Byrnes Lake
Friday, March 17, 2006 brint.adams@us.army.mil
Today's paddle was definately a new and different experience. Earlier in the week, I received a call from out of the blue, from a writer with Men's Journal magazine, about helping him organize a day paddle and photo shoot for their upcoming July 2006 issue. My task was to outfit his crew and lead them to a location typical of the delta found in lower Alabama. I had no idea how legitimate this was going to be, if it was a hoax, or if I was going to be taken advantage of in some way.
Later in the week, I heard from his editor and was asked how they might obtain the services of a male model for the photo shoot. I had no idea about that, making sure he knew I probably did not fit the profile of a rugged 30's model for an adventure, travel and fitness mens magazine.
I lined up a couple of canoes and had my kayaks ready to go as well, when I heard from the writer this morning. I met with Guy (the writer), Aaron (the model they found), Craig (the photographer) and Cesar (the photographers assistant) at Starbucks near my house and we made a plan to do a dry run checkout of Byrnes Lake. We also met their driver, who was pulling an enclosed trailer with a new Lexus Hybrid (I think a GS450).
We stopped by our house, dropped off the car, loaded the canoes in the trailer and drove up to Byrnes Lake. The day was beautiful, with clear blue skies, 75 degrees and no wind. We put all of the boats in the water and I gave Aaron quick instructions about the forward stroke. I just hoped he would be able to stay upright in my Perception Eclipse plastic boat. He was a quick study, having been a local athlete at McGill Toolen HS and a scholarship baseball player for Carson-Newman College.
We paddled out Byrnes Lake, almost to the Tensaw River and found several promising locations for some interesting pictures. On the way back, we came across three more kayakers, two brothers and their female cousin, all in their twenties and quite photogenic. I doubled back to ask them if they might be interested in hanging out for some pictures later in the afternoon. They said they would be around and would be back to the launch area around 4:00 PM.
So, we headed back to Spanish Fort and the Beach House Grill for a mid-afternoon lunch, while waiting for the sun to drop to the right level for the photo shoot. Craig brought out his $7,000 Mamiya and proceeded to take some interesting closeups of our raw oysters, gumbo, etc., amusing the restaurant staff.
When we returned to the Byrnes Lake launch, Craig and Cesar jumped into their professional, full-tilt work mode. They loaded up all of their cameras, lenses and film and we were off for the shoot. The three locals came up as we were ready to go, and they joined us for the fun. It was quite a treat to see Craig at work, as he directed all of the models through the various photo sequences. We paddled through groups of cypress, while he used all of his various cameras, including an underwater camera half-submerged to get the effect of someone watching from water level or just below. The water cooperated as well, so he could get some great reflection shots on the glass-like black water, as we paddled back to the launch area.
When we arrived, a father and son came up in their flat bottom skiff, with a couple of 10-15 pound catfish kicking around. Guy proceeded to befriend them and Craig got some great random shots of the catfish, showing just a little more flavor of life in the bayou. By that time, the sun was just about down, so we loaded up all of the boats and headed back to my house to drop off the boats and reload the Lexus.
After good-bye's, the crew was off for a long drive to do some fishing in Apalachiacola, FL tomorrow. Then they are to circle back through middle Alabama and Mississippi for some more adventure, before returning to New York and Los Angeles. It will be very interesting to see how the roadtrip through the gulf south article and photos turn out. You might want to check out the July 2006 issue of Men's Journal, and see what life in the Mobile Delta looks like. If I am lucky and they hide me real well, I might just show up in the issue as well.
Today's paddle was definately a new and different experience. Earlier in the week, I received a call from out of the blue, from a writer with Men's Journal magazine, about helping him organize a day paddle and photo shoot for their upcoming July 2006 issue. My task was to outfit his crew and lead them to a location typical of the delta found in lower Alabama. I had no idea how legitimate this was going to be, if it was a hoax, or if I was going to be taken advantage of in some way.
Later in the week, I heard from his editor and was asked how they might obtain the services of a male model for the photo shoot. I had no idea about that, making sure he knew I probably did not fit the profile of a rugged 30's model for an adventure, travel and fitness mens magazine.
I lined up a couple of canoes and had my kayaks ready to go as well, when I heard from the writer this morning. I met with Guy (the writer), Aaron (the model they found), Craig (the photographer) and Cesar (the photographers assistant) at Starbucks near my house and we made a plan to do a dry run checkout of Byrnes Lake. We also met their driver, who was pulling an enclosed trailer with a new Lexus Hybrid (I think a GS450).
We stopped by our house, dropped off the car, loaded the canoes in the trailer and drove up to Byrnes Lake. The day was beautiful, with clear blue skies, 75 degrees and no wind. We put all of the boats in the water and I gave Aaron quick instructions about the forward stroke. I just hoped he would be able to stay upright in my Perception Eclipse plastic boat. He was a quick study, having been a local athlete at McGill Toolen HS and a scholarship baseball player for Carson-Newman College.
We paddled out Byrnes Lake, almost to the Tensaw River and found several promising locations for some interesting pictures. On the way back, we came across three more kayakers, two brothers and their female cousin, all in their twenties and quite photogenic. I doubled back to ask them if they might be interested in hanging out for some pictures later in the afternoon. They said they would be around and would be back to the launch area around 4:00 PM.
So, we headed back to Spanish Fort and the Beach House Grill for a mid-afternoon lunch, while waiting for the sun to drop to the right level for the photo shoot. Craig brought out his $7,000 Mamiya and proceeded to take some interesting closeups of our raw oysters, gumbo, etc., amusing the restaurant staff.
When we returned to the Byrnes Lake launch, Craig and Cesar jumped into their professional, full-tilt work mode. They loaded up all of their cameras, lenses and film and we were off for the shoot. The three locals came up as we were ready to go, and they joined us for the fun. It was quite a treat to see Craig at work, as he directed all of the models through the various photo sequences. We paddled through groups of cypress, while he used all of his various cameras, including an underwater camera half-submerged to get the effect of someone watching from water level or just below. The water cooperated as well, so he could get some great reflection shots on the glass-like black water, as we paddled back to the launch area.
When we arrived, a father and son came up in their flat bottom skiff, with a couple of 10-15 pound catfish kicking around. Guy proceeded to befriend them and Craig got some great random shots of the catfish, showing just a little more flavor of life in the bayou. By that time, the sun was just about down, so we loaded up all of the boats and headed back to my house to drop off the boats and reload the Lexus.
After good-bye's, the crew was off for a long drive to do some fishing in Apalachiacola, FL tomorrow. Then they are to circle back through middle Alabama and Mississippi for some more adventure, before returning to New York and Los Angeles. It will be very interesting to see how the roadtrip through the gulf south article and photos turn out. You might want to check out the July 2006 issue of Men's Journal, and see what life in the Mobile Delta looks like. If I am lucky and they hide me real well, I might just show up in the issue as well.
posted by brint @ 9:01 PM
2 Comments:
At 10:22 PM,
Rob said…
They wanted me to set up a kayaking photo shoot at Horn Island last year. Had to cancel it because a cold front with 35 mph was passing through on the weekend they wanted to do the shoot - not a good time to kayak to Horn Island.
At 7:43 AM,
brint said…
No, that would not have been much fun, probably resulting in blurry pix to boot. Fortunately, we had perfect weather with great late afternoon lighting.
It was crazy how the whole day just fell into place, stumbling across the other kayakers turned models, for an afternoon to remember.
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