I like the idea of boats. The romanticism of being free and outdoors entices me. Maybe even the association of luxury allures me. People tell me how excited they are to be embarking on a cruise for their vacation. Friends tell me how relieved they have time this weekend to take their boat out. So I always feel a bit strange when I don’t get excited about getting on a boat. It’s not that I can’t swim or am afraid of water. I’m just not that into it.
But sometimes you just can’t escape it. A few times we’ve had social, but work related outings where we spend an afternoon on a large sailboat. Just hanging out on the boat doesn’t interest me. Learning how to sail would interest me, but being a passenger with nothing to do doesn’t. So on this last outing I decided to bring my camera to see if I could take some photos and make the trip more interesting. I am planning on taking a two week long voyage on a ship soon, so this was an opportunity for me to test the waters of my photography skills. (Pun intended)
Sensor: Canon 6D
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Given that my preferred medium is landscape photography, trying to shoot action photography is a whole different matter. Shooting with my camera bobbing up and down while focusing at other moving targets such as birds and ships and trying not to show everyone on the boat what I just had for lunch is another matter entirely.
Since the boat was constantly moving, I wasn’t about to try and use different lenses. I therefore decided to put my 100-400 lens on. I thought I needed the extended range to shoot far away objects, but I wasn’t able to get good pictures of the boat I was on because of the length. I think in hindsight a 70-300 or 70-200 would have been ideal. Too bad I don’t own any of these lenses. The extra reach of the lens really accentuated the movement of the boat. Shooting at 400mm was next to impossible. I couldn’t keep the camera steady, and after a while, despite my best efforts, I did indeed start to get a little nauseous. So despite being on the boat for almost two hours, I probably didn’t shoot more than 30 shots.
But I remind myself that it’s good to get out of your comfort zone and try something new as often as possible. That’s part of what this blog is all about.
Sensor: Canon 6D
Location: San Francisco, CA
This one was taken on land. Much easier and more pleasant.
