Service 01 · Stills location hire
Shoot your lookbook on a wall that climbers actually use.
A climbing gym photo shoot location in Brooklyn for sportswear lookbooks, editorial and catalogue. Strobes allowed on sandbagged stands, one wall held clear of members for your booking, and a studio spotter under every move above head height.
Half-day or full-day block, quoted after the recce by crew size and walls used.
No published rate card. Nothing is binding until confirmed in writing. The recce is arranged by email.
A stills block on the floor, with the climbing side run by us.
You book the floor in a half-day or full-day block. One wall is kept clear of climbers for the length of it; the rest of the gym may stay open to members unless the quote says otherwise. Your crew handles camera, light and wardrobe. Our floor lead handles everything that happens once feet leave the ground: spotting, fall zones, when a climber needs a rest, and when a move is too risky to repeat.
Photographers come for three kinds of work. Sportswear lookbooks, where the wall is a background and the product has to look like it has been used. Editorial features on climbers or on climbing, which need the room to look honest. Catalogue work, where the brief is fifty clean frames and the gym supplies texture and credibility for free.
Most producers find us while looking for a sports photography location in Brooklyn or a climbing wall location rental in NYC that does not need dressing. This one does not.
- Block
- Half-day or full-day, load-in and strike inside the block
- Held wall
- One wall clear of climbers; more on request, quoted
- Included
- Floor lead, spotter for every move above head height, a footed ladder
- Your side
- Camera, lighting, sandbags, wardrobe, talent, insurance for your kit
- Quote depends on
- Crew size, walls used, hours, and whether climbing stays open
The rules stills crews ask about first.
None of these are there to slow you down. Each one comes from a shoot that went wrong on this floor or one like it.
- StrobesAllowed, on stands weighted with sandbags. Bring sandbags. The mats are soft and a C-stand on them walks. Two per stand on the mats, one in the aisle.
- Fall zoneThe mats directly below the climber stay clear of stands, reflectors and people other than the spotter. If your key light wants to live there, it moves.
- BackdropsPaper and cloth are fine on stands in the aisle or the training corner. Chalk gets everywhere. Cover your lens changes and don't put a black backdrop on the floor.
- TapingGaffer only, on the rubber aisle and cable mats. Nothing taped to holds, volumes or the wall surface.
- Crew sizeA stills team of two to eight works comfortably around one held wall. Past that, tell us, because it changes which wall we hold and how much of the floor we clear.
- Talent on the wallWe spot every move above head height. That is not negotiable and it will not slow you down much. Models who do not climb stay low; we pick the holds.
- Hold coloursRoutes get reset on a schedule. If you need a specific colour of hold in frame, tell us a week out.
- Haze and flameNo haze machines, no pyro, no open flame near the walls. The chalk in the lamp light will give you more atmosphere than you expect.
How each kind of stills job tends to use the floor.
Product that looks worn in
Sportswear reads as real when there is chalk on the hem and the model has actually pulled on something. Lookbooks usually live on the long wall, where a 35mm can take three models in a line with holds edge to edge. Shoes and harnesses want the low holds, close and on an 85mm.
The room as it is
Features on climbers need the gym to look like the gym. We do not tidy the chalk buckets or move the brushes unless you ask. Editorial crews tend to want the overhang from below and a few frames of the mats between attempts, which usually means booking while members are climbing.
Fifty clean frames by lunch
Catalogue days run on a set-up that does not move. Pick the wall at the recce, light it from the aisle, and change product rather than angle. The afternoon on the long wall gives the flattest light in the building, which saves you flagging.
Four steps, and the one you should not skip.
The recce is the step people skip. It is also the step that finds out the best wall faces the wrong way for the key light, which is the failure we see more than any other.
- Day 1Shot list and dateSend what you are making, the date, crew size and any hold colours you need. We reply with what the wall can do.
- Week −1RecceWalk the floor with the shot list. Pick the held wall, check where the light falls at your call time, mark stand positions.
- After recceQuote in writingHalf-day or full-day block, priced by crew size and walls used. It is binding once both sides confirm it by email.
- Shoot dayLoad-in, brief, shoot, strikeCarts on the aisle, a ten-minute safety brief with the floor lead, then shooting. Strike counts inside the block.
Questions stills producers ask us.
And who this is not for: anyone who needs a silent, dust-free white room. That is a studio cyc, and Brooklyn has plenty. Rent this floor when the place itself is part of the picture.
Can we bring our own strobes?
Yes. Strobes are allowed on stands weighted with sandbags. Stands stay out of the fall zone under the wall. We do not supply lighting; ask your rental house for extra bags.
Will members be climbing during our shoot?
Possibly, on the other walls. One wall is kept clear for you. Holding more walls or closing the floor is possible on some days and changes the quote. Some editorial crews want members in the background; say so and we will tell you when the floor is busiest.
Can our model climb without a studio spotter?
No. Every move above head height is spotted by our staff or done on a rope we belay. That includes professional climbers. It rarely costs more than a few seconds a take.
Can you change the holds for our palette?
With a week's notice we can ask the setters to steer the next reset. We do not re-set routes on shorter notice, because setters work to a schedule and members climb those routes.
Is there a published price?
No. Blocks are quoted after the recce by crew size and walls used. Nothing is binding until it is confirmed in writing. See the booking terms.
Shooting motion instead? See film and video. A portrait of one athlete? Athlete portraits is a shorter session with the spotter built in.
Send the shot list and the date.
We answer with what the wall can do on that day, which wall we would hold for you, and the price basis once we have walked it.