Bob Crum

The grand Lady Kern is again roaring and producing several Class III & IV rapids. Lots of whitewater. Several times a day she carries four & six-person rafts full of giddy paddlers. Occasionally the Lady Kern utilizes her power to abruptly flip over a raft sending rafters plunging into the chilly water. C'est la vie!

I have an imponderable attraction to moving bodies of water like creeks and rivers, perhaps derived from fond boyhood memories relived in the present moment. Growing up on a farm with adjacent lakes and creeks, I was a water bug. After chores throughout the summer, it was ritualistic to go to the abandoned bridge over Mill Pond Creek, get naked and jump in for a refreshing dip. Yes, I knew some days a few girls were hiding in the bushes. Just never knew why they giggled.

Last Saturday I drove up to Kernville, my semi-annual visit to the North Fork of the Kern River. Snowmelt runoff at the headwaters of the 151 mile-long north fork Kern lies within Sequoia National Park. With a gradient of 30 feet per mile, the Kern is one of the steepest and wildest whitewater rivers in North America.

I've been photographing (documenting) the Kern River from Brush Creek at the north end down to the canyon exit of the lower Kern for 12 years. I've seen the grand lady roar, the raging water spilling over the banks from El Niño rains. And I've seen her drought-stricken flow so low there were places where I could walk across from bank to bank. But in every instance, she exhibits a unique personality, a distinguished character. Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who is credited with the famous saying, "No man ever steps in the same river twice." To wit, I add: No man has ever photographed the same river twice. The constant changes are interesting!

The upper & lower Kern provide great opportunities to practice photography skills utilizing various shutter-speed & aperture options. Consider skill-set practice as a personal workshop. The creative possibilities are unlimited; this element of creativity too important to gloss over glibly. Like an artist uses a brush to apply paint to a canvas, a camera is a tool a photographer uses to apply light to a sensor to create an image. In this sense, a photographer uses light to paint. If you think that photography is a laborious endeavor with a complicated device called a camera, you are entirely missing the whole splendor of photography. Creativity is the essence and lure of photography!

More about creative photographic options another time. For now, a different thought. On last Saturday's visit, I pondered the possibility of photographing the Kern from the river instead of from the bank. Specifically, a float trip on the Kern in an inflatable kayak. Inflatable kayak because 1) they're much lighter than hard-shell kayaks, 2) no roof-top car racks necessary because they fit in any car trunk. Along the way, photograph and film the journey with a waterproof action cam to create a 'docujourney'. But not, of course, till Lady Kern settles down to class II & III rapids, about the end of July. As of last Saturday, upper Lady Kern's flow rate was 3289cfs (cubic feet per second) representing a medium-high flow with class III & IV whitewater rapids making it a bit too adventuresome for weekend kayakers. Class III rapids would provide plenty of excitement.

Anyone else interested in such an adventure? Send me an email! I'm going back up soon to explore the logistics further. Stay tuned. Photo of the week is of the lower Kern, the river constrained by granite walls crashing into a rock outcrop. Beautiful whitewater!

Send comments, questions or suggestions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net