Looking for an exciting overnight experience in Algonquin Provincial Park?
Focus on Nature is a registered charity offering youth the chance to explore the outdoors through photography. This year, we are excited to team up with the Headwaters Wilderness Program to combine our popular nature photography camps with their backcountry canoe experience in Algonquin Provincial Park. This new camp will let young artists observe, capture, and celebrate the natural world—combining creativity with environmental appreciation.
We're excited to offer six weeks of Summer Camp this year —now’s the time to register before spots fill up!
Length: 4 or 5 day options
Fees: $860 – $1,070 per week
Group Size: 6 to 15 campers, 2 Headwaters guides, and 1 Focus on Nature staff
Ratio: 1:5 leaders to participants, or better
Ages: 8 to 18 years (born 2008-2018)
Canoe tripping experience required: None. This camp is suitable for complete beginners and experienced canoe trip campers alike!
Registration for the Photography Adventure Camp: Algonquin Provincial Park Canoe Trip is now OPEN!
What to Expect
Not your average canoe trip, Photography Adventure Camp in Algonquin Provincial Park is a unique combination of exploring the natural world, learning all about nature photography, mastering the beginner skills of canoe tripping, and having a fun adventure with new friends!
This camp is run in partnership with Headwaters Wilderness Program. Each camp is led by two Headwaters guides alongside a Focus on Nature staff member who will bring their popular photography camp programming to the backcountry canoe trip environment!
Every camper is provided with a digital camera to use during the trip. Each day will have new lessons on a different aspect of nature photography. Campers leave the trip with a deeper love of nature, a newfound creative outlet, and a master in photography skills including: framing, rule of thirds, composition, landscape photography, macro photography, elements of design, lighting, and more. All of this while on a safe, fun-filled canoe trip adventure!
Photography Adventure Camp provides an intro to canoe tripping for those who have never been on a wilderness trip, while also enabling seasoned canoeists to discover a deeper, more meaningful experience than they have in the past.
Too many canoe trip programs offer long and difficult routes that leave little time for anything but paddling, eating, and sleeping.
We take an intentionally slow pace, paddling out to our campsite on day one and not changing sites for the duration of the trip. This means we only have to pack up camp on the last day, allowing us to really get to know our campsite – to discover what aquatic creatures come out at night; to venture out and explore nearby islands; and to befriend the birds nesting near our tents, learning their calls and hearing their songs.
We learn how to cook meals over fires we made ourselves, catch and prepare our own fish for dinner, forage for edible berries, build shelters, and identify animals by their tracks and signs. With opportunities for nature journaling and fun games throughout, Headwaters canoe trips are designed to set young people up for a lifetime of enjoying backcountry camping and caring for our natural world.
Who is the Headwaters Wilderness Program?
Headwaters Wilderness Program is an educational organization offering canoe trip camps for youth during the summer and all-season outdoor education programming for schools during the year. They believe that if caring for the natural world is a prerequisite not only for protecting it, but for a fully lived human life, and if caring first requires coming to know, then meaningful experiences in wilderness are indispensable for both the future of the planet and ourselves.
Built on expertise in running exceptional outdoor education programming for schools and universities, their summer camps are unique. All of the staff and trip leaders are professional educators, not camp counsellors. Real, authentic learning about the natural world is woven into everything they do. Campers leave with a textbook's worth of nature knowledge without even noticing because they're having so much fun. All of the trips are completely beginner-friendly without being boring, offering teenagers new to backcountry camping an accessible entry point while still providing a real adventure.
Deposit, final payment, and sliding scale financial support
The $200 deposit made during registration will be subtracted from the final payment cost.
Final payment is due three weeks prior to the start of the trip (link is sent after initial enrollment and deposit is paid). If you have enrolled with less time than that, then the final payment is due within 5 days or before the start of the trip (whichever is sooner).
For families who otherwise would not be able to partake in our programs, we are proud to offer financial support. Please contact us if you would like to utilize this option.
Photo taken by Bastian M. at summer camp
Cancellations
There is a lot of preparation that goes into each of our trips long before they depart. Because of this, the deposit is not refundable after three weeks prior to the start of the camp. The final payment is refundable up until the camp start date.
If, for any reason, the trip you've enrolled for needs to be cancelled, we reserve the right to do so. If the cancellation is outside of our control (e.g. forest fires), your deposit is transferable to any alternative or future program. If the cancellation is within our control (e.g. low enrollment in the trip), you will be given the option to transfer your enrollment to an alternative trip or to have it refunded.
Photo taken by Arlo V. at summer camp
