Rainer Eder

Rainer Eder was born in 1964 in Lienz, Austria, began climbing at age 16 and now lives in Zurich, Switzerland. Rainer has been working as a professional photographer for six years, specializing in extreme sports such as climbing, freeskiing, basejumping, mountain biking and kayaking.

He regularly shoots with Ines Papert and David Lama, among others, and works on assignment for Mammut, Black Diamond, Lowa, ODLO and Red Bull.

Alpinist published Rainer’s work in Issue 18 and, most notably, in Issue 22’s photo essay, “Dreamfall.” One of his shots was awarded “Best Mountain Adventure Photo” at the Banff Mountain Photography Competition in 2003.

For the past year, Rainer has shot exclusively with a Nikon D2X, having used Nikon F5 and F6 cameras prior. “Maybe even more important than the camera are the lenses,” he says. “I usually use ‘fast lenses’ with a big aperture.” (Read Rainer’s take on digital photography below.)

Make sure to visit Alpinist Wallpaper to download high-res desktop images from Rainer. More of his work can be seen on his website, www.rainereder.com.

I don’t see digital photography as better or worse. It is just a new technology, which gives us new possibilities on one hand but has disadvantages on the other hand. But at the end, it’s not the equipment that will take great shots. It’s the photographer’s job to know when he uses which tool for the result he wants. I don’t think there will be too many new professional photographers; even with digital the commitment level remains the same.

But of course, shooting digitally affects my job. I spend more time at the computer than I did at the light box. I still like to work with film, because it remains the “honest” way of making photos. With digital photography, some photographers concentrate on the post-production more that on the actual shooting. They create their shots on the computer. However, every image that is being printed also is manipulated in some way…

My advice? Take a lot of photos. Try out a lot. And never give up!

–Rainer Eder