer’s reaction as they peak around the corner and get their first glimpse as to just how big Flinders Cave is, and then again when they see the vista upon arrival.

Ben and Lucy spared no time warming up on some classics as Ben’s already flogged skin adapted to the sharp features of Flinders. The standout line for the day was ‘A Space Odyssey’—a steeper than steep 29 that packs a punch as you move through a mega sequence at what looks like 50 degree overhang low on the route. This is the line I wanted to shoot Ben on, should he have the skin left at the end of the day.

I’ve been experimenting with off-camera flash in my climbing photography lately as it brings a whole new element to the game and can really accentuate the climber in the breathtaking landscapes we often find ourselves. My idea was to have a flash attached to my drone which would hover out of sight above the tree line and be equipped with two to three grids which would help direct the beam of light from the flash to the area surrounding Ben, without spilling too much light over the whole cave. This would isolate his position on the wall for the shot. I wanted to showcase the position that Flinders Cave sits in the surrounding landscape of Peak Crossing. With the cave being perched high on the mount and overlooking the Great Dividing Range, it’s pretty speccy! I had a variety of lenses with me on the day but knew that the 15-35mm would be the one I wanted as I would need the widest lens I owned to bring in as much of the landscape as I could. 

Ben onsighted ‘A Space Odyssey’ that afternoon in true Cossey style (many grunts) and after some more filming and with the light fading, the window to get this shot was rapidly closing. I set up the drone and velcroed my flash to it—which, when I write it down like that, doesn’t sound too smart, but I assure you, it was pretty solid—and sent it up. I gave the controller to Lucas and told him I’ll let him know where I need it when I’m in position. With access to a fairly easy route to the left side of the cave, I climbed and self-belayed up a short length of rope into a position I had set up earlier. 

Before I could get my camera to my eye, I heard some commotion from down below. “Up, up! It’s going to hit the tree”. 

Turns out the drone no longer wanted to bear the weight of my flash and decided it was going to land (in a tree). It plummeted to the ground with the fall luckily being somewhat broken by a few shrubs. 

I simply yelled at Brecon, “Don’t worry about the drone, just get the flash!” as he descended a line from a tree trunk into the gulley. 

It was well after sunset now and I was pushing my camera to its limit in terms of low light shooting. I had spied the moves during Ben’s onsight burn and knew the sequence I wanted to photograph; he was on the route sitting and waiting to start the crux sequence for me to get the shot. I told Brecon just to stand at the base and hold the flash in the air while I fired a test shot. I promptly dialled the camera and the flash in and told Ben to have a crack, despite being totally cooked. What a trooper!

With his classic blue singlet and taped on knee pads, Ben pulled through the crux sequence two or three times while I tried to snap the perfect frame. Given the prep that had gone into this moment I could have asked him to do it a hundred more times, but the light was sucked from the sky in no time and we were blanketed in darkness. I took a moment to examine what I had captured and let out an “Oh my god!” across the cave. Even though I could only see it on a little three inch screen, I was already stoked with the result. I wanted to get back to terra firma and show the crew what I had captured.

I feel like this image pays tribute not only to an amazing crag and its stunning scenery, but also to the climbers that are walking back to their cars in the dark, putting in the work, doing what they love, fuelling their passion and making the most of the day. I have so many fond memories of exits by head torch (or phone light when I didn’t plan on a late exit) over the years. Those times are what encapsulate some of the things I enjoy most about climbing, and I was stoked to feel like I’d captured a bit of that spirit in some way.