I really enjoy getting out in my 14-foot skiff for a little bit of fishing and a few photos. Anytime I’m out on the water, I’m weary about either dropping a piece of my camera equipment or falling into the water myself.
I’m always conscious about keeping good balance and a good grip on my camera. The most likely time to lose your balance and end up dropping your camera, or worse falling into the water, is when your eye is in the view finder and you are tracking some thing. I can always replace a piece of camera equipment, but what about myself?
I’m big on wearing a life jacket anytime out on the water. It breaks my heart anytime I hear of someone drowning and they weren’t wearing a life jacket.
Usually I’m alone in my boat except for my dog Benson, and he is more likely to cause me to fall into the water than save me.
I started to think about a life jacket for him too. I found one for him at Robyn’s Pet Supplies in Port McNeill, and my own life jacket was over ten years old and looking beat up, so I picked up a new floater suit at Macandales in Port Hardy.
The next day Benson and I put on our new life jackets and went out for a boat ride to Pender Point and back.
I managed to get a few landscapes of the Frigon Islands with lovely reflections of the surrounding mountains on the water. Further down the inlet, I found a few eagles perched on their viewing trees.
The eagles were a little bit harder to spot with all the snow on the trees but as soon as I started to catch fish they showed up and were keen to grab any throwbacks.
Douglas Bradshaw has lived in the North Island for 34 years. He is a Landscape and Wildlife photographer based out of Port Alice B.C. His website is portalicephoto.com follow him on YouTube and Facebook at Port Alice Photography, Images by Douglas Bradshaw