Mt. Rainier for The New York Times

It's not often that you get a phone call to photograph an assignment that you would probably be doing anyways in some respect. So I packed up my backpack, crampons, ice ax, got some food together, and headed out to Camp Muir, which sits right above 10,000 feet on the side of Mt. Rainier. It was a fun assignment talking to rangers, climbers, and feeling my calves and lungs burn as the air slowly thinned. I decided to bivy up at Camp Muir so I could photograph the climbers leaving for the upper sections of the mountain early in the morning, so I dug out a flat spot in the snow, melted some snow chunks for water, and tried to catch a little shuteye. I woke up to a star filled sky as people began to organize gear, tie knots, and prepare for the trek up to the summit. It was fun to watch the little headlamps bouncing up the looming glaciers above camp as I crawled back into my sleeping bag to escape from the cold. I woke up at 4 AM, made some coffee, and packed up to head down the mountain as the sun was just rising over the ridge. All in all.....the perfect assignment.
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This is me trying to stay warm and occupying my time with running back and forth from the camera as it clicked down from the ten second mark on the timer setting.