“Our time there taught us some simple lessons that we often forget in the rush of life…”

© Andrew King
LD: Tell us a bit about you – your age, where you grew up, and where the nickname GI came from!
The nickname GI came from my university days. It was Gironkey for many years… (looks like a giraffe, runs like a donkey) but when my mates on the sports council committee at varsity didn’t know my real name to mark me down as absent, they just wrote G.I.Ronkey on the minutes.

The Richterveld has to be one of my favourite South African locations, with the gigantic boulders of the Tatasberg providing the most bizarre moonlike landscape. After filming day two of the Richtersveld Wildrun, Owen Middleton, my mate Brundle and I hopped in a car and missioned hard to reach the Tatasberg to watch the sunset. We jumped out the car and ran up as fast as we could to get to a decent height to catch the final setting of the sun. After a few moments, I climbed down from the boulder and onto another further away to take a picture of them. There was no shouting instructions or communicating to them – it was simple: I lifted the camera, they both did a quiet countdown and leapt in the air. And this photo was the first one I took. Another magical life-moment caught on camera © Andrew King

The portrait of Gaëtan and his dog Pépite sitting out the rain on a mountain top in the French Alps on our first day of filming for Trail Dog © Andrew King

In 2013 I helped document Anne-Marie Flammersfeld’s journey on foot from the lowest point to highest point of Switzerland. Being picked up in the Air Zermatt helicopter from near the Monte Rosa summit and filming her on the peak of the Matterhorn is still one of the most badass filming moments of my career © Andrew King

My first outing to the Cederberg and Wolfberg Cracks was memorable to say the least. After a day of running/hiking in the rain and scuttling into our tents at 6pm, I woke up at 3am for a wee. The clouds had cleared and I was treated to this most amazing sky. I had no tripod and everyone was sleeping, so I balanced my camera on a rock and ran back and forth barefoot in the freezing cold to star in my own photo. The camera stoke was so high and no one was awake to share it with me. I was so wired afterwards, it took me ages to get back to sleep! © Andrew King

The final day shooting on Trail Dog took us up to the famous La Croix de Belladonne peak in the Alps. It was another incredible day that capped off a great week. This time Gaëtan was running only with Jolyn, as Pépite was feeling her age and struggled to keep up with our intense week. Sadly she died a few months later and I remember feeling so proud that we had produced such a fitting tribute to the dog that Gaëtan loved so much and had shared so many experiences with © Andrew King
LD: What’s the most extreme shoot you’ve done?

Another memorable shoot from the Trail Dog film was a wintery sunset mission up to another peak. We’d hiked for about 2 hours through the mist, past these icicles thinking we were out of luck. About 30 mins before sunset we finally broke through above the clouds and began panic shooting in the short time before sunset which ultimately produced most of best shots from the film. It was a great lesson in giving ourselves the opportunity for success, sure it could have been a lemon mission but on this occasion, we were handsomely rewarded for our efforts. © Andrew King
LD: What has been your most memorable trail running shoot and why?

This one’s maybe the oldest pic in my selection – it’s from 2013, and of Rockhoppin’ Trail’s writer Linda Doke. (It’s my personal tribute of thanks for recognising the efforts of adventure camera people in SA.) A large group of us had hiked up to the top of Matroosberg on a training recce run a few weeks before the Matroosberg Skymarathon. I was new to Cape Town and was totally unaware that the Matroosberg is a well known spot for snow in the Western Cape. It was a whole new dynamic for me and I went bounding from bush to bush filling my memory card with weird and wonderful ice flower formations © Andrew King
LD: What has been the most compromising position you’ve had to be in for a shoot?

Kane Reilly and I made our way up to the Helderberg Dome to shoot some product shots for the new Salomon XA Enduros. I think we both spotted this ridge line at the same time and knew it just had to be done © Andrew King
LD: What piece of equipment do you rely on the most when you’re shooting?

I seldom take my camera on non-work-related missions these days, as I like to keep some moments for myself. On this occasion I agreed to bring my camera to document my girlfriend Bryony attempting Knife-Edge Traverse just below Devils Peak. In the end it wasn’t as bad as she’d feared, and she handled it like a pro, but when we stopped shortly afterwards for some water I could see that the whole occasion had gotten to her. I was so proud to see her conquer her fears © Andrew King

Another great moment from the Trail Dog shoot in the mountain hut that Christiaan (the director), Gaetan, the dogs and I used as an overnight base while filming © Andrew King

In 2017 I was back at the Otter Trail Run taking photos after a 7 year absence. Robbie Rorich (R) is loved for his unassuming appearance and total lack of recognised technical running kit. To see what it meant to him to come out of nowhere and achieve a podium finish was beautiful to watch © Andrew King
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