Local Photographer Earns National Attention

Philbrick Photography's cliff photos are a viral hit

No newlyweds were harmed in the making of this photo. Photo by Philbrick Photography.

If you happened to tune in to "Inside Edition" last Monday evening, you may have caught a glimpse of some familiar landscapes and faces. One of the program's stories that night was dedicated to the remarkable cliffside photography of New Hampshire's own Jay Philbrick.

We wrote about Philbrick's cliff shoots — wherein he uses his climbing background to pose adventurous newlyweds, dancers and models on the side of Cathedral Ledge or atop ice cliffs in Crawford — in January 2014, but the news coverage of Philbrick's work has hardly stopped at the borders of the Granite State. "Inside Edition" is the latest in a long string of national and international outlets to shine a spotlight on Philbrick Photography.

Jay and his wife and photography partner, Vicki, posted some of their extreme shots to a some photography forums on Facebook shortly after starting the shoots, and they quickly went viral. Cosmopolitan and the Huffington Post picked up the story of Jay's high-flying images, and, before long, Philbrick's work had been covered in everything from Buzzfeed to Britain's Daily Mail.

"The attention we have received both nationally and internationally as a result of our work being published has been somewhat overwhelming," Jay says. "We have had to hire two agents to handle most of the media requests. This along with our normal photography workload is keeping us very busy."

For the "Inside Edition" segment, a team of TV videographers and producers accompanied the Philbricks on one of their newlywed cliff shoots to give viewers a glimpse of how the mind-boggling photos come into being. And what is the magic formula for the shoots, exactly? An early morning in the White Mountains, many years' climbing guide experience (both from Jay and his mountainside assistants), a lot of safety precautions and one very brave bride and groom.

The team from "Inside Edition" filming a recent Philbrick shoot. Photo courtesy of Philbrick Photography.

So far, many of the Philbricks' extreme shoot clients — like their North Country landscapes and the photographers themselves, who make their studio in North Conway — have hailed from New Hampshire, and the photography team has done only one or two of the shoots per year. With the worldwide attention focused on the couple, though, that may be starting to change.

"We have been contacted by people from as far away as South America," Jay says, "but we'll see if anything really materializes from those requests."

For now, the photographers have a handful of extreme shoots in the works, and they're keeping up their normal schedule of sans-cliff weddings, portraits and senior photos. Think you've got what it takes to pose on a human-width ledge 350 feet in midair? The Philbricks (philbrickphoto.com) are always accepting new clients.

"Anyone interested in doing such a session only has to contact us and book it," Jay says. "We love doing these!"