Paul Le Chien

Inflatable kayaking is always associated with white water adventures and thrilling river or sea escapades. Unlike a raft which is far more stable, a kayak-even the inflatable type-needs a bit of experience before one can successfully go on a challenging expedition. Thus, it is quite surprising to use a kayak and photography together in one sentence.

There are many obstacles to taking pictures while on a kayaking trip. First of all, you don't have the freedom to move since your body is virtually hemmed in a kayak. Holding a camera is also a problem since you are going to be paddling most of the time. Granting that you have solved these restrictions, getting a blur-free picture can be quite a challenge when you're riding a fast-moving inflatable.

On the positive side, however, kayaking offers many picture-perfect opportunities-usually with the wonders of nature as the dominant theme. The interesting contrast of water and sky, wildlife, other paddlers and fresh discoveries that you come across make photography with a kayak an interesting expedition. Because an inflatable kayak is slender and quiet, it also allows kayakers to go to less photographed and narrower channels on a river, sea or lake where more interesting features can be captured on camera.

If you want to get the best shots from your kayaking trip, you can set up your camera equipment on dry land so you don't have to deal with the movement and blur of a moving vessel. The more knowledgeable you are of your route, the better your chances of pointing out the spots where you can get good shots. With an inflatable kayak, you can just stop, deflate and fold your vessel and walk and shoot with your camera.

A POV or point-of-view camera makes for a good investment if you really want to cover your expedition and take pictures from within a moving kayak. With these cameras, your hands are free to paddle since you can strap them to your chest, shoulders or wrist and any other part of the body, for that matter, or mount them to the camera itself. These cameras also have water-resistant casing, so they're protected from the water.

When you can't take pictures of swirling rapids because you have to work to keep your kayak upright, having a POV camera to record the action for you is ideal. The only disadvantage is that the shots don't come from the angles you want to take it from.

Taking pictures while on board a moving kayak is best done on calmer waters where your inflatable can just float along. If you own a two-man kayak, another option is to take a kayaking buddy who can paddle for you when you see a photo opportunity.

As you can see, inflatable kayaking and photography is not really such a weird combination at all. Only passion and commitment is needed to overcome the obstacles found when you fuse photography and kayaking in one trip.