SXSWORLD

1 0 SXS W O R L D | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 | SXSW.COM The Benefits of Adversity Meet Adventure Photographer Cory Richards By RoB PReliasco F or Cory Richards, renowned glo- betrotting alpinist and National Geographic photographer, self-lim- iting caveats such as "I could never do that …" don't exist. Yes, he has had plenty of luck (and would be the first to tell you so), but it is the combination of his self-evident talent—and the courage to follow it—that has taken him as high as the roof of the world and to the most remote ends of the Earth.  His career didn't start out with any certainty. Richards dropped out of high school (he earned a GED later) and lived "basically homeless," bouncing between different friends' homes and living only to draw and go rock climbing.  "As an adolescent, you make all sorts of decisions, and you don't know what sort of outcomes those decisions are precipi- tating," he says. "That time in my life had to happen that way for me to end up where I'm at now, but I think there was a tremen- dous amount of unnecessary pain during that time period … I wouldn't change it, but I wouldn't do it again."  Richards' art changed his life. His interest in drawing led to an interest in pho- tography and an obsession with capturing images, and he started taking his mother's beat-up old Ricoh camera up rock faces with him. He was able to sell some of his shots to climbing and outdoor magazines and in a snowball effect, use the money and growing prestige in the climbing commu- nity to go on bigger expeditions, to take better pictures, make bigger sales and get even better invitations. "I didn't find pho- tography as much as photography found me," he explains. Cory Richards selfie taken at Base camp after summiting Mount Everest with no oxygen and going 36 hours without sleep. Photo by Mark Stone

• Cover