That phrase was the beginning of the one of the funniest things I have seen in quite some time - and I see a LOT of funny stuff. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to photograph Jo and some of her climbing buddies doing their thing at “Kings Bluff”, a stretch of rock face that runs alongside a river in northern Tennessee. Jonathan and I took off in the morning and arrived at Kings Bluff right after lunch. We had one detour (as I fat fingered a selection on my GPS) that took us through a very affluent area just outside of Nashville. There were some MONSTER homes and barns that we could see from the roadway. I’m sure some of the homes we saw were part of Nashville’s music scene crowd - they were incredibly huge.

Anyway.

Arrived at Kings Bluff and parked. We figured we would scout where the climbing was happening so we could bring the right gear along. After finding the group we went back to the car to get our stuff. This is where I realized how out of shape I was. I was absolutely worn out from the hike there and back!?!? (Note to self - start going to the gym and work on cardio) I sat on the curb leaning on the guardrail until I got my energy back. Jonathan took off to find a location to shoot from above the climbers. I went back down the trail to shoot from below. It was nice that around the climbing areas, the trail elevation went up and down so I could actually just walk up the trail a bit and use my longer lens to shoot a climber from about the same level they were at. I wanted to try and get some other shots beside those of an ass with no head so common in a lot of the rock climbing photos I had seen. Jonathan had no luck up top so he joined me where I was. He was a trooper and volunteered to go up first to get some of those down-facing shots we were going to try for. Not being a climber or having the proper shoes, it was a bit of a struggle getting him up the rock face. He pretty much got hauled up there more than actually climbing. Once he got in position, a climber began his ascent with Jonathan shooting all the while they were coming up. Now, when the climber was just a foot or so below where Jonathan was precariously perched, a bird screeched in the distance. Right about the time Jonathan had an A.D.D. attack, he says “Oh look! A Blue heron!” As he turns to get a better look, he loses his footing - first giving Jo and a friend a good yank as his weight pulled on the rope and then spins around kicking the climber below him in the head and looking like he was trying to climb on his shoulders. All the while we’re all laughing - even the dude getting kicked as the whole situation was completely comical. When everyone regained their composure, Jonathan got lowered down and we all enjoyed another few good laughs.