Jimmy Chin — regular National Geographic contributor, world-class climber, outdoor junkie, and overall genuinely awesome guy — has the capacity to inspire wanderlust in the most couch-friendly of us. And in the video above, Mashable followed the multi-talented bada** around for a day to show you what a day in the life of Jimmy Chin is really like.
Labeling Jimmy Chin simply as a photographer is doing him a huge disservice. Yes, he’s been published by National Geographic; and yes, it’s a safe bet a sizable percentage of the people reading this follow him on Instagram and gawk at his pictures on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis; but Chin’s skill set goes so far beyond photography.
DSLR around his waist, even Chin occasionally pulls out his cell phone instead.00:01
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In fact, one of the main reasons he’s had so much success as an extreme photographer is that he can honestly keep up with the athletes he’s photographing.
“Athletes in the mountains are functioning at a world-class level, but nobody sees what they’re doing because they’re off in the middle of nowhere,” Chin told Mashable. “My goal is to shoot photos that people have never seen before.”
And that, if you visit Chin’s website, is exactly what he does. His photography is breathtaking in the non-hyperbolic sense — as in, “many of these photos actually have the capacity to take your breath away.” Check out the video up top, and once you’re done, pay his site a visit for an exercise in envy and inspiration.
