How to vlog an adventure: meet the woman who conquered the Amazon on camera

How did you plan to tell the story?

"Collectively, we have 150,000 or 160,000 followers on social media, so we knew we had a good audience who would respond well, but we also wanted to personally convey our own raw emotion directly to camera, and for that we used the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II," says Laura, who posts under the Instagram handle @laurabingham93.

"We each needed a small camera with us so we could sneak off when no one was looking and record how we were feeling. It made the experience more honest than if we gave an interview to the film crew. We kept our cameras in our pockets or day bags so they were easily accessible and we could take every opportunity to film."

What are the biggest challenges to creating outdoor videos of your adventures?

"When you're so emotionally and physically invested in completing a challenge, it's easy to forget to stop to take photos or video. This is especially true for me because I really wanted to get the challenge done and return to my family. That said, we’d gone on the trip to tell a story, and to produce content not only for ourselves but for our sponsors, so we had to get it done. Being able to pull the PowerShot G7 X Mark II out of my pocket and put it to work immediately was essential, so that the rest of the time we could get our heads down and keep going as hard and fast as we could."

What were your biggest considerations when choosing cameras?

"I've found that the amount of weight you’re carrying is inversely proportional to the amount of fun you’re going to have. If you have a tiny PowerShot G7 X Mark II camera with you that still gets amazing footage, it's only going to add to the fun of the trip.

"Our cameras got thrown into our day bags, which sat in front of us in the kayaks, alongside suncream, sunglasses and our food for the day. They proved to be robust and durable, and coped with the humidity really well, unlike the laptop we brought with us to store footage. When we were worried the cameras had gotten too moist, we’d just throw them in our bags of rice to dry out. We had to remember to look out for them when taking a cup of rice to eat, but it worked!"

Was the camera easy to use?

"Due to the nature of what we were doing, it was so important that we had a camera that worked without much input from us. We relied a lot on the Automatic shooting mode because time didn't really allow for us to be changing settings. On the PowerShot G7 X Mark II, the auto setting is so good that if you don't know cameras and you don't have the time to go into settings and choose different scenes and different modes, it's intelligent enough to do it for you. It coped with different light environments really well, exposing the scene properly whether we were in direct sunlight on the river or in our hammocks under the jungle canopy at night.

"Another really good feature of the PowerShot G7 X Mark II is that you can flip the screen up, so you can frame yourself really well. This shows whether you're in focus or not, and what’s in your background. This is particularly helpful for vlogging and made the camera even easier to use on the move."

Are you glad you went to the effort of capturing stills and video?

"Every moment was so intense on the trip that many got forgotten along the way. It's just impossible to remember everything, and there’s a danger of forgetting the beautiful little moments. Now that we're home, all the memories have merged into a kind of blur, but it’s through the photos and videos we took that we can ignite the trip for ourselves over and over again."

What are your tips for others who might want to vlog their adventures?

"If your aim is to shoot vlogs for social media, the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II is amazing. It’s a fantastic, all-encompassing vlogger’s camera that will help, not hinder, on your adventures.

"In terms of content, remember you never have too much. Even when you think you’ve created enough, you can always experiment and try new angles until you get something that works. Be free enough to know your capabilities and your flaws, and ask for help if you need it."

Written by Matthew Bowen

*The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II is designed for environments 0-40°C, 10-90% humidity. Normal operation in extreme conditions cannot be guaranteed. Waterproof Case (40m) WP-DC55 is available as a separate accessory.

** The video featured in this article combines vlog footage captured by Laura, Ness and Pip on the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II with the footage captured by professional filmmaker Peiman Zekavat on the Canon EOS C300 Mark II, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and L-series lenses.