A kayaking expedition in early season snow before the water freezes is a perfect opportunity to shoot unique landscape photos with a vintage Canon EOS 7D DSLR.
One of the last days of November brought with it the first permanent snowfall of the season, something we wrote about in a previous blog post. That same day, just as night was falling, an additional snow squall moved in.
Because the river hadn’t yet frozen we had kept our kayaks at the ready in hopes of getting in one or two final paddling excursions. With the snow falling silently over the water, we took the opportunity to get out on the water one final time as light was fading at the end of the day.
I thought this might be a chance to get a unique photo of the river and adjacent landscape in the snow before freeze up — something people generally don’t get to see because most people are not out kayaking or boating in late November in the Northwoods of the upper Great Lakes region.
Part of the reason why people stay off he water this time of year is because hunting season is underway, but another reason for staying off the water is the inherent risk in the activity.
Safety First on the Water
Whenever you are boating or kayaking or indulging in any activity that puts you on or in the water, safety should be considered. Is your physical fitness up to the task and are you skills adequate? Do you have the proper equipment, including personal safety gear for yourself and others? These are questions to consider in the summer or in warm climates. They are more important in the cold and snow of winter.
Getting on the water at this time of year can be hazardous in the extreme. Falling in not only risks drowning, just like any other time of year, but the freezing cold air temperatures and chilly water temps means taking a dip makes hypothermia a real danger. Winds and currents can be challenging at all times of the year. This past July (2024), a canoeist on another part of the river was stranded on the water and unable to return to land after finding himself powerless to cope with sudden high winds and strong currents. Luckily, he was rescued, eventually.
If it had been winter, he might not have been so lucky. According to the report of the incident in the local press when it occurred, the canoeist had been stranded on the river for "some time" before help could get to him. Under the same circumstances in late November with snow coming down and the water starting to freeze up the stranded paddler might have had a less optimal conclusion to his adventure.
We’ve worked in and around the forests of the upper Great Lakes all our lives, much as our ancestors had before us. We have the experience to know what can go wrong and can recognize when risks outweigh the potential rewards — because we have a clear understanding of the details of the potential risks. We also know what equipment to use in most situations we encounter to ensure the best possible outcomes and optimal personal safety. For example, we carefully selected OId Town Loon kayaks because of their suitability for the type of water we would be using them in and for the types of activities we would be doing with them. Specifically, the kayaks we needed had to be the most stable available as we would be using them for fishing and photography. And, because we would be using them in rivers and creeks in the Northwoods, they needed to be relatively short and maneuverable. The Old Town Loon kayaks at just under 11 fee in length have proven to be perfect in these respects over three seasons of use so far. They are extremely stable and we are confident that with our skill set we can safely and effectively use them for our photography work.
But, still, there is always a risk. In this case, we judged that the conditions, our equipment, and our experience would let us get on the water in the snow for a photo expedition and still be safe at the end.
But note, not everyone should do this without the proper skill, training and equipment!
The Canon EOS 7D DSLR
Despite our feeling that we could conduct this expedition safely, we still wanted to ensure that we did not put any photography equipment that would be too hard or expensive to replace at risk, lest we drop it into the water or otherwise expose it to damage during the trip.
This meant that any camera we selected needed to be weather sealed and tough enough to survive, in addition to being relatively inexpensive to replace in the event of a total loss. But, the camera still had to be able to deliver on image quality, because otherwise there would be little point in bringing it along anyway.
One camera in our inventory meets this description — the Canon EOS 7D. Hitting the market in 2009, the Canon 7D was the company’s top of the line small-sensor professional camera. It offered fast performance for the time, high quality weather sealing and build quality and a newly designed, high-resolution sensor.
The APS-C sized sensor, a 1.6x crop from the full-frame sensor in cameras like the famous and contemporary EOS 5D Mark II, featured 18 megapixels. At the time, this was a very high resolution for a cropped sensor camera, and its image quality when paired with a quality lens was quite good.
Despite being outmatched by almost all modern cameras in some areas, such as features, low light shooting, and dynamic range (to name a few), ultimate image quality is still more than acceptable from he 7D. We paired the camera with the EF 24-105 f/4 lens for this paddling excursion because it was weather sealed like the camera itself, and the zoom range would be convenient for composition when on the water.
In case of the worst outcomes where the camera and lens were destroyed or lost in the river, they could be replaced on the used market for a few hundred dollars. This is not insignificant, but it’s far less costly than the loss that would be represented by dropping a new EOS R5 Mark II with the new 24-105 f/2.8 L into the water. That would be a $10,000 loss by comparison!
Moreover, we still love the landscape images produced by the original Canon 7D. The camera just works and produces nice images. And so, it joined me in my Old Town Loon kayak and off we went.
Heading Up River to the Wild Rice
We decided to paddle up river to a place where the river splits and flows around an island. The main channel flows around the west side of the island, while a shallower, narrower passage separates the east side of the island from the main river bank. In between lies a bed of wild rice.
This shallow spot becomes impassible even by kayak at the height of summer because of the thickness of the weeds growing in the shallow water bellow the swaying stalks of wild rice. In early spring, or late fall, large northern pike lurk in the weeds here offering great action for fishing.
In summer the tall, slender stalks of the wild rice are a scenic sight, but they are equally interesting, if not more so, as snow moves in, their rich, golden brown color presenting a pleasing color contrast both against the white of the snow and the dark color of the water below them.
As we moved into the wild rice bed with our kayaks, the snow squall that had been threatening as we paddled finally moved in. As flakes flew around us, a few hundred yards upriver from us the snow was even more intense and river gradually disappeared into the thickening veil of snow.
Denise recorded video with the Insta360 RS while I searched for interesting compositions to shoot with the Canon 7D. But the light was rapidly fading as twilight approached and we still had a couple of miles of paddling to get back.
With snow falling, the light fading, and temperatures dropping, we headed back downriver.
We hoped, as we climbed out of our kayaks, that we would get at least one more chance to get on the water before the river froze for the season. But, it wasn’t to be. The next morning, with the temperature around ten degrees Fahrenheit, a crust of ice extended far from the shoreline out to the channel. Our kayak photography for 2024 was at an end.
In fact, later than same week, winter set in for good, and our next photography trip required snowshoes.
And that’s a story that we’ll tell soon.
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Equipment Used & Affiliate Links
We used the Canon EOS 7D camera with the Canon EF 24-105 f/4 L lens.
If you'd like to get your own copy of this camera and lens combo, and support us a bit at the same time, we recommend shopping at MPB.com.
For video, we shot with the Insta360 One RS, a camera that we have found to be very versatile since it can be either a normal 4k action camera or a 360 camera. Copies are available at Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/3ZHZ2xx
If you are kayaking, make sure to wear a personal flotation device designed for kayaks. We use the Onyx MoveVent Curve Life Jacket, also available at Amazon: https://amzn.to/41w9d9T
Finally, we rely on our Old Town Loon 106 Kayaks for kayak-based photo expeditions. We've used them for three seasons and have many miles under their keels. They have proven comfortable, reliable, and stable and we are not being paid by Old Town to say that we love them. Amazingly, you can order them on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3Zwn39x
