{"id":36528,"date":"2017-08-31T05:59:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T09:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=36528"},"modified":"2018-10-01T12:49:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:49:27","slug":"nate-smith-passionate-about-photographing-natural-muskoka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/nate-smith-passionate-about-photographing-natural-muskoka\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Smith became Instagram famous by sharing his passion for Muskoka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photos supplied by Nate Smith<\/em><\/p>\n

Nate Smith is passionate about the outdoors and loves to share photos of his paddling and snowboarding excursions. People around the world have taken notice.<\/p>\n

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Nate was born in the King City area and he credits his parents for their decision to move to Muskoka for the outdoor opportunities for their three young children. “We did lots of family camping and our parents fostered a deep appreciation for the outdoors in all of us.”<\/p>\n

He grew up in Bracebridge, moving to Huntsville in his early twenties to manage a Surf Paradise Shop. He explains, “I was into skateboarding and snowboarding and I thought that being in a job that surrounded me with equipment that I loved to use was a good fit.”<\/p>\n

Asked if he was an athletic child, he smiles, “Not at all! I was more of an outdoor bookworm.” Nate shrugs off the idea of his love of snowboarding and canoeing as having any fitness objectives: “I guess that some level of fitness is a natural by-product of what I do but I don’t do it with fitness in mind. I do it because I enjoy being outdoors so much.”<\/p>\n

Nate stayed in town after the board shop closed and he has been a familiar face around Huntsville for the past 15 years, the last four of them as a manager at Algonquin Outfitters.<\/p>\n

\"\"Because of Instagram he’s become recognized around the world. That’s thanks in part to a photo instigated by Nate, who ran to grab a friend and a board when he saw just how much water had flooded the parking lot of the local Beer Store in 2013. The photo was taken by AO colleague, Randy Mitson. The image shows Nate on an SUP (stand up paddleboard) making his way to the Beer Store on the aptly named Beer Lake. The image ended up on the Facebook page of comedian Larry The Cable Guy and got 40,000 likes.<\/p>\n

Smith is no one-photo wonder, though. He has almost 3,200 followers on a platform where people average a couple of hundred, but growing his numbers doesn’t appear to matter to this laid-back outdoor enthusiast. His advice to anyone starting out on Instagram is simple: “Worry less about how many ‘likes’ you’ll get and focus more on the experience you’re having as you take the photo.” He adds, “If you take photos of things you are passionate about, it will show.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t