Has anyone photographed white water rafting before?

SeanTom

Active member
On the raft, off the raft. digital or film. how'd you keep your camera dry etc.

going out this weekend and just hoping for some last minute tips.
 
Put all your gear in a dry bag and have the camera man go ahead in a different raft/kayak/ducky and set up on the shore or in an eddie, then shoot the other raft as they go by.

I haven't done it but I've seen and heard of people doing this. Have fun man! I'm jealous
 
I have a waterproof-ish Simms bag that's a green version of this. It's been in rain, snow, I've literally swam with it above my head to get across a lake to shoot some cliff jumping. It's been through 11 trips to the Caribbean, totaling almost 9 months, and god knows how much time on boats there and on the colorado river. Also been through classIV rapids getting totally soaked. Kept my camera and three primes totally dry as bone through all that, no maintenance for the 8 years I've had it. No idea how much it costs. But highly recommend it for a stupidly lightweight bag. I have zero experience in any other bag, other than a pelican box, but it's not portable like this fucker. Only cons - no padding or rigidity. But if you can skip the last two things, please make me happy and just get this bag even though it's meant for flyfishing I'm pretty sure. The pouches hold lenses just as well as reels. So get this bag already. Pussy.

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Okay no but seriously though +k though for not being a pussy and wanting to take your camera rafting. I hate people that leave their shit at home.
 
pelican case in a dry bag for transportation, but like I said do not try to shoot on the water (unless calm) without waterproof housing
 
My old teacher rafts a lot and on one trip I went with him on he had it in a large Pelican case strapped to the top of all of the other raft stuff and he'd just take it out of the case when he wanted to shoot. He gets some beautiful shots shooting from the raft on the river:

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Just got back from the trip. Ended up getting a hard watertight case by vanguard and stuck that in a drybag for the rapids and busted it out for the calmer section.

thanks for all the advice, i'll post up a photo or two when i finally get through em all.
 
The only rafting I have shot had forest service roads right next to it so I drove along and stopped to shoot. When I was in Fiji and shot surfing from the boat I put my entire bag in a giant SealLine drybag with extra towels and kept the camera under the towel in between the sets and constantly wiped it off from the spray and little splashes. Wasn't super worried about it but wish I had a pelican too but my pelican was way too big for me to bring since it is my lighting case.
 
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