Floating hide – New photo opportunities!

After many months/years I finally decided to step my photogame up a little. I had heard about floating hides and seen photos from these but never even seen one IRL (in real life).

After reading reviews and investigating the commercially available hides, I decided to go for the Floating Hide ver. II from MrJan Gear. I liked the thought of being able to wrap it all up (by deflating the tubes) and put it in a bag or backback if I wanted to travel with it or carry it some distance. Another important aspect was the height of the camera position. I really like to come as low as possible and I think this hide gives the lowest shooting poisition on the market. The height above the water line is actually depending on the height of your tripod head as the fixture is at water level. As it turned out it worked exactly as I had hoped, both regarding the shooting height and the transport. It took some time before I had made the initial assembly but it wasn’t that difficult. 

I really didn’t know what to wear as the lakes are really cold in the beginning of the year in Sweden but after some searching, I decided for a dry suit from Neilpride, I guess any suit would work fine and the selection should be based on the temperature in the water where you would use it. I have so far used three layers of long underwear with good wool closest to the body. In the early season you would be able to spend 1,5 – 2 hours in the water but now it’s a little bit warmer and my session today was 3 hours and 30 minutes. A wetsuit would work great in warmer waters but I haven’t tested that myself, yet…

I did a quick test without camera one morning but later the same day I made my first real attempt and it was an instant success. I tried in a lake where I knew there were several Great Crested Grebes and I was very happy to see that, even if they looked suspicious at me, they accepted my presence and let me come as close as 5-10 m without being bothered. This is very important to me as I don”t want to intrude in their daily lifes. If I notice that they move because of me or if they stop doing whatever they were doing I know I’m too close and will stop and/or backup a little.

I have now had more than 10 sessions with the hide and start to feel very comfortable with the use. I have attached a water proof plastic bag inside the hide where I keep a spare battery, memory cards, my carkeys and phone. Besides that, I use the hide as it came. I have had discussions with Mr Jan and given a few proposals for the next generation but they are all bonuses. The current version works great. If you would like to buy your own, please use following link: Floating Hide ver. II.

Below I share some of my favourite shots from my first sessions. Please contact me if you have any questions.

If you want to buy a photo, please contact me by mail.