Photography with a Kayak

I am a fine artist who uses her kayak to go out and capture photographs on the water. I have an Old Town Loon 106 (which I love), but struggle with maintaining direction while photographing. I am thinking about installing a food guided rudder on the back. Old Town does not have a rudder for this particular boat, so I will have to find a generic one.

Any advice out there? Thanks! :smile:

Hmm… is a “food guided rudder” sort of like dangling a carrot on a stick? :wink:

I think we need to know more about where you’re going and the conditions encountered, but my first thought is that you need a longer boat. You might want to consider a bottom anchor or a sea anchor. Holding a stationary position isn’t easy in many conditions, so you might need to take less time framing the shots, take many more, and pick the better ones later.

Not many recreational class kayaks (what your Old Town counts as) come with rudders, or have kits to add rudders. Kits can be added, but without having the spots in place for them (bolt mounts, rudder cable traces, etc.) it can be a rather challenging process.

I do minor work myself, but am not up for doing major work. If you are like me, better would be to look for a replacement kayak that comes with a rudder. If you wanted to go this route, you likely are going to have to move up to a kayak that is kind of a transition between a recreational class and a day touring class. One that comes to mind is the Necky Looksha 12 or 14 series. Necky brand has been stopped from the manufacture (though the company still makes kayaks under other brands, so spare parts and warranty would still hold), but there may be some still in stock (an now discounted) at dealers, and also often available used.

I think a rudder is not useful. I do lots of photography from the water and as I take wildlife pix I have to be as motionless as possible. . A rudder only works if you are moving.

You need an anchor more than a rudder.

Editing is my friend as slanted waterlines are always an issue… Programs that straighten them are a god send. Yes. the delete button is often used.!

I think a food guided rudder is an excellent idea. Manatees have been living off the public trust for years and it is time they earned a living. A head of lettice on a pole mounted to the front should be sufficient. As long as the line from boat to manatee is attached in a humane manner, it should work nicely.

On the serious side, it all depends upon conditions, even in a longer/more stable platform. Wakes, waves, wind, tides/moving water, etc. can really affect one’s ability to take photos and control the boat at the same time.

Solo photography is pretty challenging. So much so, that I’ve mostly save my photography sessions for those days I’m out in a double with someone who is more interested in providing a stable platform than they are in long draw out paddling sessions. It can be done, but there are some things that really help.

I won’t use the word that begins with ‘sp’ and ends with ‘s’, because bad things happen when I do, but it kinda rhymes with monsoon. So I’ll state it this way. A pontoon system will work on most any boat. A single paddle mounted to the boat with straps and a paddle float on either end works (on my kayak), as would a more formal system with a custom frame for holding a single or pair of pontoons. This will affect propulsion, but not all that greatly. If placed properly, a normal kayak stroke can be made (if the hull line is long enough for a full stroke).

Good luck,

Rick

sponsoon… sounds like a baby feeding aid!
Manatees… I almost got a great pic of them mating… then one had a fit of pique and came up under the boat and flipped me.
And yes I did forget the lettuce.

I have had some luck with photos with the boat broadside in the waves… starting upstream or upwind of the subject and drifting down… But rivers with current I get going good and then park the paddle with the bow into the current… it slows me but it takes time to veer off… Some rivers have too much current to take photos going downstream.

I only have a rudder in a sea canoe … the rest of the craft are rudderless. Here is an onwater moose pair I got last week on the water (https://d3s3k13islrvw7.cloudfront.net/original/2X/2/206ed597408dcd4d7f2de7f6e428247117378d2c.jpeg “”)

@kayamedic said:
sponsoon… sounds like a baby feeding aid!
Manatees… I almost got a great pic of them mating… then one had a fit of pique and came up under the boat and flipped me.
And yes I did forget the lettuce.

I have had some luck with photos with the boat broadside in the waves… starting upstream or upwind of the subject and drifting down… But rivers with current I get going good and then park the paddle with the bow into the current… it slows me but it takes time to veer off… Some rivers have too much current to take photos going downstream.

I only have a rudder in a sea canoe … the rest of the craft are rudderless. Here is an onwater moose pair I got last week on the water (https://d3s3k13islrvw7.cloudfront.net/original/2X/2/206ed597408dcd4d7f2de7f6e428247117378d2c.jpeg “”)

You deserved that flip for interrupting a private moment.

Rudders only work with forward motion relative to the water. So you only get a few more seconds as your 106, presumed short, boat decelerates. They are useless drifting with the current.

If you are spending any amount of time setting up a particular photo, it is likely that wind will affect the heading of your boat more than anything else. Your boat will tend to pivot until it rests crosswise to the oncoming wind. When drifting with a current on a nearly windless day, your boat will tend to turn crosswise to the “wind” as perceived by the boat on account of the fact that the current is moving it along. A longer kayak will reduce this problem, because it will take a bit longer to veer off its heading while coasting, but such a boat will still end up being crosswise to the wind after a fairly short time.

The idea of a sea anchor is actually pretty good, unless you are on small creeks where you really don’t want to be dragging stuff into sunken logs, etc. Something like a little bucket (think of a child’s beach toy) on a short length of line would do the trick. You could make the boat remain “aimed” in almost any direction of your choosing, just by altering where the line (with the bucket at the other end) attaches to the boat. And the line need not “attach” to the boat at all. You can probably be creative and come up with ways of lightly holding the line so that it exits your cockpit at locations of your choosing. You could tie the line to some spot inside the cockpit and adjust where it exits by holding a bend in the line at some chosen location with your foot. I fish out of a canoe and do the same with a small anchor. Often all I do is trap the line under one knee, and from there the line runs around the seat frame or one of the thwarts to create a “virtual” attachment point for the line (no need to tie it off if I’ll be moving to a new spot in two minutes).

A sea anchor in lakes or other non-moving water isn’t a terrible idea, though the bucket might need some holes so that it is easier to haul in. The mesh sea anchors we use at work are surprisingly difficult to haul in despite the appearance that the fine mesh looks so perforated that it would not work at all. In water with snags and the like, the result may just ruin your day.

Over time, whatever wind there is will orient the boat to align with it, but a properly set anchor will slow this process and (probably) allow for some photos.

So, to prevent capsize, we add pontoons. To provide directional control, a sea anchor. To stabilize that camera, we add a bezel to the camera. For overall safety while you have your eye to the lens, coast guard flags and lights. For when the oncoming power boats ignore said visible alerts because they are looking at the water skier behind them, flares as a final warning and a phalanx defense system to destroy said oncoming power boat. A manatee, heads of lettuce, rope cutter for when said manatee decides to swim through, rather than around, a potential snag.

Is that all? I’d hate to leave something really important out :).

Rick

A sea anchor doesn’t simply slow the process of the boat becoming aligned in some certain direction relative to the wind. It changes the whole balance of drift resistance through the water, thus changing the final alignment of the boat as it drifts. You can change that drift-alignment angle to any angle that you wish, given an anchor of sufficient resistance and by properly choosing the point where the anchor line attaches to the boat. You can do very much the same thing by adjusting the boat’s trim by shifting weight around (the physical principle is the same even if the method is different).

Of course, we don’t know exactly what problem the OP is dealing with. Sometimes just “knowing your boat” and a few handling tricks is really all it takes to get it pointed the right way for taking a photo.