My middle finger was blown out at the knuckle, but the possibility of sitting home while a wintry bouldering session went down at the Gunks was just not an option. Josh Lowell's video, Big Up, danced in my brain as I resurrected an old JVC mini digital video (DV) camcorder, packed videotapes instead of climbing shoes, and surrendered to what would become the single most inspiring day of my life.

Five guys. Four crash pads. One camera. It was cold enough to brush the falling snow off the boulders without leaving so much as a hint of water. Beneath the blankets of white was pure friction. "Can you smell it?" I asked taking a deep breath of frosty air. "Smells like sending." And on that single January day every project that each of my bros eagerly hoped to send went down. One by one. My injury wasn't disadvantageous. I was there to film every second of it. IndeVisual productions and White Lines, my first video short, was born from the emotions, the drive, and the belief of a crew that let nothing stand in the way of its passion and commitment to climb. Although I had witnessed that ambition and drive countless times, this time I was able to capture it on film. From then on, the camera came everywhere.

Artistic expression is a powerful tool. As a handful of great climbing filmmakers have demonstrated over the past decade, art in the form of video or film can steer the mind to search the soul, spark the desire to take a journey, and offer the reality of possibility. Josh Lowell has given us the voyage. From the shadowed virgin boulders of the Shawangunks, New York in Big UP to the sacred landscapes of Hampi, India in Pilgrimage, Josh commands our attention and continues to challenge and motivate our senses. He is, perhaps, the most praised and widely respected artist in climbing history who has come to explore and deliver standard-setting films. Mike Call's Frequent Flyers exposed us to the world that waits out there for us and his The Professionals brought us the relentless pursuits of legends Francois Legrand and Yuji Hirayama. His work reads like a novel that encompasses who we are and reminds us how special our unwavering souls can be. Peter Mortimer's Front Range Freaks evolved into an eccentric story of fragility and passion that carried us from a tribute to the late Derek Hersey to a celebration of new frontiers with Tim O'Neill, an entertaining and emotional ride of chance, circumstance, and human spirit. The young Cooper Roberts is starting down the highway of success. Sessions, a video imbued with the intensity and desire found on the boulder fields of North America, has got fellow filmmakers and the community alike waiting and wishing for future releases.

Sometimes our ability to chase dreams relies first on the accomplishments of those who have pioneered the way, their vision catalyzing a movement that some of us ultimately join. I once read that "there is nothing more empowering than an idea whose time has come." Nowhere is this more powerfully demonstrated than in the collective films of the individuals featured here which have captured the dynamic and thrilling evolution of our sport over the past decade. This group of filmmakers, referred to here as the "Capture Collective," is my inspiration. They kindly shared their thoughts on climbing filmmaking with me and the following are excerpts from our conversations.

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