Camp Notes No. 10

Clearwater Camp, Wisconsin

This week was unexpected.

I arrived on Monday midday to capture the opening day of second session for Clearwater Camp, I planned to stay all the way until the following Monday morning, to catch their council fire on Sunday evening. Sadly, the fires burning in Canada pushed smoke down into northern Wisconsin, and camp was held indoors for three and a half days. I lost about four days of shooting. :(

This is a reminder to me, that this project is also about preserving a summer season that might not look the same over the next decade. Between flash flooding and wildfires, this week was filled with interruptions for the camp community. My heart goes out to the camps across the midwest that had to cancel sessions and evacuate entirely. We got off easy by comparison.

Still, I did what I could with the short days and the smokey/hazy light we had.

What drew me to Clearwater was even more magnified when I arrived: the island. Older campers live across the water, and for safety the bridge is only open at set times of day. I loved this element as I could watch the same crossing happen again and again, and keep photographing until I got it.

Fun fact about Clearwater, and this is something I only learned after I solidified plans to come this summer. Clearwater’s founder spent a summer working at the camp I spent my summers going to - Wohelo. The founders of Wohelo, the Gulicks, also founded Camp Fire Girls. Which was created as a guide for all-girls summer camps. Directors trained under the Gulicks, took the program home, and built their own camps around it. Clearwater has some similar traditions to the ones at my summer camp which was lovely to see at a camp thousands of miles away from a place where I first learned them.

I have to mention, the campers at Clearwater were real troopers this week. It was the first week of a new session, most activities were cancelled and staff had to get creative about how to keep 90 kids entertained inside in the only air conditioned building on camp property. Imagine many movie nights, craft stations galore and many weird but entertaining games made up by very tired, very loving staff.

Thank you for having me Clearwater!

xx,
Amanda