June 17, 2015
Common Loon Chicks, Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, and the Wilderness Systems Tsunami 120 Kayak

Everyone knows that photography is all about the equipment. Because I already had a lot of equipment, I was dreading the visit to Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada with Jan Forseth because I would have to rent a kayak to photograph the loons. The last thing I wanted was a kayak of my own to haul around. The kayak rental place at the lake doesn't open until July, so we had to go up to Kamloops (love that name!) two days ago to rent a kayak for me. True Outdoors had a nice model that would work well for a camera platform, so I rented one for two weeks with an option to bring it back early. This Common Loon (Gavia immer) mother has two chicks riding on her back. Shooting from a kayak lets you approach the loons much closer than if you were on shore, and the low platform gives a nearly eye-level perspective. This is the Wilderness Systems Tsunami 120 that I rented and then made a platform to mount my Wimberley Head II on the deck in front of me. The system works great, but I have a narrow shooting window because it's not possible to lean way to the side to stay behind the camera with large pan angles. We returned to True Outdoors this morning so I could buy that same-model kayak, but both of the ones they had in the store now have deposits on them. I'm so bummed!