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[6 Dec 2009 | No Comment | ]
Paddling with a Camera Archives and Polls

I added a list of all of all posts in this blog, sorted by month. There is also a list of posts in the old blog covering years 2004-2007. Search (in the header) covers posts in both old and the current blogs.

I closed one year old poll What a digital compact camera do you use for paddling?. With so many new waterproof cameras appearing on market this year it may be time to open a new one. Do you have any suggestions?

pictures »

[5 Dec 2009 | No Comment | ]
Thanksgiving Day Paddling on Horsetooth Reservoir

Actually, I had two short paddling and photography workout on Horsetooth Reservoir during the Thanksgiving Day weekend. In both cases I launched Thunderbolt kayak from Lory State Park at North Eltuck Cove. The water level is very low right now, so it required 0.25 mile walking to reach water from a parking spot. It was much longer walk than showed by my video clip from April 2007, but still only about 7 minutes.

Weather was great, sunny and warm during day, and getting pretty chilly after sunset. These deep coves on western side of the Horsetooth are going into shadow of mountains at least one hour before official sunset time. There was some snow on northern slopes and a little of coastal ice.

I did some self shooting with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera with 24-1045 mm zoom lens mounted on a tripod with a time controller. Pictures from a kayak were taken with Pentax Optio W30.

Related posts:
Paddling Horsetooth Reservoir in Winter Scenery (March 2009)
Launching Thunderbolt Kayak on Horsetooth Reservoir from Lory State Park (April 2007)
Paddling Horsetooth Reservoir (River) 6 Years Ago
Paddling and Photographing the Horsetooth Reservoir in Northern Colorado (March 2007)
A New Shooting Angle – Camera Video Mast on Thunderbolt Kayak (June 2008)
Paddling and Photographing the Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins, Colorado (November 2007)
Paddling in the Rain and Wind on the Horsetooth Reservoir (May 2007)
Paddling the Skeleton Coast (April 2007)
Horsetooth Reservoir paddling photography at Mountain Wayfarer (2000-2004)

pictures »

[4 Nov 2009 | 3 Comments | ]
October Paddling with a Camera

I had some big plans for paddling in October, but I ended up just paddling my local waters near Fort Collins. I was paddling my Thunderbolt kayak on Beaver Pond in Arapaho Natural Area and on Lonetree Reservoir.

First days of October were promising nice fall colors.

Then, the first attack of winter came with very low night temperatures.

All leaves on trees turned brown. No fall colors this year …

2nd winter attack with a big snow storm. It was a lot of snow in Fort Collins, but weather was warm and snow melted quickly.

The last day of October I spent paddling on Beaver Pond again.

After paddling I did some walking around the pond with my “big” camera, Canon 5D mark II.

I noticed that a new Walmart Supercenter at Timnath on the other side of I-25 highway
is showing up in my pictures from the Beaver Pond …

Here is a selection of my October posts from the last three years. You can find much nicer fall colors from northern Colorado there.

trip reports »

[5 Oct 2009 | One Comment | ]
Dismal River 2009 – Slideshow from Paddling Nebraska Sandhills

In the last weekend of September I went with Connie for paddling trip to Mullen, Nebraska. We took our two dogs (Pixels and Dax) and Sea Wind canoe. In Mullen we met Rob Bean with another Kruger canoe (Sawyer Loon). Me, Rob and Pixel managed to run two river trips. Connie helped us with a shuttle. We all enjoyed a beautiful early fall weather.

The first one was 36 mile paddling on the Dismal River from highway 97 (Mullen) to highway 83 (Thedford). It took us nearly 10 hours. Next day, we drove to Valentine and paddled 15 easy miles on the Niobrara River.

I prepared a 40 picture slide show from the Dismal River:

Dismal River 2009

All pictures were shot with Pentax Optio W30 camera. I included a few pictures from Rob also shot with the same model of Pentax.

I am usually reducing exposure when photographing during mid day (-0.3 or -0.7). EV compensation is assigned in my camera to a “green button” for a faster operation. It allows me to avoid overexposure of bright areas like our white boats.

I am going to post more technical comments and tips from that paddling followed by pictures from the Niobrara.

Reports from the Dismal River:
Dismal River – The First Encounter, July 27-29, 2001
Through Barbed Wire Fences, August 24-26, 2001
In November Rain, November 22-24, 2001
Dismal River of Nebraska Sandhills, Carhenge and Dobby’s Frontier Town, September 2005
Dismal River GPS/photo log (it will be updated after 2009 trip)