I always enjoy looking through old canoeing and kayaking images. They remind me that people have been paddling for a long time–what we do isn’t new, because it’s been around for thousands of years. It reminds me that our recreational activity links us to all those back through time that have enjoyed it. They enjoyed adventure as much as we do. It also reminds me how much better we look doing it now; look at some of the goofy outfits worn by paddlers of the past.

My two favorite locations are on Flickr’s The Commons, which has a small but interesting collection, and Minnesota Historical Society’s Visual Resource Database. Every once in a while, a Google image search results in good finds. Below are a few interesting pictures from our paddling past.

Title: [Alton Smith and Al Zaebst loading a captured alligator into their canoe : Weeki Wachee River, Florida]
Date: Photographed on December 13, 1948.

Thousand Islands, ON, about 1915
Wm. Notman & Son
About 1915, 20th century

M2000.113.6.223
Mrs. Cotter kayaking on the North West River, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, NL, 1909
Hugh A. Peck
1909, 20th century

Ojibwe women and children in a canoe.
Photographer: Charles Alfred Zimmerman (1844-1909)
Photograph Collection, Carte-de-visite ca. 1885

Crossing to St. Helen’s Island, near Montreal, QC, 1875
Alexander Henderson
1875, 19th century

A canoe, glass-calm water, and a sunset goes together like bananas, ice cream, and whipped cream. But unlike the quickly fading delight of savoring a banana split, capturing a sunset in a picture allows for sharing and enjoyment for years.

Sunset pictures are tricky. Typically, like in the pictures below, you can capture either the detail and color in the sky and have the canoe go dark and black or your can make the canoe light and visible, but lose the color in the sky. Using a Graduated Neutral Density filter, you can capture both a colorful sky and a detailed foreground and end up with a picture like the one to the right.

Required Gear

• Cokin H250A P-Series ND Grad Kit
• A camera, like the Nikon D700 Digital SLR(I used my Nikon D200 for this picture) or any camera that accepts filters.
• A wide-angle lens. On my D200, I use a Nikon 12-24mm f/4G ED IF.
• A Cokin P-Series Adapter Ring. Match the ring to your lens’s filter size.
• Tripod

ND Grad Filters

Once you have your Cokin P-Series filter kit, you need to modify the holder to work with a wide-angle lens, especially if your wide-angle requires filters bigger than 70mm. When you look at the filter holder, notice the multiple slots for filters. Cut off the extra slots to leave only one. Unless you plan on using the filter holder for some of Cokin’s other filters, you won’t miss the extra slots. If you leave the extra slots, you could end up with vignetting in your picture.

Canoe exposed right, but the sky is lost.

The sky looks good, but the canoe is too dark.

After you’ve modified your filter holder take time to sort through the ND Grads that came with the kit. Each of them looks like the picture to the right. To use them, you screw the holder onto your lens and slide the ND Grad into the slot. The clear side of the filter lets in all the light from the area that you’re placing it, and the dark side tones down the light coming into the picture. Because the sky is brighter than the ground, you place the dark part over the sky and the light part over the ground. The transitional area goes over a part of the frame that will disguise the change. In my picture, the disguise occurs along the tree line. Using an ND Grad in this way evens out the exposure across the frame allowing you to capture detail across the entire picture.

When you’re looking at the filters in your kit, notice that each filter is slightly darker in the gray area than the others. This determines how much light, the gray area allows through. For bright sunsets, use the darkest and for darker sunsets, you can use the lightest. One issue to watch when using the darkest ND Grad is that the reflection of the sky in the water doesn’t look too much lighter than the sky. I find that the middle darkness or a 2-stop ND Grad works best.

Composing Canoe and Sunset Pictures

These types of photos work best using two compositional techniques. The first uses the rule-of-thirds. For this rule, divide your viewfinder up into a tic-tac-toe board. On your board, imagine that parts of your image can only take up 1/3rd or 2/3rds of the frame. In my picture, the water and canoe takes up 2/3rds of the frame and the sky takes up 1/3rd of the sky. This moves the horizon out of the frame’s middle and makes for a more dynamic composition by making an asymmetrical image. The human mind wants everything to look symmetrical–because our faces and bodies are generally symmetrical our mind accepts that better. When an image is asymmetrical we tend to look at it longer trying to figure out why it isn’t symmetrical.

The second technique is using leading lines. Leading lines take elements your picture and set them diagonally to the horizontal and vertical edges of your picture’s frame. The canoe acts as a leading line in my picture. It captures the viewer’s attention at the bow and funnels their eyes into the picture to the background and upper left. English speakers start viewing pictures in the upper left of a print, because we’re trained to start reading there. By funneling the view to the upper left, I create a circular effect for the viewer’s eyes. They start viewing in the upper left, work their way down to the lower right and then the leading line takes them back to the top of the image.  The leading line creates depth and makes the picture dynamic because it is working against the vertical and horizontal lines in your image.

The clouds have changed so much, it's hard to tell that this was taken during the same sunset.

Using ND Grads and Composition for a Great Photo

To pull all this info together, get a campsite with a sunset view. Find an interesting place to take a picture from. For mine, I found a shallow rock bed. Set your camera up on a tripod. Maneuver the canoe around until it becomes a leading line. Put your ND Grad on your camera and line it up so that the transition disappears into the trees. Take a picture. Make sure that your exposure looks good with a properly exposed sky and detail in the foreground. If it doesn’t look good, adjust exposure compensation until you have detail in the sky and foreground. If you still can’t bring everything into an even exposure, use the next darker ND Grad.

Notes:

• Even on a calm day, if your boat is floating, it’ll drift around. Setting the canoe over a rock bed allowed me to build a small island to set the bow on. Towards the stern of the canoe, I also built a rock island that stopped the canoe from drifting to the right. The slight wind was pushing the canoe that direction.
• Compose your shot to include the entire reflection of the canoe for more impact.
• Wait around even after the sun sets completely, because you may get better color in the sky then. During this sunset, the clouds changed shape and color considerably. I have pictures from the sunset that look so different, you’d hardly be able to tell they’re from the same sunset.
• Take a bunch of different pictures from different angles using both horizontal and vertical framing.
• You can do this technique digitally by capturing a properly exposed sky in one picture and foreground in another and then combine them with a gradient mask in Photoshop.

Northern Lights near Grand Marais, MN

It’s two in the morning, the northern lights are dancing across the sky and having to remember how to set a camera to record the blazing greens and reds is made easier with a simple cheat sheet. Clip this article, laminate it and stick it in your camera bag, so it’ll be handy next time the Aurora Borealis are lighting up the sky.

Digital photography makes capturing pictures of the northern lights effortless. You’ll need a digital camera that can take long exposures and has noise reduction. A tripod is a must and a remote release or self-timer is helpful. Follow these steps and you’re sure to come away with good images:

1. The first step is to set-up the camera. Select a higher ISO of around 400. Anything higher on compact digitals results in poor image quality and lower isn’t sensitive enough to capture the color in the sky. With DSLRs, an ISO of 800 is fine.
2. After setting the ISO, turn on in-camera noise reduction, which helps save image quality during long exposures. Figure out how this works on your camera right now and write it in the margin. If you can’t find a description in your manual on how to do this, the camera probably does it automatically.
3. If you have a manual mode on your camera, set up your camera with the f/stop wide open, a setting of f2.8 or f4 is common. Then try a setting of 15 seconds for the shutter speed. Without a manual mode, try either a Night Scene or a Firework mode.
4. Connect the camera to a tripod, and plug-in the remote release or set a self-timer to 2 seconds. These later two steps will stop your hand from creating camera shake and blurring the picture when you press the shutter release button.


Nothern Lights in the BWCA.

5. Aim the camera at the northern lights and press the shutter button. When the image appears on the screen, check the brightness. If too dark, increase the shutter speed to 20 or 30 seconds. If it is too bright, decrease the shutter speed to 5 or 7 seconds. Take a couple more pictures to refine the brightness of the image. On point-and-shoot scene modes, use exposure compensation (read the manual) to increase or decrease the shutter speed.
6. Once you have the correct brightness, frame your picture and set your focus. Always try to include the ground, trees, a lake, or something interesting in the bottom third of your picture. The top two thirds should be northern lights. Focus so that the foreground (the bottom third) of the image is in sharp focus.
7. Take pictures. A couple of fun items to have with are an off-camera flash or a million candle power spot light. These can be used while the camera is taking a picture to light up the foreground or can be used to paint items into your picture.
8. A final note is that white balance can be used to change the colors of the Aurora. A Fluorescent setting is the most natural, but others are nice also. Adjust to taste.

Next time the northern lights are out, don’t just go out to enjoy them, go out to capture images of them. Following this simple cheat sheet, you’ll capture great images and be able to share your enjoyment of the dancing colors of light with your friends and family.

Good Northern Light Resources

www.spaceweather.com: Space weather provide Aurora predictions, links to the NOAA aurora oval map, and even a serves that will call you when the northern lights are out.

One hand holding the 4 pounds of my fully auto focus frame advancing Nikon SLR camera
with attached 35-70 mm lens and the other using a paddle thrust into the mud of the
rivers bottom to hold the canoe steady, I eased myself into position to shoot a bow
in the center of the frame shot that I love. The morning light glowed. I snapped.
Snapped again, and once again. I put the camera into a dry bag and pulled the paddle
out of the mud. I love photography, but sometimes wish for an easier method of
capturing those great moments in time. In this age of mega-pixels, digital, 5 frames
per second film camera and $10 slide films, getting back to an easier way to
photography refreshes the inner vision and affords a needed rest.

The Lomo Compact-Automat camera is a capable toy camera with a worldwide cult
following that affords the wary photographer a fun rest from the current auto focus
mega-pixel race that drives the modern photography business. Most photographers, who
employ this camera, use it as a small street photography camera that will attract
little attention. The pictures it shoots in automatic tend to run slightly
underexposed, color saturated, and blurry from slow shutter speeds, but it sports a
fast Minitar 1 32mm f/2.8 lens making it an ideal simple camera for canoe and kayak
photography. The pictures can be sharp and properly exposed if used correctly. It
will vignette in bright light, but it usually adds to the unique quality of the
images it produces instead of distracting.

The key to using a Lomo LC-A is to understand its limitations, exploit them, and have
fun doing it. Most important is understanding how the apertures and shutter speeds
are set on this little automatic wonder, and then how to apply them to kayak and
canoe photography.

Auto-Exposure Mode

The Lomo sports an electromechanical program shutter controlled with electronic
exposure meter according to the manual. It automatically sets the aperture and
shutter speed according to the amount of light it thinks is necessary to properly
expose the film. The upside of this is that you can simply press and hold the shutter
release, and the camera figures everything else out. Most of the pictures taken this
way have what can be described as a very lomo look to them. If the shutter speed
drops below 1/30th of a second, a red light will appear in the viewfinder when the
shutter release is depressed halfway. If this happens expect very lomo-like photos.
The downside is that you will never know what settings the camera is shooting, so you
will never have control of the final image.

Manual Exposure Mode

Although shooting in automatic mode releases you from thinking about the technical
parts of photography and produces fun images that alone make this camera worth
owning, the camera also provides a second way of setting exposure. Originally
intended for flash photography, a lever to the side of the lens changes aperture
settings from 2.8 to 16 and A. When the camera is taken off of A and set to one of
the other aperture settings, the shutter speed is automatically set to 1/60th of a
second. Knowing this allows us to use the Sunny 16 rule for exposing photos. Using
this system, we can now set our own aperture according to the Sunny 16 rule and have
more control over how our images appear. More importantly, it allows us to set our
aperture at f/16, which will provide a deep depth of field, and it will keep
everything from to foreground to the background in focus. It is best to use ISO 50
film, because of the set shutter speed of this camera, but a print film ISO of 100
should be fine. If using 100 ISO slide film make sure you have it professionally
processed and let them know you want it pull processed. Dont mix any auto-exposure
shots with Sunny 16 shots if pull processing slide film.

Sunny 16?

The sunny 16 rule is simple: On a sunny day you set your shutter speed to the same
ISO as your film, then to get properly exposed pictures set your aperture to f/16.
You can use any equivalent setting of aperture and shutter speed to achieve the same
results. For example, with 100-speed film f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/1000 will
also achieve the perfect exposure.

But it’s not Sunny

The Sunny 16 rule can be used when it isn’t sunny if you change the aperture. The
important thing to remember is that the darker the scene gets, the wider you have to
open the aperture. The Lomo is no different than any other camera, so the apertures
work the same. Each step on the lever of the lomo is called a stop. If you imagine
the aperture of a camera as a circle, and view each setting as a fraction of that
circle you can see that 1 / 2.8th of the circle is bigger of 1/16th of that same
circle. A bigger opening lets in more light. Each step of the aperture lets in
exactly half or double of the setting below or above it, respectively.

Knowing this we can make some changes to the Sunny 16 rule for correct exposures in
other circumstance. When an object is side-lit (side light creates shadows, shadows
are darker, so you have to let in more light), instead of front lit we must open up a
stop to make it properly exposed (f/11). When the sun is low in the sky, like in
morning or evening, you consider it side-lit. When an object is back-lit (the whole
object is in a shadow), you must open up two stops (f/8). On slightly overcast days
with thin light clouds, you must open up one stop. When the sky is very cloudy, you
must open up 3 stops. You best bet is to experiment on a cloudy day. Step outside at
noon with the film you like to use and shoot 6 images of grass in your yard. Shoot a
picture at each setting of your aperture. When you get back your prints look at each
exposure and decide which one you like best. You will eventually come up with a chart
that you can tape to the back of your camera.

Focusing the Lomo LC-A

One of the best parts about the Lomo is that focusing is easy. The camera has a lever
that sets at four stops. The first is when the subject is less than 2 feet away, the
second is when the subject is 4.5 feet away, the third is when the subject is 15 feet
away, and the final is when the subject is far away. If using the Sunny 16 rule and
an aperture of f/11 or above, you can keep the focus set at infinity and expect sharp
photos from foreground to background.

Shutter Speed and Sharp Focus

In order to get a sharp handheld picture you must shoot at a shutter speed equal or
greater than the length of the lens. So, for a 32mm lens, it must be 1/30th of a
second.

Fun with Filters

The Lomo has no threads for filters, but by holding a filter in front of the lens a
filtered effect can be achieved. The single best filter for use with the Lomo is a
polarizing filter. A polarizer acts to remove reflections from the water and surfaces
coated with water. It brings out colors, and darkens the blue of the sky. When
holding a polarizer to the sky and rotating it, it will go from dark to light. To
apply the effect you want don’t change orientation of the filter as you move it to
the front of the lens. This change in appearance also effects the exposure when
shooting the Sunny 16 Rule. At its lightest it is one stop darker and at its darkest
it is two stops darker. To compensate for this using a lomo, change the aperture from
f/16 to f/11 using its lightest setting and from f/16 to f/8 at its darkest setting.

Getting Keeper Photos

They key to getting great photos from the Lomo is to use its 32mm lens to produce
photos that have strong foregrounds that lead into interesting backgrounds. This is
the perfect lens to use for bow in the shot photos that show the viewer where you are
heading. Secondly, make sure you fill the frame with any items or people you are
shooting. The 32 mm lens tends to make whatever you are taking a picture of smaller
in the final image. Thirdly, try and keep you main subject out of the center of the
frame. This will provide more impact when your photos come back from the lab.

The Lomo Compact-Automat camera is a fun little camera to use when you want a break
from the modern camera. It’s easy to hold in one hand while your other hand is
controlling the paddle. In the morning when the mist is rising from the lake, and the
sunlight glows perfectly, you can easily snap a shot, kick back, relax and know that
you will have a perfect keeper shot to wow your friends with.

“Lastingly successful art triggers audience responses that are ready to happen in the culture as a whole. Regardless of how perfectly a photographer’s work rends a subject, it is bound to fail unless it strikes that chord that elicits a common emotional and visual response.”
From Galen Rowell’s Inner Game of Outdoor Photography, Galen Rowell, 2001

The sunrise broke over the distant mountains. It broke across hilltops that swam in a deep white fog on a fall morning in the Smoky Mountains. The morning was cold and I stood with my small hand-me-down 35mm camera and shot a few pictures while shivering and try to hold my camera steady. Next to me, another photographer mounted a camera on top of his tripod. He shot several frames, switched lenses, shot some more, switched a lens, repositioned his tripod and shot some more. At the time, I thought, that he must be crazy for carrying a tripod into the woods. The extra weight couldn’t be worth it. I carried on with my hand-me-down.

Now days, I find that I’ve switched roles with that photographer in the Smokies. I never leave on a trip without at least two lenses and a tripod, several filters, a cable release, level, and who knows what other gadgets I’ll lug along. I look at those adventurers with just a camera and wonder if they know what they are missing; because I know when I get home, I’ll have great pictures and a worthy slide show that makes carrying the extra weight and the hassle worth it.

When you first start getting into photography, it’s hard to figure out let alone choose what gear to carry with you. What is worth carrying and why? And how does all this equipment work for the canoeist or kayaker who wants to record the adventure of a lifetime? This primer will answer those questions.

Is that a Camera in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

Say What? This picture was shot with a Nikon D70 and a 105-macro lens. When shooting wildlife, try to get their picture when they are making a human like expression. Doesn't this turtle looks like he's giving you a cocky stare?

There are many different types of cameras out there: digital, film, 35mm, medium format, large format, APS, Point and Shoot, SLR, DSLR, etc. The list could fill up the rest of this article, but for the average paddler the clear choice is a 35 mm system. We will concentrate on this system and ignore the medium format, large format, and APS camera sizes.

35mm SLR Systems

The 35mm SLR system is the clear choice for paddlers. It is a system that allows the photographer to buy different lenses that will work with his camera system. This allows a photographer to cover images from supper wide to super telephoto. The reason that other systems don’t stack up is that they just don’t have the quality or if they have greater quality, they are too much to carry along on any one trip. There is a point of diminishing returns on picture quality vs. the ability to capture the moment that is going to evoke responses in your audience – whether that audience is a room full of strangers or your friends and family. 35mm equipment allows you as the photographer to quickly change focal lengths to produce a broad vision of your surrounding or a zoomed up-close view of something in the distance. It allows you to do this in a matter of seconds, quickly, easily, and while carrying very little extra weight or bulk.

And a Point-and-Shoot

There are times when paddling that a simple waterproof point-and-shoot camera comes in handy. For example, when you are in large seas and want to show your audience the ferocity of the water. Or when you are in the middle of a Class III rapid. Or when the day has produced nothing but rain. With a simple point-and-shoot camera, you can easily pull it out, snap a shot, stash it back into a pocket, and continue on paddling. You won’t have to risk your expensive 35mm SLR system in extreme elements, and you can paddle away knowing that you have a shot that not many other people get. For our purposes make sure that that point-and-shoot camera that you buy has at least a 35 mm lens or wider and make sure that that lens is fast (fast means that the lens lets more light in). An f/stop of 2.8 or better is the way to go.

Digital Cameras

Just like film cameras, digital cameras come in a variety of flavors. You can purchase anything from point-and-shoot cameras to DSLR systems that allow you to change lenses. You will find though that unlike film Point-and-Shoots, most of the digital versions lack the ability to record the scene with enough quality to satisfy. The reason that this is true is that although these digital Point-and-Shoot cameras may have a high quality lens, the sensor that they use isn’t up to par with the ability of film to record an image. In the current point-and-shoot market, even when the same quality lenses are used, film is still number one.

Point-and-Shoot digital cameras don’t define the whole digital field, because the DSLRs are equal to or better than what is produced with film. This makes them a great choice for paddling photography. As a bonus for those who already own camera lenses, most of the DSLR systems on the market will work with your 35mm lenses.

A last note, to consider before you take digital into the field with you, is that they require several extras. In the DSLR world, the images that they make take up a lot of space on memory cards. With a 1 GB card, you can expect anywhere from 100 to 300 pictures. DSLRs also use a lot of batteries compared to a SLR. Also, in order to take more pictures after you fill up a memory card you have to save those pictures to a CD or a hard drive somewhere, so on a longer trip, buy lots of memory cards or be prepared to carry a laptop or other battery powered device to offload the pictures after you take them. Oh ya, don’t forget the extra batteries for those devices also.

What’s In a Lens?

When using a SLR or DSLR system, you will be presented with a ton of choices for different types of lenses, but you can cover all you need with three lenses, one from each of the first three categories, and maybe a couple of extras for fun.

Blunt For a Head. Shot with a Nikon D70 and a 12-24mm f/4 AF-S lens. This is a wide-angle shot with a strong foreground - the paddler -, but don't let that go to his head.

Wide-Angle Lenses: 12 mm to 35 mm

Wide-angle lenses are great for massive scenic shots, shooting the typical bow of the canoe in the picture shot, pictures inside a tent, and portraits that include a view of the person’s surroundings. The best way to take a photo with a wide angle is to include a strong foreground that leads into a distant feature. These lenses tend to accentuate what ever is in the foreground by making it larger in the photo than the background. If you want to cover one focal length in Wide-Angle use a 20mm or a 24mm lens.

Standard Lenses: 28 mm to 70 mm

These so-called standard lenses are called so, because the closely project onto film an image similar to how our eyes see the world. These work great for scenic, portraits, shots of camp, and expedition activities. I find that a zoom in this range works perfect for most of the pictures in this range. If you want to save weight here, just buy the fastest 50mm lens you can find.

Telephoto Lenses: 70 mm to 300 mm

Telephoto lenses are the peeping Toms of lenses. They zoom in on a subject and make it larger in your viewfinder. These lenses are great for wildlife photography, people photography, and they are very versatile when paddling with friends. Although heavy, a 70 – 200mm f/2.8 VR (vibration reduction) lens is a versatile choice. Another lens that is very popular among paddlers is the 70-300, which is lightweight, but maybe a little slow.

Canoe Fishing. Shot with a Nikon D70 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR with a 1.4x teleconverter attached. Shot wide open to leave only the canoeist in focus. Vibration Reduction is perfect for paddlers; it makes a sharp picture when you can't use a tripod.

Super Telephoto Lenses: 300mm and above

These lenses are large, heavy, and often used for wildlife photography. If you are into this type of photography, a 300 mm is often the most versatile. If you have the money, a new class is just emerging: the 200 – 400mm f/4 VR. This lens when combined with teleconverters is about as close as you can get to the perfect all around wildlife lens for mammals and birds alike.

TeleConverters

These small lenses fit in-between a lens and your camera. They sit there and effective multiply the focus length of whatever lens is mounted. They come in several sizes: 1.4x, 1.7x, 2.0x, and 3.0x. When you add these to a lens, expect the quality to be reduced slightly and your lens will become slower. This is the price you pay for the added focal length. For example, say you mount a 1.4x multiplier onto a 300mm f/4 lens. This lens will now become a 420mm f/5.6 lens. It will also be slightly less sharp. Make sure that if you use these lenses, that you purchase the highest quality that you can afford. It will make a difference in the end.

Macro Lenses

If you like looking and tiny details and flowers, this lens is for you. A macro lens will record an image on the film that is life-sized or sometimes more. These lenses are super sharp and make a great all around lens too. A 105mm is about the best choice out there. They are plenty sharp, do 1:1 reproductions, and are light enough that you can hand hold them for taking pictures of insects.

The Digital Factor

Most DSLRs have a smaller sensor than a frame of a 35mm piece of film, and because they use the same lenses, the effective focal length of the lens gets multiplied. This will vary from brand to brand, but most are 1.5x. So, a 300mm lens on a digital camera becomes a 450mm lens.

Snake in the Grass. This close-up of a Northern Water Snake was shot on with a D70 and 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR with attached 1.4x teleconverter, because I left my 105mm macro at home. It's better to leave with the shot even though you left the right equipment at home.

Vibration Reduction

This relatively new technology uses electronic sensors and mechanics to help remove the vibration from a camera. When activated the VR technology essentially stabilizes an image allowing you to capture a sharp picture in situations where that would have been impossible in the past. It probably won’t be as sharp as with a tripod, but it is much better than just handholding. This is very helpful for canoe and kayak photographers, because water movement introduces extra vibration into our shots, and there is seldom an easy way to use a tripod or monopod inside a canoe or kayak.

Filters

The most used filter by canoe and kayak photographers is the polarizer. This filter removes the glare and reflections from the water. It also turns the sky a darker blue and allows you to see into the water. A polarizer stays on my lens for most of the day, except at sunrise and sunset.
A second filter that comes in useful is an 81A-warming filter. This filter gives you picture a rose warm feel to it. It is very subtle and won’t be noticed by most of your audience. This lens is perfect for overcast days, because it removes the gloom of grey skies from your shots.

What Film Should I Use?

There are two choices when it comes to film, slide or print? The obvious choice for most everyone is print film because it is easy to show your prints to your friends and family, right? Wrong. The obvious choice is slide film, and this is true for a few simple reasons. Some of these reasons include better color, better contrast, greater and crisper detail, and finally, you can project your images onto any white wall, which will impress your audience. There is nothing like one of your great pictures projected onto a wall where all can see it. Also, you can make prints out of your favorite shots and you don’t feel too bad about throwing the bad ones away.

Now What?

After you purchase all of your camera gear, it isn’t unusual to develop bad feelings about getting it wet or dropping it overboard, but if you don’t overcome this you will never bring home any great pictures. It is easy to develop a good system using 2 size 10 and one size 5 waterproof dry bags from Sealline to hold your kit. Before you get into the boat for the day try and make a choice on what kind of pictures you want to take during the day. If you want to take close-ups of wildlife or your paddling partners, then load a telephoto lens on your camera and put it into a Sealline Baja 10 bag, this is your day bag. If you want to capture scenic shots, then load a wide-angle lens on your camera and put this in the same bag. For an all around day, load a standard lens onto your camera. Make sure that your filters also make it into your day bag, and extra film. I shot around 3 rolls of 36 every day, so that is how much extra film ends up in my day bag. The extra gear and lens will stored in your other two bags. The size 5 dry bag works perfect for extra film and exposed film.

Where Should I Put My Day Bag?

For a canoeist, storing the day bag under the seat works best. At the portages, you can attach the bag to your portage pack, or just carry it across in your hands, which will keep it ready to catch pictures of anything you see on the portages – one of the least photographed parts of any canoe trip.

A kayaker should keep the day bag under the deck lines, so not to mess with taking the spray skirt on and off all day. The only problem that you will encounter with this is that the compression from the bungee cords with makes it hard to get the camera out during the day. The way to avoid this is to get a piece of 1/8″ hard plastic equal in length to the diameter of the dry bag and insert it into the dry bag. This will stiffen the bag enough so that the bungee cords won’t compress the bag, thus making it easy to get at your gear.

And when you take the camera out of the bag, make sure you put the strap around your neck.

What Type of Pictures Should I Take?

Every trip you take becomes a story if you make it one. Within the first couple of days, you can develop a theme that you are shooting and concentrate on that for the rest of the trip. For example, on a recent trip to the Yellow River, I concentrated on taking pictures of eagles. On another trip, I documented what it feels like to canoe and kayak a very small stream that is only runnable in floodwaters. Here are some ideas for you to take pictures of during a paddling trip:

Metal and Clouds. This is a close-up detail picture of an old abandoned bridge on the Iowa River. It is a great shot to show the details in my Hawkeye Wildlife Management Slide show.

1. The trip to the put-in.
2. Anything that the area is known for. For example, in the Boundary Water, I try to take pictures of moose, pictographs, and canoeists enjoying the trip.
3. People. People. People. Take a lot of photos of your friends and yourself. Look for candid facial expressions, people by the water, people paddling. If you are heading to a trip where you will be going through towns, get pictures of the locals by the water or on the water.
4. Campsites. Take a couple pictures of every campsite and campsite activities. I always have the camera around my neck at camp.
5. Look for interesting details that stand out. These can be plants, abstracts, and pictures of ropes, anything that you can throw into a slide show that will add to the overall experience of your audience.

6. Make sure to take a shot of you and your paddling partners on the last day of the trip before you reach the take out. Every trip, no matter how beautiful, is always better when you develop good group camaraderie, and you should document this.

7. Keep a journal of every day on your trip, so when you get back home and lay your slides out to look at them, you can remember where you took each shot and what happened that day. Don’t feel afraid to write on the slide mount.

I’ve Given My Slide Show And Now What

Captain Missy. This picture was shot with a Nikon D70 and a 24 - 85mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-S lens, which is considered a standard lens.

After you give your slide show and you know that you have some really great shoots, why not get some duplicates made and send out your images to some magazines. Most of the paddling magazines accept freelance submissions, and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your picture in print in a magazine. Also, many of your local newspapers often look for interesting stories to run on the weekends. If you can write an interesting story and include a picture, you may get in print that way. The best part about getting into print is that you get paid for having fun.

A Fresh New Beginning

So, now you know all about camera gear, get out and purchase some. Take some pictures, show a slide show and enjoy coming home with great photos. You will never again miss that great foggy sunrise again, unless, of course, you sleep in.

Waves are soothing for a wary soul. It’s much better to go lightweight and simple, than it is to become wary.

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About the BWCA

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area preserves as wilderness almost 200 miles of lakes and forestland running along the border of the U.S. and Canada. It reaches from Crane Lake in the Voyageurs National Park to the Pigeon River, which empties to Lake Superior.

With over one million acres, over 1000 lakes, 2000 campsites it ranks as the second largest area within the United States’ National Wilderness Preservation system. It is one of two nationally designated canoe wilderness areas and attracts over 200,000 visitors a year.