Professional outdoor and adventure photographer Lucas Gilman recently contacted Red Bull Illume, telling us about a trip on the USA’s West Coast where he documented a group of kayakers in search of large waterfalls to launch off.
Here, Lucas shares his trip diary with us, explaining what it took to get great shots in remote and occasionally dangerous locations.
“I got a call from pro-kayaker Pat Keller who said that the water levels in Washington State and Oregon were epic and lots of 80-100 foot (25-30m) waterfalls were good to go.
“Two days later I hopped on a plane and we headed for Oregon’s beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Washington and Oregon are a waterfall hucker's paradise when the flows are right. Joining us were Jesse Coombs, Evan Garcia and the Wells Brothers - Todd and Brendan.”
DAY 1: WARM-UP, UPPER LEWIS FALLS
The first day we thought it would be good to warm up a bit and that Upper Lewis Falls would be the ticket. These falls are a two-stage drop approximately 25 and 20 feet (8 and 6m) respectively. Pat went first and chose a risky middle line. His line was dialed until he hit a little kicker rock on the second drop and was rocked over the handlebars.
The waterfall pulled him and his boat back behind the veil and we could hardly see him as he tried to roll. He pulled the ripcord and bailed just as we lost sight of him behind the veil of roaring water. Two tense minutes passed as we waited for some sign. We decided it was time to get someone in there and Brendan launched off a 50-foot cliff above the falls and swam across the river to the area where Pat was last seen.
At that moment Pat flushed out of the death cave behind the falls to our relief. His boat never resurfaced and is still deep in that cave somewhere. After Pat's misfortune, Brendan, Evan and Todd all ran the falls with no major problems. At this point I wasn’t sure how the trip would proceed and my dream of shooting100 footers was fading.
DAY 2: SCOUT METLAKO
We figured it would be an idea to scout some falls and take a breather after Pat's near-drowning experience. We headed to the 101-foot Metlako falls near Hood River, Oregon. As we hiked up the canyon we could hear the thunder of the falls growing louder. Finally we could see it off in the distance: 101 feet of water plunging from a spigot high on the far canyon wall into a huge caldron of exploding whitewater.
We bushwhacked around trying to find the best vantage point to shoot, trying to avoid poison oak, which was hard since it was pretty much everywhere. Foliage grew up to the very rim of the gorge so it was difficult to see where to go until you were right at the lip. The water levels were perfect and we decided to come back in the morning.
DAY 3: RUNNING 101-FOOT METLAKO FALLS
Running big waterfalls is a dangerous duty. The paddler has to have a perfect line and hit the water as vertical as possible, otherwise things could be catastrophic. If the paddler lands too flat, there's a good chance he'd break his back and shatter his ankles. If the paddler goes over vertical and lands on his head it could be fatal.
I decided I'd only use two cameras on the day as logistically moving around was difficult and I wanted to make sure all cameras were dialed. I decided my handheld would be a Nikon D3S with 24-70mm to shoot a sort of scenic horizontal showing paddler and waterfall giving the image a sense of place.
My remote would be a Nikon D3S with a 70-200mm on a Gitzo tripod and ball head, shot vertical and tight. I shoot remote cameras to maximize the amount of images from each shoot as well as having vertical and horizontal versions so editorial and commercial clients have choices, i.e. cover or two-page spread, banner or poster, etc.
I use Pocket Wizard MultiMaxes to trigger the remote camera and SanDisk Extreme Pro compact flash cards for their durability and super fast camera-to-card write speeds. When shooting big waterfalls you only get one chance.
With my cameras in place I radio the athletes who are gearing up. My nerves start to kick in and I run my mental checklist on my camera setups: Is the focus ring taped down on the remote? Check. Shutter speed above 1000/second? Check. Test shot done? Check. Camera/tripod safety cabled? Check. Aqua Tech cover zipped up? Check.
Now it's up to the kayakers. We are out of cell phone service and without sat phone, so any injuries will have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. In the event of a major injury we would hike or paddle out to where there is service and call for help. Not the best situation, but the athletes are OK with the risk.
One by one the crew successively stick their lines and roll up mostly unscathed as I digitally documented the day, firing away sequences on the D3Ss.
Afterwards, I asked the crew what it was like at the bottom. Jesse replied, "It's kinda like getting in a car crash.... you're rolling along and then BAM!"
I walked away from the day with a great feeling and some great images. I can't think of a better way to spend a day shooting. Outside, beautiful scenery, amazing action and everyone walked away with no major injuries. Beers are on me tonight!
Lucas’ waterfall shoot gear list:
1x NIKON D2X
2x NIKON D3S
6x SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB cards
1x AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED
1x AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED,
1x AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
3x Pocket Wizard MultiMax
3x AquaTech rain covers
2x Gitzo Carbon Fiber Tripod
2x Gitzo Ball Heads
1x ManFrotto Super Clamp
1x LowePro Dryzone 200 waterproof backpack
Various remote cords
Climbing gear:
Dry climbing rope
Harness
Numerous daisy chains
Numerous locking karabiners
ATC
Ascenders
Grigri
Plenty of webbing
A winner of numerous prestigious awards, Lucas Gilman grew up in the mountains of Western Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Journalism. Traveling the world in search of untouched places and wild experiences, Lucas captures images ranging from kayaking in India, Brazil, Uganda and Costa Rica to backcountry skiing in Colorado, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Alaska and South America.
Behind the Scenes: Lucas Gilman's Waterfalls Shoot
Behind the Scenes: Lucas Gilman's Waterfalls Shoot