Every year, we have the very difficult task of sorting through hundreds of images to find a unique cultural, climbing, or action shot that best reflects the festivals. Our list of past signature photographers includes Christian Pondella, Cameron Lawson, Ace Kvale, Karsten Peter, Pat and Baiba Morrow, Beth Wald, Gordon Wiltsie, and many others.

The 32nd annual Banff Mountain Film Festival and the 14th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival will be held from October 27 to November 4, 2007. Chosen this year to be featured in our annual brochure, film and book festival posters, and other marketing materials is the stunning climbing image The Totem Pole, taken off the coast of Tasmania by photographer Simon Carter.

Born in Canberra, Australia, in 1966, Carter became interested in both photography and climbing as a teenager. He has climbed regularly since 1984, and in the early 1990s was successful on some of Australia’s more difficult routes. Simon started freelance professional photography in 1994. His first book of photography, Rock Climbing in Australia, was published in 1998.

After photographing climbing for years in Australia, Carter started a new personal challenge: to travel to some of the world’s greatest climbing areas and to capture images of both the locations and the action. Carter compiled these images, along with the stories behind them, in World Climbing: Images from the Edge, published in 2005, and featured at the 2006 Banff Mountain Book Festival.

Audiences at the Banff Mountain Festivals may also recall the name of the climb The Totem Pole from Richard Else’s film Wild Climbs: Tasmania from the 1999 Banff Mountain Film Festival, and Paul Pritchard’s book The Totem Pole which won the grand prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.

Simon Carter currently lives in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney. His photography has been widely published internationally and has won several awards including the King Albert Medal of Merit in 2000 for achievements in the mountain world. His most recent project was the production of a full-color Blue Mountains Climbing 2007 edition guidebook, which highlights over 2000 routes in over 38 climbing areas in Australia.

Visit his website at www.onsight.com.au.