Kayaking The Nerve Centers
Published July 17, 2012 | 
I’ve got something to say! Well, no. Not really. That’s what has me totally nerved out about my presentations at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium this Weekend. I’m doing a presentation called “Kayaking The Internet” on Thursday evening at 6pm, and on Saturday I’m doing a “Kayaking Photography for the Rest of Us” presentation at 2pm. I’m like, “How can I fill this time?” The truth is that much of what I do, from blogging to photography to social media works for me because it provides a theatrical wall between me and the audience. I want to talk to you, but when you pay attention and I look into your eyes, I feel like I’m probably wasting your time. Through blogging & photography I can speak with you as if you are the one person I trust in the world. I can feel at ease with you. Presentations are another monster completely.
My spin on what I do in life is all about sensual living as I’ve said many times here on Quix. It’s realizing that life is short and feeling a drive to soak it all in as deeply as possible. It’s not about being the most popular blogger, or doing the biggest trips, or even about being a renowned photographer. It’s really just me trying to find ways to taste, touch, see and smell the world around me. I blog, because it’s cathartic. I journal to an audience of one, you. In order to share with others skills or lessons, I need to know what I really think, and I need to be able to show that what I’m thinking has value. Blogging is a bit of a dry run on wet ideas. I’m in no way an authority in anything. There are so many others out there that fit that bill. Rather than being an expert, I feel that I’m simply standing with you in the audience, looking on, processing & learning with you. It’s sort of hard to do that from a podium. 
So when I think of kayaking the internet I think about those of us who can’t make the “scene” or are socially just not good with groups or classes. I think that more often than not, these are the people who need us here on the web, bringing back the gifts of knowledge and experience we gain in our endeavors. Learning and sharing what we learn is not a product, but a gift. With only a half hour to speak on kayaking the internet, I think I’ll focus on how we can use the internet to talk to real people in real ways and not just use the web to expound upon our authority on the subject, or worse like our grandfather’s vacation slideshow.
In kayaking photography for the rest of us, I’m going to focus on limitation & again sensuality. I’m not a person who sets up shots and edits them within inches of their lives in Photoshop. Just like you, I simply want to capture a moment and attach the emotion I felt at that second. It’s not easy. Take the photo above for instance. It’s nothing from a photographer’s standpoint. Bland even. Yet, at that moment on the beach I was overwhelmed but the roar of the Lake Superior surf. The only way to capture what I was feeling was to get on the ground and make the surf look as big as I could, where the 300 foot sandy dunes along the shoreline were tiny and distant in comparison. Every time I see this photo, I remember the moment. Even though I recognize that the photo itself is rather dull. In the end that’s what your camera can do, If you connect with the sensuality of that moment and find a way to bring it home, that’s the victory. Even if no one else sees it.
I often struggle to verbalize such wispy ideas.. So yeah, I’m bloody nervous..
5 Responses to Kayaking The Nerve Centers
I’ve got my LCD projector and screen with me, we can hook up a computer and post this blog on the screen, people can come in and read it and that can be your presentation–a virtual presentation. You can be out paddling. Let me know if you need any help setting it up.
LOL! Exactly.. I know.. I’ll do the whole presentation via Twitter from my tent! That would be sweet!
Thanks! see ya there.
Just make eye contact with one person at a time and talk to them; the rest of the audience will get their turn. And like all else, TOTW solves everything.
(Time on the water!)
Hey Derrick, your presentation on “photography fo the rest of us” sounds like a breath of fresh air. I once was easily drawn to spend tons of time looking for and setting up photos. It was labor and time intensive—ultimately taking away from the immediate experience of whatever kind of trip I was taking. With the digital age and all the capabilities of these little electronic gems, I’ve given up all my delusions of being published in National Geographic (same driver for many people I think!) and adopted mostly a “combat photography” mode—shoot what’s there and happening at the moment—really shooting on the fly. One little waterproof point-n-shoot camera is with me at all times paddling (pocket of my PFD) and I’ve got a decent quality zoom camera (not so big and bulky as an SLR) in a small dry box I’ll pull out for land-based shots (shore, camp, side hikes). For my purposes of capturing a sense of my trips—and some good shots nonetheless—this works for me. You’re on to something; I think some people get way too wrapped up in their photography to really “see” their environment and enjoy their experience in the wild. Have a great symposium, Dan
I’ve only been reading your blog for a few days now, but feel you have nothing to worry about in your presentation. Many people like to hear from someone who is knowledgable about a subject but not necessarily an expert. Experts can become dry and boring in their presentations because they become too technical. Kowledgable people can be interesting because they can still exude a passion for the subject at hand and connect with the person in the audience. In photography, how many people will be the next Ansel Adams? Not many, but there are millions who get great joy in capturing moments just as you have described with your above picture. I would be willing to bet most people at the syposium are there to hear you speak about nature photography for enjoyment as opposed to getting a lecture from a physics professor. Have fun and be yourself.