Calm Between Storms - Mono Lake Winter Kayaking

I hope to share a few pics from a 3-day solo kayaking adventure I

took on Mono Lake back in February. I shot this handheld with

Velvia 50 right before a 2-mile open water crossing back to South

Tufa from the island. I almost made it before the storm hit. The

kayak looks skewed from the wide-angle aspect of my 17-40mm, shot at

17mm.

This is a cracking shot, Best regards Michael

This is a wonderful shot that really gives a sense of winter kayaking. The mountains' and sky's blues and haze almost make it look like they are encased in ice. BTW, where is Mono Lake? Regards from one kayaker to another, J

This is fabulous - I haven't seen anything like this. Congratulations!

Surreal, beautiful. It's so unusual-looking that it almost looks like CGI, if you look past the kayak...

Thank you for the comments!

 

J Doyle, Mono Lake is on the east side of the Sierra in the high desert near Yosemite National Park.

 

Philip, yes, the coloring is odd. Mono Lake is three times saltier than the ocean (and twice the pepper) and the shallow water around my kayak bow had a greenish tint, while the deeper water more accurately reflected the blue sky. I didn't use any colored filters other than a 81b warming filter (because Velvia 50 tends to be cool), and then used a GND to keep the sky from blowing out. I didn't Photoshop any coloring. The green tint of the foreground water contrasted with the blue does look surreal. The image reflects my Velvia slide, but admittedly the GND darkened the sky more than I remember in reality. Thanks again.

wow, excellent! Very well composed (beautiful perspective) and lovely colors.

(I am a seakayaker...:-))

A dream ! Like you fly !!!! I loved it so much !

really e fantastic atmosphere.

This is a great photograph, beautifull landscape with great display of sport activity, I love those foreground colors and calm water reflections, you made a strong composition too, adding the row with its red makes it even greater, the "normal" way would have been witout it,... top score!

 

Cheers, Rafael

Nice work...congratulations!!!

This is one of those scenes from the fairy tails. The winter blues in the horizon completments perfectly with bright yellows and reds in the foregrounds. In other words, AWESOME image.

Great picture and, I can imagine, great trip. Where did you leave your beautiful dogs?

A dreamlike atmosphere, although reality must have been something else. An eye-catching shot! Cheers, Sam.

This is amazing. You really have a talent for bringing the viewer right into the scene, time and time again. I really enjoy viewing your work, so please keep it up!

This is a stunning photo, it makes me want to jump into my kayak again immediately!

I think this composition is excellent, the colors work out beautiful, the strong reflection (no polarizer?) the lines, this deserves top score.

There is what appears to be a thumb in the lower left corner, you may wish to clone it out if you do some PS work on this.

I'd like to ask you: How do you protect your photo equipment while kayaking? On this shot you appear to be in safe water, so your risk is small. Do you use a water proof photo bag sometimes and what are the results?

By the way, if you haven't already, you should consider submitting this (and some of the other photos from this trip) to Kayaker magazine. May get the cover.

Smithsonian Magazine just had a photo in its finalists to their photo contest that is much inferior to this one. Just thought I'd let you know. Do you read your comments? Hope you do.

Thanks again!

 

Hey Maurik, sorry, I do try and read comments but sometimes I forget to respond later when I don't have time at the moment. I appreciate your remarks. I have never tried submitting my photos for publications or contests, so far I just enjoy documenting my trips. As for protecting my camera while kayaking, I carry a drybag on my deck with my camera, lenses, filter, and film and it's pretty scary when I take them out for a photo. ha ha! I need to get waterproof cover for my camera instead of being exposed while photographing. When I look through the viewfinder and take my eyes off the horizon my kayak gets pretty tippy. So far I've been careful and lucky but it only takes one dunk.

 

I have thought about submitting a few photos and a story of this winter trip to Mono Lake to Kayaker or Paddler Magazine, it was a cool adventure! I have lots of shots I haven't uploaded due to space constraints. Thanks again!

Another prize winner, Brian. This is the pinnacle of kayaking photgraphy! The reflections are incredible!

i wish i was there... fantastic weather conditions.. and good pic ;)

OUTSTANDING SHOT.Best regards.

Film really isnt dead, proof positive by this awsome shot!