September
2009: I recently spent a
week-and-a-half
photographing Lake Superior,
including four days of sea
kayaking the Apostle Islands
in Wisconsin. Many
of Superior’s most stunning
landscapes can be found only
by stuffing oneself into the
cockpit of a kayak and
heading out into the
wilderness.
I spent the first day exploring a series of cliffs and sea caves off the mainland coast. Rough seas prevented me from exploring some of the caves, and for those I was able to enter, I could not find a suitable landing place for photography. And by ”suitable landing place” I mean any place where the water is only a few feet deep or less, thus allowing relatively easy exit and re-entry into the kayak and a place to set up a tripod. Any deeper and you’re swimming instead of photographing. Most of the caves were not exceptionally photogenic anyway, so I continued up the coast looking for an interesting spot for sunset. I finally found a suitable landing just below a small sea stack, which looked promising as a sunset image. I beached my kayak, dragged it up high on some rocks so that incoming waves wouldn’t sweep it away, took my camera and tripod out of dry storage, and set up in several feet of water. I made an image right before the sun dipped below the horizon, with soft light striking the red sandstone of the sea stack. A polarizer filter coupled with a long exposure removed glare from the water and smoothed out the choppy seas.
I packed up, hoping to get back to my launch point before dark. No such luck. After an hour of paddling I was scanning the shoreline with a waterproof flashlight in the dark, looking for the wooden stairs that marked the kayak landing where I had started. I do a lot of night work, so stuff like this happens to me all the time. I eventually found the kayak landing and made it safely back to my campsite for the evening.
The
next
morning,
I
meandered
over
to
Bear
Island,
my
camping
destination
for
the
next
two
nights.
In
the
early
morning,
the
seas
were
a
little
rough,
probably
1-3
feet,
nothing
that
I
couldn’t
handle
but
nonetheless
not
ideal
for
finding
landings
for
photography. The
first
stop
on
my
way
to
Bear
Island
was
Sand
Island.
After
taking
a
brief
rest
stop
on
Sand’s
wide
beach,
I
rounded
Swallow
Point
to
explore
a
series
of
small
sea
caves.
As
soon
as I
rounded
the
point,
I
found
myself
on
the
lee
side
of
the
island,
protected
from
wind
and
waves.
Calm
conditions
allowed
me
to
head
into
the
larger
caves.
I
spent
a
good
portion
of
the
morning
photographing
a
series
of
interconnected
chambers,
wading
around
in
water
depths
ranging
from
1 to
4
feet.
The caves have been formed by eons of waves eroding the soft sandstone that makes up much of the Apostle Islands. The sandstone is red, interrupted here and there with a splash of green moss. I worked many angles inside the large cave, all the while with my kayak drifting behind me, tethered to me by a short piece of rope.
By the way, here’s my procedure for photographing sea caves:
1) find nice sea cave
2) wait for calm seas
3) paddle into cave if possible
4) find a place shallow enough to stand without being completely submerged
5) exit kayak
6) remove tripod and camera from (theoretically) waterproof hatch and dry bag
7) set up in water, being careful not to submerge camera; water is bad
8) tie rope to kayak, and then tie other end of rope to self
9) push kayak away and let it drift
10) compose shot
11) push kayak away again as it has drifted into the picture
12) start series of long exposures
13) grab falling tripod just in the nick of time, as it has been pushed over by the kayak which has drifted back and knocked said tripod over
14) heave a sigh of relief that camera did not go under water; water is bad
15) yank on rope, pulling kayak back to you
16) put camera back in dry bag, pack dry bag and tripod back in (theoretically) waterproof hatch
17) re-enter kayak
18) paddle away
19) realize that you should have composed the image slightly to the right
20) repeat
After finishing with the sea cave, I pressed on to Bear Island, stopping at a few small islands along the way. I reached Bear’s southern end late in the afternoon, and begin to explore around its eastern side on my way to my campsite destination for the 
evening. I passed a large stretch of cliffs and sea caves, none of which I could land in. Towards evening, I found a short stretch of beach suitable for landing and camping. I landed and set up camp, hoping that the calm conditions that set in for the evening would continue the next day. I explored a stretch of nearby rocky shore at sunset, finally settling on an image in the dark twilight. An exposure of several minutes revealed the colors of dusk.
The next morning I awoke early to make a crossing to Devils Island, but found that during the night the wind and waves had built into a frenzy. Devils Island has some fantastic high cliffs and huge sea caves, but I knew that conditions would make it impossible for me to photograph them without getting dashed against the rocks. In fact, it got so rough I decided to not even launch my kayak at all that day. I made some abstract images in the morning of waves crashing on Bear Island’s rocky shore, and spent the rest of the day exploring, reading, and resting.
At one point during the day, I crawled into my tent to get out of the cold wind for a few hours. I had left my water sandals on the beach with my kayak, and when I returned to fetch them, I noticed that one was missing! Although I could find no tracks to confirm my suspicion, I believe that a raccoon was the culprit, since I had the whole island to myself. Either that, or a bald eagle swooped down and stole my sandal. Luckily, I had a pair of flip-flops with me, so that my feet would not go unshod for the rest of my journey.
The next day I awoke to calm seas. I opted for an early start, hoping to reach Devils Island before any wind or waves kicked up, so I launched before sunrise. After an hour of paddling, I reached Devil’s rocky northern shore, and was delighted to find towering cliffs and huge sea caves. Unfortunately, even though conditions were calm, Devils Island is more exposed than the others, and small waves were coming directly into the sea caves, their effect multiplied by the high rocks. Each cave had become a churning cauldron a water crashing on rock. It became readily apparent to me that I would be able to photograph the sea caves of Devils Island only in near to dead calm conditions. Frustrated, I continued to paddle around the island, stopping at its southern end for a break before heading back to Bear Island.
Upon returning to Bear, I broke camp and began to head back to the mainland. Along the way, I explored Bear’s western 
shore, and found several large sea caves. Conditions had gotten much calmer since I returned from Devils (I toyed with the idea of returning, but I had too far to go by evening). I entered several of the sea caves and made a few images, small consolation for missing the opportunity to photograph Devils Island.
I then began my long paddle back to the mainland. Early in the evening, I finally reached my original launch point, Little Sand Bay. As I unpacked my kayak, I vowed to return again next year, with more time to space. I could easily spend weeks exploring and shooting the Apostles—something I fully intend to do as soon as possible.
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