Challenge 2021

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 560

Every year, I welcome the opportunity to expand my skills by taking on new photographic challenges.

This year, I decided to focus one of my goals on photographing the sport of extreme kayaking. This is a little-known sport that is staged on very dangerous waterways, where spectators brave the rugged shoreline terrain and kayakers thrive on taming the raging rapids. I was lucky to get in touch with two young enthusiasts in order to follow them during the summer.

Nikon D6, 70-200mm /2.8 at 200mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 4000

One of the challenges is to find the rivers where the groups practice this sport, and an even greater challenge is to find the ideal photo location to capture the intensity of the sport.

For this series of images, I followed two kayakers, Jacob and Dakota, who decided to get ahead of the season by not only shooting the rapids, but doing so while the river was still in the grip of late winter ice. After they darted through the fast and freezing water, Jacob told me that the day before our photo shoot they had spent hours breaking the ice on the river so they could negotiate the rapids.

Dakota Webster

Jacob Laberge

From my perspective, getting these images was a challenge in itself. We had to descend a steep cliff in order to get close to the river, and then find a relatively secure place to capture the action at its peak.

The photos presented here are just a few of many images I captured during the kayakers’ heart-pounding run through the rapids.

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 450

As far as I am concerned, I came away from this assignment having pushed my physical and photographic envelope to the max, and I will always remember the day I captured the challenging sport of extreme kayaking.

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 1400

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 2800

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 110mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 4500

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 2500

Nikon D6, 70-200mm f/2.8 at 170mm f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.  ISO 1250

By Jacques Dumont