Behind the Lens with Pedro Navarro
Filming New Heights - The Videographers POV
Insights from Pedro Navarro, written by Jessica Birchall
Tomas and Pedro Odell flew 6000 km from their home in Argentina to take on their first international high-altitude climbing trip to Cordillera Blanca, Peru, successfully achieving their ambitious goal to climb Taulliraju, 5850 meters above sea level.
Pedro Navarro joined the brothers to capture the history making ascent along with the breathtaking views of the valley and difficult moments for the team during their month-long expedition.
Pedro Navarro is a photographer from Bariloche, Northern Patagonia. Growing up so close to such epic mountains, he found mountaineering at the age of 16 whilst on a hiking trip with friends. Pedro was inspired by the climbers he saw hanging from the ultra exposed granite spires in Frey, from then on he knew he wanted to do that!
He discovered his love for videography at the age of just 14, making videos with his friends, yet to discover adventure videography. Over the last decade, Pedro’s career has evolved consisting mainly of freelance photography, but also working on a number of large film productions, including most recently ‘Society of the Snow’ a Netflix drama. ‘New Heights’ is his first mountaineering film, talking about the experience, Pedro explained:
“I had to put all of my previous knowledge together to film and direct this movie, in many ways it was a huge challenge and a good opportunity to film some extreme climbing with my friends”
How do you carry so much equipment and keep it all charged/working in those conditions? How much did your equipment weigh?
The equipment selection was one of the biggest decisions of the trip, I chose to take a super light kit. The priority for me was being able to follow up and always have the gear by hand. I took 1 main camera, 1 drone, 2 go pros and 1 secondary camera for photos, as well as a lot of batteries and a small solar panel. All the equipment was 2.5kg, super light!!
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
The biggest challenge was to film such tense situations, and to juggle filming with my duties during the climb. We were a team of 4 and there were a lot of moments when I had to climb, belay, make the food or many other things that are typical of any climb.
In comparison to more staged climbing photoshoots, this film was a little more raw. How did you get creative with your shots so they varied from the belay anchor point of view?
I really like the raw part of adventures, it is really difficult to have staged shots and when you can only show your point of view. For this type of climbing I think it is really good to add the point of view of the climber, and the drone shots, because this really helps with transmitting what the climber is experiencing and also their position on the climb. I think POV and drone shots add a lot of contrast and make the film more dynamic.
How does working on a film project like this compare to a trip in the mountains in which you just climb?
It’s definitely not the same experience as just climbing, I think it has a negative impact in the sense that it’s hard to fully enjoy the climb because I’m always thinking what to shoot. Anyway, we had moments during this trip where I didn’t take the camera, just climbing!
During the ascent one of the brothers took a nasty fall, given this wasn’t caught on camera, how do you find a balance between being there as a videographer and being there as part of the climbing team?
The priority is always the safety of the team and enjoying the experience. Every other moment where I don’t need to be doing something for the team, I would be filming.
You can watch the full film ‘New Heights’ on the Adidas Terrex YouTube channel.