Photographs © The Great Big Paddle
The great big paddle
GY-HM100 captures Australian river expedition
The Great Big Paddle is a charity “I am an adventurer, author and expedition The SDHC cards used by the JVC
event in which Dave Cornthwaite
manager, working as a freelancer and camcorder offer a reliable and widely
will attempt to paddle 1450 miles
taking on a number of unusual projects,” available storage option, requiring minimal
along Australia’s longest river, the
Dave explains. “These often tend to
space on the trip. The camcorder itself
be endurance expeditions with an
Murray, in order to raise awareness
weighs only 1.4kg and can be comfortably
environmental slant or a unique form of
held with one hand - very important when
about its deteriorating condition.
transport. Much of my filming has taken
travelling. In addition, the camcorder’s
He will be using the compact
place in Australia to date, although water
durable design made it the ideal choice
solid-state GY-HM100 camcorder
journeys from London to Northern Africa
for location shooting under even the most
to film his exploits. and then down the Amazon are to come.”
demanding conditions.
Dave decided to setup a multi-journey
“For such a small camera,
paddling project, The Great Big Paddle,
it’s really giving me some
which involved kayaking, canoeing and
great footage to work with.”
stand-up paddling in three journeys.
This was to aid a solar and water charity
“I’m using the GY-HM100 to capture
project, as well as fulfilling a passion for the
establishing shots on the expedition”,
environment through travel and sport, and it
Dave says. “Weekly web episodes
has helped raise awareness of the plight of
are uploaded to several high profile
one particular Australian river - the Murray.
websites, including National Geographic
The river is dying from a combination of
Adventure, Cotswold Outdoor, ExplorOz,
drought and poor river management. With
and the Murray River website.
water being such a precious commodity,
especially in the outback, it was important
“The camcorder is great for drag and
to document Dave’s journey. He chose the
drop editing, which is handy as I usually
JVC GY-HM100, supplied by ProActive, to
have a short amount of time to upload
film the ten-week paddle, from the source
footage. Now I have got the hang of it,
of the Murray in New South Wales to the
I’m blasting out stuff in no time at all. I am
river’s mouth in Goolwa, South Australia.
also thoroughly impressed with the picture
quality I’m getting from the GY-HM100;
“I needed a light, portable, tapeless HD
for such a small camera it’s really giving
camera for three months of hiking and
me some great footage to work with.
kayaking,” he states. “The GY-HM100 fitted
I would recommend it to anyone.”
n
the bill perfectly as it is extremely compact
and records to SDHC cards.” www.thegreatbigpaddle.com
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