Rough Seas

News Herald reporter James Proffitt braving the elements while on the top deck of the Miller's Ferry headed to Put-in-Bay

Waves blow over the deck of the Miller Ferry as we approach Put-in-Bay

In a perfect world anytime I leave the house to shoot an assignment I'd never have to worry about the weather. Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world. On a recent trip over to Put-in-Bay for work we hit rather undesirable conditions while crossing on the Miller Ferry. With strong winds blowing directly across the open waters of Lake Erie nothing stood in it's way to slow it down. At first I stayed in the protection of the vehicle we were taking over with us. Before too long the call of adventure grew too strong and I couldn't stay put. With some good timing I managed to leave the safety of the car and made it to the enclosed section of the ferry between waves. The boat was rocking pretty hard and I still don't know how I managed not to lose my footing as I made my way across the deck of the ferry. We got some strange looks but I couldn't resist not taking any photos from the top of the ferry.

Waterproof camera, pvc pipe, duck tape, and a little luck

Me trying to get photos of a school of rainbow trout from on top of the water

One of my unsuccessful attempts of photographing the school of rainbow's

Success! This is the image that ran with the story in the next days paper

I was working on a recent assignment with News Herald reporter James Proffitt doing a story about construction at the Castalia State Fish Hatchery. Construction was just getting underway and the photos I was getting were kind of boring. James and I decided we'd get something more exciting by duck taping a waterproof point-n-shoot style camera to a 6-foot long pvc pipe. By setting the camera on timer that gave me just enough time to push the button and slow dip the camera into a school of Rainbow Trout in the Cold Creek flowing through the grounds of the fish hatchery. It took several tries and a little luck but we were able to get a nice frame that ran in the paper along with Proffitt's story.

A special thanks to News Herald reporter James Proffitt who took the photos of me as I was taking the photos of the rainbow trout