P#12 Q5A: Can You Give Us Some Tips for Taking Great Adventure Photos?

Take It Or Make It

Charlie Borland: I don't know if there are really any rafting photography secrets, but there are definitely instincts you build as you take more adventure photos.

I basically take two approaches to adventure sports photography. One is called "take an adventure." With this approach you decide you're going to start photograph rafting, so you sign up and pay for a commercial rafting trip.

This is actually how I got started in shooting rafting. I had decided that I wanted to take a trip on a river and I called up an outfitter, signed up, and paid for the trip and I said, "I'm a professional. Do you mind if I photograph it?" The were happy to oblige me.

The other thing I do is called "make an adventure." With this approach I'm not paying to go on a trip. Rather, I am gathering a group of people that will be my models and come up with a plan.

Let's say, for example we're going to go mountain biking in Colorado. We'll load up the bikes and fill the truck with all the camping gear. If I go for five days, the two models with me work for me for five days.

When I use the other method, people aren't working for me -- they're on vacation. I can't really interrupt what they're doing by asking them to model for me or pose for my adventure photos or smile more or something like that. When I get my own people and make my own adventure, however, it's a different story. They work for me and I can get them to do whatever I want.

It's really not a secret technique or anything. It's more of a strategy to great adventure photography.

In Closing

If you want great action photography, sometimes you have to make it happen. Charlie Borland suggests you either "take an adventure" by going on a trip and photographing the people taking the trip with you, or you "make an adventure" and hire models to work for you throughout the excursion. He says it's not exactly a secret, but it's a great approach to getting outstanding adventure photos.