I thought I was getting a bit rusty with?my kayaking photography, so I went up to the National White Water Centre near Bala over the Easter weekend?to have a few days practice. There was also due to be some Wild Water racing as well as the usual?smaller freestyle sized craft. The centre runs rafting runs as well, so nine rafts were active on the river and?a water release was scheduled, so the water level was going to be nice and high.

My walk of the river section near the centre started off well with an unexpected sighting of a young otter. probably one of last years offspring. This was then followed by the discovery of a Dippers nest a few minutes later. Not bad when actually I wasn’t trying to spot any wildlife, but just looking for viewpoints for the kayaking.

I found a few suitable locations and settled in for the day, photographing everybody and anybody that passed in front of my lens. I was hoping to try out a few different?techniques, but in the end only managed about three options.

After making about 1500 images. all of which were backed up and copied on site, the editing session was delayed until I got back home. This gave me some time to look at the images in a more disconnected state and ruling out any emotions generated at the time. The tighter images made with the 500mm lens appealed to me more and I felt had a bit more impact than the wider view. Perhaps time will change my view on this, we will see.