Re: [Paddlewise] Trip Photography: (was Down East Photos)

|I protect against splash/rain, but that's all. Depending on where I was
|paddling/skills, I would change this to a water proof hard case tho! Even
|then I would have one camera that was easily within reach.

Interesting that this subject just came up.  I've been pondering this problem
myself over the last couple of weeks.

I'm trying to use my kayak to get to places that are difficult to get to from
land, especially with 30-40 pounds of photo gear.  I also want to be able to
take shots from the kayak as I paddle along.  My Looksha IV ain't got alot of
storage space in the cockpit so what to do?

In the past I have taken a large dry bag and used that to protect my photo gear.
Very bulky and no real access when on the water even with the bag in the
cockpit.  Done it.  Taken some pictures but not an ideal solution.

My next idea is some pelican boxes to protect the gear.  I'm afraid I'm going to
have to get three or four to fit the gear in the boat.  I'm going to look at a
box that will hold one camera and one lense to keep in the cockpit.  If I could
fit another camera body and lense in the same box while not filling up the
cockpit so much the better.  I don't think that will happen but at least this
way I'll have protected access to the most likely used gear when on the water.

I was going to look at the boxes this weekend but Floyd Fun prevented this.

Jordan Lake here in the Triangle of North Carolina, USA, has the largest
population of Bald Eagles on the east coast with the exception of Florida.  If I
go to the northern part of the lake I'll usually see three or four eagles.  If I
get back to a part of the lake that is very shallow, thus keeping the power
boats out, I've seen the eagles catching fish and fighting each other over same.
This an the Osprey nest, that keepsgetting lower and lower as the tree decays,
just calls for taking great bird pictures from the kayak.  The problem in doing
so is having the equipment that keeps you far enough away from the birds so as
not disturb them yet still get the photograph.  Which begats the problem of
access to the geer and, in this case, having a stable enough boat to be
confident in letting go of your paddle to operate you camera without "doing a
turtle."  I liked that expression!  8-)

The last part has me worried.  I mentioned to my SO the other week that it sure
would be nice to have a small double so we could paddle together, not like the
subject a post I HAD to make a bit ago!  Course I could use the boat as a photo
platform!  8-)

I don't think she bought into the idea!  8-)

Anyone have ideas on how to stablize the boat while taking pictures?
I've thought of rigging the paddle float..... I'm not going to mention sp...ns
and Sp...nMan!  8-)

Later....
Dan McCarty



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