Slide
“DON’T MATTER WHERE WE SLEEP, DON’T MATTER WHERE WE PARK, ALL WE NEED IS A SPARK IN THE
DARK.” —ALICE COOPER PHOTO: DARIN MCQUOID
A SHOT IN THE DARK
“THE CLOSER YOU LIVE TO THE PUT-IN, the later you put on,” says full-time photographer Darin McQuoid. He calls this phenomenon “the inverse law of location relative to start time,” and has it to thank for this shot, which he snapped on a run
of Fantasy Falls of the North Fork Mokelumne River in California last May. An all-local crew of paddlers—Rok Sribar, Chris Zawacki and Scott Ligare—joined McQuoid on the three-day run, making them particularly
vulnerable to the late start-time law but comfortable enough to cruise downstream quickly. Still, they landed at their first campsite after another group had claimed a spot across the river. “It worked out perfectly for the shot,” says McQuoid, since the site is nestled between two class V rapids and he often walks the one just
downstream. “Ferrying across is no joke,” he says, so he likely wouldn’t have geared up to cross and point the lens back at his own group after nightfall. “It’s tough to motivate once you’re relaxing around a campfire.” Since he didn’t have space to stuff a tripod into his Jackson Kayak Villain with the rest of his multi-day gear, McQuoid had to get cre-
ative to find a stable spot. Throwing a fleece on the ground, he molded a spot for the camera in the folds of the base layer’s fabric and pushed his shutter speed to its maximum length. Shooting with a 1977 Nikon 28-45mm f/4.5 lens, he cranked the ISO to 800, “something you can only get clean results from on a full
frame camera,” and hunkered on the ground, capturing this shot. EMMA DRUDGE DIGITAL EXTRA: Click here to find out what Darin McQuoid carries in his professional paddling camera kit.
22 | RAPID
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