Whether your grom shares a board with you or shreds on her own, capturing these moments will mean a lot when they grow up. Back in the day, you'd either invest in camera gear, hire a photographer or zoom in from land with a point-and-shoot.
Today, small waterproof cameras have turned this pro photo shoot into family video sessions– with the convenience of GoPros and smartphone water housings. All are lightweight, mobile, tough and easy to use.
We've been using our GoPro Hero to follow each other on waves and for swimming around on the inside. It's light and small, making handling the camera and a toddler, easy-peasy. The quality is amazing, the menu is easy to navigate and the app downloads the photos directly to your phone.
The newer models are waterproof and sans housing; older models require a separate water housing for the camera. It's not much more for the newer models, so we'd recommend them as the waterproofing and other upgrades are well worth it. Check out GoPro's website for special deals.
If you're looking to catch your little surfer in action, then here are some tips so you don't miss the shot!
Use a mount. We went through different ways of holding the camera: the hand grip, the floaty and finally the bite mount. The hand grip is okay for lifestyle-type shooting, but when you're surfing or swimming with a kid in tow, it's cumbersome and inconvenient. Using the floaty alone worked fine, but it was hard to hold it and paddle at the same time.
The bite mount, with a floaty, is the best setup. You bite onto a snorkel type mouthpiece, and the camera hangs below your chin. Paddling is easy and surfing is unhindered, especially when you have to coordinate turning the board and holding tight to your little. You can even easily grab it for an arm-extended selfie
Don't forget to set your GoPro to allow upside-down shooting; otherwise all your pics and vids will be just that.
Get close. The GoPro is a fisheye lens, meaning everything looks way farther than with the naked eye. It makes the aforementioned arm-extended selfie easy, but anything beyond a few feet looks terribly tiny. Get up and personal with your desired subject–like within a foot. They'll be nicely in focus and well-defined in the picture or video.
Lick the lens. Licking the lens might be gross, but nothing is more gross than a water spot ruining an epic surf shot. We've all been there; that sick hang ten you thought you got is now indistinguishable because it's covered with a water blurb. UGH!
What can you do? Lick the lens and dunk the camera often, preferably right before your kid catches a wave. You'll find your clips and pics void of pesky blurs and distortions.
If you're not into licking, then try spraying instead. A spritz or two of Rain-X will help with spot-free shot captures.
Get two batteries–and charge them! What's worse than a water spot? A dead camera. We've paddled out–far out–only to find our battery practically dead. We turn it on, and a minute later, it dies. This is a habit you have to develop. Ideally, you should check your camera the night before (if you've planned ahead).
But who plans ahead, or even has time to charge things, with little monsters running around!? If that's the case, then check out your gear before you and your kid paddle out. Also, have a spare that hopefully has enough juice.
Be aware that taking videos is much more costly for battery life than pictures, so that may be an alternative should you find yourself in need of stretching the battery life. Turning down the brightness can also tack on some time, too.
With a decent digi cam, a bit of prep and some skills and timing, you'll be off to document your kids' epic surf moments. It's been awesome to look back at clips from a month or a year ago and recall the good times. Having a good digital album also helps to hold onto cherished memories–but preferably without water spots.
Check out our surf flicks filmed with a GoPro: Tandeming with a toddler and Social distance surfing
Luckiest girl in the world to have parents like you two!!