#BehindTheShot with #CanonExplorerOfLight @onnevanderwal | “Shooting from up the mast! I had been on Shaman, a 88ft sailboat in Svalbard archipelago part of the Norwegian Arctic for about two weeks and had had this shot in mind for days, I was waiting for the right time! Finally we had lots of ice, no wind or swell and beautiful arctic light and I thought now or never. I told the owner my idea and he jumped at it, let’s do it! We picked a good looking iceberg, right size and one that dropped straight off so that we could come nice and close without hitting it! I grabbed the bosun’s chair (similar to a climbing harness) and attached it to the mainsail halyard (sailors name for a rope that hoists the sails to the top of the mast). Up I went with my two way radio in hand and my camera gear in a plastic bucket tied to the bosun’s chair below me. Around my neck was my camera. In the bucket was a Canon 16-35 mm lens and a 14mm lens. Which lens worked best would be decided from my lofty perch 110 ft up at the top of the mast. I wanted to shoot wide enough to get my orange boots in the bottom of the frame and the horizon and iceberg in the top of the frame. I hung out up there and talked the captain of the boat in to position, a little to port, now a little to starbard, slowly ahead, ok stop. Hold it right here. I decided that the rectilinear Canon EF 14mm lens was the way to go. It got it all in with zero distortion. The view from up high was amazing, a true bird’s eye view, a stunning sight and perspective. The captain kept the boat perfectly on station and I clicked away and got the shot. The number one question I get from visitors to my Bannisters Wharf Gallery in Newport is “Whose orange boots are those?” I always answer with, “Who do you think, I took the shot!” Camera: Canon EOS 1V
Lens: EF 14mm f/2.8L
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 60
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
Ciao, Nihon.