Bill Silliker, Jr.

The Camera Hunter

     Mud Season - Uggh! What's a camera hunter to do?  Take up fishing?  While that's not a bad idea, if your primary interest is photography, try canoeing with a camera at Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

     Most folks first need to get past the phobia that cameras and canoes don't mix.  Take it from one who employs special care with the cameras and lenses relied upon for professional wildlife photography: getting used to risking them in a canoe doesn't come easily.  But when you realize the images you can make by taking that risk, you figure ways to minimize mishaps and that reduces your "cameracanoeitis".

     As a kid, I'd canoed many hours of many days with no fear of upset because nothing was going to get wet but me.  After years away from a canoe, the phobia of losing valuable camera equipment was strong.  The partial cure: get in a canoe without your stuff and get the feel for it.

     If you're experienced at canoeing, you've got this first part down.  If you're not, go with an experienced canoeist or take a course.  Then practice on your own.  Part of my cure came from spending hours in a canoe with sure and experienced canoeists, including my friend and calendar publisher Dick Lemke, who secures his camera while in a canoe in an airtight plastic kitchen container - once the container's empty of his wife's wonderful whoopie pies!

     That's the next step in reducing "cameracanoeitis": figure out ways to protect your gear in case of an upset.  Tom Chamberlain, former Editor of Maine Fish and Wildlife magazine, tells an amazing story of the time some years ago that his camera, wrapped only in a plastic trash bag tied at the neck, sank when his canoe upset in the Allagash.  When he managed to pluck the bag off of the bottom, the thin plastic hadn't punctured and the knot had held! The air tight bag kept his camera completely dry.  He uses that camera today.

     A safer method may be to get one of the water resistant bags made of thicker plastic that sell for $15 to $25, depending on size.  Better yet, get a water tight hard plastic case designed not to leak at the depths one encounters in most Maine waters worth pursuing wildlife images on. Some camera stores, skin diving shops and L.L. Bean carry these cases.  But be prepared to spend some real money.

     I usually tie my case to the canoe with a shotgun strap through the handle.  Residual "cameracanoeitis"?  Perhaps.  But if the worst happens, the case will stay with the canoe.

     Of course you do have to take the camera out to take any pictures.  So - don't rock the canoe!  No canoe provides a stationary camera platform if there's rocking or movement from wind or current.  Even a tripod would not help: you cannot get sharp images unless you use a fast shutter speed, at least 1/250 of a second, to minimize the camera motion.

     You can use a tripod in a canoe.  Keep the legs short and sit on the bottom to maintain a low center of gravity.

     If you can get enough light to use a shutter speed that's at least as fast as the lens length, say 1/500 of a second for a 400mm lens, you can often hand hold a camera.

     If you plan to try a canoe for photography this spring, you also want to keep some things in mind about the safety of the people in the canoe.  Spring waters are cold waters, and we can all stand a reminder that using a little common sense and proper flotation equipment go a long ways towards personal safety.

     And don't hang your camera around your neck while in a canoe.  Think about the combined weight of your camera and lens.  Would you really want that anchor pulling you down?

And Wildlife Too

     Once you're used to it, a canoe offers an excellent way to approach critters without alarming them.  You often can get quite close to many species in Maine waters in spring, especially if you go slow and avoid paddle splashing.

     Take care to avoid interference with the lives of your subjects.  While hunted species may spook at the mere sight of you, much wildlife tolerates a closer approach by humans in a canoe.  Paddle quietly and watch for signs that your presence disturbs them.  Keep a respectful distance and use a long lens.  Allow wildlife to set a distance from the canoe that they feel comfortable with.  After a while, some wildlife may even feel comfortable enough to approach you!

     Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (See Delorme's The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer Map 33, E-4) provides lots of wildlife and lots of water for the adventurous camera hunter in mud season.  Sunkhaze Meadows is a wetlands complex with raised bogs surrounded by thousands of acres of meadows.  Six tributaries of Sunkhaze Stream flow onto the Refuge and often flood the meadows with a foot or two of water.

     It's a hard place to access without a canoe, even with roads on three sides of it.  Try putting in at Sunkhaze Stream where it flows under Stud Mill Road.  Be prepared to deal with beaver dams and wind dropped trees, and take extra care that these obstacles don't upset your canoe.

     Call Refuge Headquarters weekdays at (207) 827-6138 to let them know your plans and to get current information, or stop in or write for a map: Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, 1033 South Main Street, Oldtown, ME 04468.

Catch yours in the good light.

Bill Silliker, Jr. teaches wildlife & nature photography for L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools and has done the photography for 5 books, several of which he also wrote. He is editor of the website www.wildlifewatcher.com as well as for his own website at www.camerahunter.com

© Copyright 2000 Bill Silliker, Jr. all rights reserved.