Last week I wrapped up the kayaking portion of shooting with Blair Trotman and I must say it feels good! Not to say I didn’t enjoy shooting with him and getting back into the swig of whitewater shooting but it’s definitely a weight off of my shoulders to have it behind me… editing is another story though.
Blair boofing on the Kuskanax (Photo Kevin Whiting)
I’ve known Blair for around 5 years now and when I thought up the idea for this project I knew he would be a perfect candidate. Not only is he super motived to get out paddling while working as a kayaking instructor on the side but he’s also a bad ass in his boat. Probably the biggest plus of shooting with Blair is his strive for perfection and immense love of kayaking. When most people run a difficult rapid once is enough, but that isn’t the case with Blair. Even when we’re not shooting he laps class five, often more than a few times. It’s not necessarily easy but is sure increases the chances of getting a difficult shot when your talent runs the rapid eight times in a row.
Blair rallying the drops on the Lower Pingston (Photo Matt Burton)
Blair on the Lower Pingston again, he ran this drop a lot (Photo: Kevin Whiting)
Running the upper falls on Blanket Creek, super scenic! (Photo Mitch Suliak)
Dropping into the St Leon (Photo: Kevin Whiting)
Working the jib with Blair on the Pingston (Photo: Matt Burton)
I traveled around with Blair to shoot his segments more than I had to with Joey and Dave, that’s just the nature of the beast with kayaking. BC is an amazing place and we had some pretty epic adventures this summer, one evening in particular stands out. After a great day on the St Leon River we headed to the Incommapleaux Rapids to scope them out for shooting the next morning. When we got to the rapid Blair and his kiwi buddy Matt Burton started freaking out… I soon realized why. The rapid was filled with huge fish heading up river, jumping way out of the water. Being the silly kiwi’s that they are Blair and Matt decided to try to catch one of them in an empty gear bag. I thought it’d be hopeless but figured I’d see what happened. Sure enough within 10 minutes they’d bagged one and we had it for dinner, without a doubt one of the best camp dinners I’ve ever had!
The fish in this rapid were amazing (Photo: Kelsey Thompson)
Blair stoked on the catch, not bad for a vegetarian! (Photo: Kelsey Thompson)
I had tons of mini adventures paddling and filming with Blair and the crew he works with at Aquabatics in Calgary. These trips ended up being a major highlight of my summer.
Special thanks to Matt Burton, Kevin Whiting, and Mitch Suliak for the awesome photos!
Kelsey Thompson
2 Comments
Fantastic!!!
Wow!!!!! Amazing pics and a great story Kelsey!! Keep them coming. Love the fish tale! Not bad for a vegetarian indeed!