paddling with a camera

Tag: paddling

  • Paddling Kayak and Canoe in Northern Colorado

    I have been living at Fort Collins in northern Colorado for 17 years. Before 1999 I had only a folding kayak, Feathercraft K1 expedition, and didn’t paddle very often at least according to my today standards.
    Nevertheless, in addition to my local Horsetooth Reservoir, I visited several mountain lakes including Dillon, Turquois and Granby. In 1999 I built stitch-and-glue kayak, CLC Patuxent 19.5, and started a real exploration of Colorado waters. At the same time my garage started to convert into a boathouse …

    All this time I have been recording my paddling trips with a camera and later with a GPS. I have started to post my photo reports at Mountain Wayfarer web page. I am always exploring new ways to present this information on-line. Today, my paddling resources are spread over several web pages. It may be useful to provide a short summary what is available and some information on ongoing projects.

    1.
    Paddling destinations at Mountain Wayfarer site. This is the original site with my paddling reports.

    2.
    A map of paddling destinations using Google maps API (application software interface). This is the ongoing project. Each destination marker can be opened for a picture that is linked to a paddling destination at Mountain Wayfarer or to a related blog entry.

    3.
    River guides. These are more detailed river descriptions with GPS tracks, mileage and and maps prepared as a result of numerous day trips. Most often these were upstream/downstream trip in my Sisson Nucleus kayak.

    So far, I have covered the Poudre River from Laporte to Greeley and a few miles of Big Thompson River below Loveland. I have gathered all information to prepare a similar description of South Platte River from its confluence with St Vrain River to Cooper Bridge below Fort Morgan.

    Eventually, I am planning to upgrade all maps in those pages to Google maps similar to the coverage of Dismal River.

    4.
    Wayfarer trip index. It covers blog entries from from recent trips and paddling workouts.

    5.
    Paddling Colorado – links to Colorado paddling resources including books. They have not been updated for while.

    6.
    Weather and water . The river flow information is essential to planning any paddling in Colorado.

    7.
    Finally, my video clips illustrate some of our local waters: Boyd Lake, Horsetooth Reservoir, Beaver Pond, Poudre, South Platte and Colorado Rivers.



  • Shooting Paddlers – Photographic Adventures with Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters

    Shooting Paddlers – Photographic Adventures with Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters

    Shooting Paddlers: Photographic Adventures with Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters

    Shooting Paddlers: Photographic Adventures with Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters, book by Toni Harting, a Canadian outdoor photographer, writer and canoeist. 212 pages. Cardinal Publisher’s Group, 2004.

    Toni Harting migrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1970 and has lived in Toronto with his wife and canoeing partner, Ria, ever since. He holds two Master of Applied Science degrees in aerospace engineering, but left his consulting engineering profession in 1974 to build a new career as full time freelance photographer specializing in canoe topics, particularly wilderness canoeing.

    You can learn a lot from his book. It is designed to help all paddlers strengthen their ability to see, recognize and record meaningful images. At the same time the book is simply fun to read or browse through it.

    There are more than two hundred black and white and color pictures. Some of them are in two versions, e.g. an original picture and the same picture after cropping. Each picture is accompanied by its story and discussion with tips on composition, technique and logistics. Of course, there is also a chapter on equipment but you will not find information on a highly specialized gear, rather tips on using regular 35 mm point-and-shoot and SRL cameras.

    There are many amazing shots. You can see a lot of action pictures from canoe and kayak racing and rafting, contemplative scenic or close up shots, pictures from paddler’s life on camping or portage trail. You will not find many pictures from sea kayaking, but a great representation of a canoe including sprint and marathon canoes, voyageur canoes and dragon boats.

    My picture of a paddle in my another weblog entry was inspired by one of Toni Harting photos. I just need to work more on that shot… And, I got some more photo ideas from his book.

    I always admire people who have sacrificed their “other” career to be a full time photographer. I know enough about photography to recognize how hard photographer job is and that it is not only about shooting pictures. Writing skills help for sure.

    Outdoor and action adventure photography books:

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