Living on the edge. Skill and courage against a force of nature. Adrenalin pumping huge fun. Woo hoo... a case for always carrying your camera as I came across these guys practicing their white water skills, in the very rough water to be found at the bottom of a weir after heavy rain, when walking down the Thames Path one day. Serendipity!

So I was on walkabout with my camera down part of the Thames Path on the look out for interesting things to snap one sunny day after a particularly rainy period when the river was swollen and running fast. As a result a lot of weir sluice gates were open to manage the water flow down the river and some eye-catching photographs thereof can be had as a consequence.

On this particular day and this particular place my luck was in as I ran into a bunch of white water kayakers practicing their sport at the foot of one of these weirs in the fast flowing turbulent waters.

Also As luck would have it, I had chosen to put my 14-150mm (28mm-300mm crop factor equivalent) super zoom onto the front of my camera as a sort of general purpose, lazy bones, do everything, very compact, don't have change lenses, wander about with no real intent lens.

This whole thing was serendipitous as there was the river running at high speed, there they were, there I was and there was my camera with a lens on it with the perfect reach out to 300mm as I needed it.

Whilst optically this lens is not at the same level as the "Pro" lenses that I own, it is still a very decent performer and allowed me to grab some very exciting action shots where the extended zoom capability was extremely handy.

As for the kayakers, their performance was spectacular. They were really going for it and enjoying themselves spinning, rolling and attacking the roiling white water.

Capsizing and in danger of drowning? Not a bit! It looked alarming but it soon became obvious this was part of their routine drill because they were doing this deliberately. Each time they popped back up safe and sound.

Their skill was quite astonishing and watching them was very entertaining plus they provided some great action photo opportunities. The right place at the right time with the right light and the right subject with the right kit. Serendipitous indeed!