and the point of doin something the hard way is because you can it shows your skill and talant.
Option a) get 2 climbers at night. Get some lights. get one to get to the second bolt, get them to sit on it, play around with settings until the picture looks right, get climber to pull on to the rock and take picture.
Option b) Get 2000 foot high, hanging off an overhang in the right postion, the climbers you're taking a picture of are speed climbing so you they won't pose in any position, they're just climbing as fast as they can.
You seem to be saying A is the hard way, and B is basic. Others might disagree. If you're on the ground and can the climbers will just pose all you want and you can move the lights wherever you want, then what's the difficulty?
The stylised images are very good, but they're a bit more "Reebok: xTreme wear" advert pictures for me. Technically and artistically very high, but they have no soul. IMHO they'd be just as good without the climbers, because they're more about the lighting effects than the climbing, really. In fact I might like them more without the climbers because they'd be a little more abstract.