ABOUT US:
ANDY BATT & SARAH HAMMOND
PHOTOFLOAT
A collaboration between PHOTOGRAPHER andy Batt and Sarah Hammond of apakoa rivers rafting.
This trip was born from a conversation floating down the Grand Canyon in 2015. The exact words are long gone, but the idea was to come up with a way to keep floating and taking pictures. With this trip, Andy and Sarah have created something unique. There are plenty of other float trips and many other landscape photography workshops. What Photo Float offers is a guaranteed small trip experience. It’s a photography workshop that is never about “where to put your tripod” and is always about helping you find new ways of seeing. It’s a float trip where you connect to your “river family” and learn to live the joyous Rivertime lifestyle. Come float with us and discover it for yourself.
portraits by Paul Wood © 2022
Andy Batt
Photo Educator
Trip leader and founder of PhotoFloat. Andy is a commercial photographer with 20+ years of experience who loves teaching and talking about photography. For him, landscape photography is a type of moving meditation, a way to reconnect to what drew him to a camera in the first place. He floated the Grand Canyon with Sarah in 2015, where he had his mind blown by the landscape and witnessed what a tremendous boatwoman and kind person Sarah was.
In 2018 he floated Deso for the first time with Sarah. The two began talking about what an exceptional river the Green is and how it would be a perfect place to bring a small group of photographers. Years of planning, a pandemic, and lots of logistics later, they are extremely proud and happy with what Photo Float has become.
You can find his commercial work at andybatt.com
I'm not a Landscape Photographer. I'm a landscape photographer. What's the difference? I make images for myself. Many photographs are made knowing that I'm the only one that will be fascinated by the composition or excited by the geology. And I've become very OK with that. I make many that overlap with other people's tastes, so I seem to be doing something right. It's nice to sell images and see them framed in someone's home, but really, I’m out there photographing for myself.
I fell in love with Deso in 2018. It's a tranquil trip with space for stillness and room for my mind to breathe. I'm so happy to share that experience with other photographers—for the image-making and just "being there."
—Andy Batt
portraits by Paul Wood © 2022
Sarah Hammond
Owner & GUIDE, Apakoa Rivers Rafting
Owner of Apakoa Rivers Rafting and head guide. Sarah's been guiding on the Green for over 15 years. On our 2022 float, she celebrated 50 trips down the Green. Sarah takes care of our guests from start to finish: from providing outstanding meals to knowing the best swim spots on the river. Sarah is a neurological nurse in Colorado when she's not heading downstream pulling on the oars.
Sarah started Apakoa Rivers Rafting in 2020 after guiding for Dvorak Expeditions since 2002. Her company specializes in a carefully curated list of unique trips, running smaller groups with care and attention. Her guides are carefully selected for their skills, professionalism, and camaraderie. They all love running wilderness river trips – for the peace, the great people, the beauty, the challenge, and so much more.
You can visit her company at apakoa.com
You can reach out with any questions to adventure@apakoa.com
The name Apakoa Rivers started with my amazing nephews, who are as crazy over water as their mom (my sister) and I have always been. They're bilingual, speaking both English and Romanian. One of their first words was "apa," the Romanian word for water. "Koa" is the name of a Hawaiian tree that is used to build surfboards and canoes. It has many meanings in other languages, including strong, joyful, heart, friendly, and gleeful. So, Apakoa is "strong, friendly water."
— Sarah Hammond
“I learned a lot from Andy—about framing, how the eye moves through the photo, how different lenses change what we see and how we shoot, and a whole lot more. I also became more familiar with my camera since I used it so much.”
—Elise Hewitt
Read what our customers say about the trip at EXPERIENCE. There’s details over at MORE INFO. And a short take on the history of photography on the Green River at HISTORY.
To be one of twelve photographers, hit the big orange button.
