"Easy mobility" is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about medium format cameras. They tend to be bigger because... well... the film is bigger. And then if you add on handles and backings and prism viewfinders and light meters and whatever other accessories they get can pretty heavy and cumbersome.
So Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) with a medium format camera just doesn't seem like it would work. There's water everywhere. The board is tipsy. You have to paddle. The camera is heavy. It just seems like a recipe for disaster. But I'm not one to back away from a challenge.
I was interested in photographing from a paddleboard because I wanted a different perspective. On a paddleboard you can navigate into tight areas around docks and wildlife and boats. Along the lower Willamette River I wanted to see the areas that can't be accessed by land. There are some neat, old abandoned mills and packing facilities along the lower Willamette River that I wanted to see and shooting from the water is not your typical vantage point.
So here you have it: a 1.5 hr paddle, shot on my Mamiya 645 1000s with Lomo Potsdam 100 film.
And a little video highlight of the experience: