I am a climbing and adventure photographer and filmmaker based in Paris, and the official photographer for the World Climbing circuit since 2020. Around fifty events in eight countries, including Paris 2024 and the Seoul World Championships. I did not come to this the usual way. No van life, no dropping out. I have a masters in finance and I spent a decade doing it. I started climbing at 25, late, and nobody around me climbed, so I had no one to ask and no idea what I was doing. What I did have was a camera, and for years it simply lived clipped to my harness. That took me from small crags outside Prague to the Alps, Yosemite, and expeditions in Nepal, Tibet and the Andes. El Capitan, the Dolomites, Cho Oyu, Aconcagua. I was not shooting for anyone. I was shooting because I could not quite believe where I was standing. The MgCO3 annuals are one season of World Cup climbing each, made from inside the pit. I write about how this work gets made at Off Belay, janvirt.substack.com.