Dangers of Photography

[mastamak]

Two weeks ago on a landscape photography workshop I slipped and broke my leg. Fortunately no damage to camera and gear but with screws and titanium plates I am now on crutches for 6 weeks. And herein lies the problem. I cannot figure out how to get my camera out of its bag and crutch outside to fiddle with it. Not that my wife will help as she has banned all photographic activity on pain of divorce. My ever helpful son-in-law was anxious to remind me that the next time this happens I must throw the camera to safe ground before I hurtle over the cliff. He reckons that the last photo will be a doozy.
One upside is I have plenty of time to catch up on CiC. Anyone else have photographic disasters they would care to admit?
Grant

[rawill]

That is a very big Ooops!~!

But you are here telling us about it, and there is always tomorrow.
Another day another task, good time to get into a bit of new PP.

[Colin Southern]

Sorry to hear Grant. Might be time for a divorce; relationships may or may not last, but photography is forever!! My kids would ask me "Dad - who do you love more, your children or your camera" I just answer "that's an easy one ... the camera".

Trying to think of stuff-ups I've made ... I've had the usual "can't see anything through the viewfinder at night" one (lens cap on). Shoot an entire series of landscapes into a setting sun ... and discover I'd left the aperture set on 2.8 the entire time.

Best one I can think of was a scene that I thought might work well, but it meant wading into a cold river with tripod - pulling some gorse out with bare hands that was spoiling the shot ... took a series of shots, all of which were lousy. So ended up with no keepers - cold/wet butt - and a few prickles in my hands ... and then discovered the following scene "there for the taking" about a minutes walk down the same track (with easy access). DOH!

[Ken MT]

Even worse than breaking your leg
8th September 2013
A man has died after being struck by a steam train he was trying to take photographs of on the West Coast.

The man, around 50 years of age, was taken to Greymouth Base Hospital with serious head injuries, a St John ambulance spokesman said.

He later died in hospital.

The accident happened inland from Greymouth some time before 5.50pm yesterday, a police spokesman said.

The man had been taking photographs of the steam train.

"It appears the train has been closer than he thought."

[rawill]

What can anyone really say.
That is truely tragic.

[Donald]

Not that my wife will help as she has banned all photographic activity on pain of divorce.

I'm sure she'll be persuaded to understand that photography is important for your emotional and mental health. She will want to retain the generous, gregarious, loving, husband that you undoubtedly are. I'm sure she'll be able to see (once you tell her very clearly and directly), that she places all that at risk by denying you your pleasures in life.

[jcuknz]

With regard to Ken's posting ... if you have live view there is probably the option to have an immediate review in the EVF of the shot you have taken ... mine has been set to one second for all my cameras since getting this option and it is suprising what can happen in one second. First time I was photographing a 7.25" train coming towards me, but fortunately on a curved track so it just brushed past me .... second time [awhile back I posted my photo of an angry bull seal] and didn't appreciate he was coming for me. We were alone together on a beach devoid of people and perhaps a mile from the access path.

But if Ken's guy had his set to more than one second the train probably was almost on him before he realised his danger ... horrible thought ...

Then there was the time when I jumped out of my car after a pair of mountain lions [ as Americans call them ... bobcats] ran across the road in front of my car Phantom Canyon CO.. One stopped in some trees across a paddock and I took a snap, miles too far away for even a 430mm lens on a 5Mp camera, and walked back to the car ... not thinking until after the mate might have been doing rearguard in the bushes beside the road with my back to it.....


My Daughter-in-Law was bringing in her 16yo cat one evening and looked around to see one of them about ten feet away ... both DiL and Cleo hi-tailed it back into the house PRONTO! No pussy for big pussy's dinner that night!
I have been quite close to one inside a cage in a wildlife park and it looked horrible and scarey.
From my childhood in the fourties I remember a 'western' where one jumped off a rock the hero was resting under ... YUK!

[Shadowman]

More of a danger to myself, I was at day four of a ten day vacation, felt a pop in my calf muscle-extreme pain and could hardly walk afterward. I had planned an excursion for later in the day so I went back to the hotel, iced down the leg, applied pressure and rested for a few hours. Went on the excursion limping all the way through. Could have done more damage by continuing to use the leg but wanted to capture more images of my travels. Took almost a month to heal where I am at 95% recovery. Could I have shortened the recovery time by resting the leg for a longer period of time, perhaps but when you've flown across the country you want to make the most of your limited time. Would I do it again, most likely.

[jcuknz]

What women do for their male photographer partners .....

Halfway up Durango and Silverton
Winter time ....That nice white clothing on that dirty rail ... she is truely noble.
Note the photographer, the male, is not inside the track.

I remember there was also a very serious photographer with his tripod frustrated and irritated at this carry-on as he wanted a head on shot of the loco

[rtbaum]

Solution is obvious.......mount camera to crutch

[RustBeltRaw]

Sorry to hear about your leg, Grant. Though that's much easier to manage than an irate spouse.

Solution is obvious.......mount camera to crutch

At least for the next six weeks, you'll never forget your monopod.

My record is crawling into and through an old trash incinerator, now a home and bathroom for hundreds of pigeons, to get a flash shot up the smokestack. The best shots require respirators and knee pads. Liked the result, but my gear and clothes weren't happy with me. Had one of those "you might be a photographer if..." moments when I downloaded the images to my backup drives before showering. Priorities.

[mastamak]

Problem solved with gaffer tape - Welcome to CRUTCH CAM.



Grant

[RobertsMx]

And herein lies the problem. I cannot figure out how to get my camera out of its bag and crutch outside to fiddle with it. Not that my wife will help as she has banned all photographic activity on pain of divorce.One upside is I have plenty of time to catch up on CiC. Anyone else have photographic disasters they would care to admit?
Grant

Fortunately, no. Not yet.

Just take it as a break from the norm, recover soon, and I'm sure your wife will be okay at the point (within the discipline she is bound to prescribe).

[drjuice]

I think I confessed here last November that on the afternoon before Halloween, in my quest for architectural details, my feet got happy while I was standing on a cement bench and I cracked, not my left leg with the hip replacement, not my spine, not my head, not my camera gear, but my left elbow. When I saw the xray, I asked the ortho doc could he just put a shim in it. He grew up in Greece and didn't know what a shim is. ;~( So, he put me in a cast-like device to hold the elbow together until it grew back together about four months later. Fortunately, it was the radial head that was cracked and not my left funny bone. Not only would it not have been funny, my punny friends would have had a field day.

The pictures came out great and now I've been out photographing turtles at the William O Douglas Outdoor Classroom (WODOC) pond up in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

End of confession, repeated or not. I will appreciate a note from Pope Donald or Pope Colin noting that I have now fersure confessed! ;~)

virginia

[Ken MT]

When you said crutch cam I had another thought!

[dan marchant]

I ruptured my slime bag.....

I am at the beach taking photos, or rather clambering over rocks by the sea. I slip on a particularly slippery rock and my feet shoot out from under me. Most of me, and the camera, hit the sand. My arm, including my elbow hit a rock. It hurts quite a bit but everything works so I head home to change my wet trousers. When I get there I happen to look in the kitchen mirror and see this...



Friend of my told me she suffered the same injury while in Germany. The Doctor didn't speak English and the best translation they could come up with was that she had ruptured her slime bag.

[Jable]

I ruptured my slime bag.....

I am at the beach taking photos, or rather clambering over rocks by the sea. I slip on a particularly slippery rock and my feet shoot out from under me. Most of me, and the camera, hit the sand. My arm, including my elbow hit a rock. It hurts quite a bit but everything works so I head home to change my wet trousers. When I get there I happen to look in the kitchen mirror and see this...



Friend of my told me she suffered the same injury while in Germany. The Doctor didn't speak English and the best translation they could come up with was that she had ruptured her slime bag.

Well, I`m spanish, but the name of your lession is "Olecranean Bursitis". Many times appears just because the rubbing of the elbow against something hard, causing an excess of the normal synovial fluid, that fills this bursa (bag) whose mission is just allow the motion of the skin over the elbow`s olecranon ( this part).
In your particular case, looks like is not only synovial fluid, probably it has some blood due to the direct trauma.
Many times, it resolve for itself, but occasionally it does not; So, it would be a good idea to consult with a Traumatologist nearby.
I`m sorry for my English

[Daisy Mae]

You have most probably dislocated your elbow..I did some years back.

Go to the hospital!!!!

[Daisy Mae]

I'm sure she'll be persuaded to understand that photography is important for your emotional and mental health. She will want to retain the generous, gregarious, loving, husband that you undoubtedly are. I'm sure she'll be able to see (once you tell her very clearly and directly), that she places all that at risk by denying you your pleasures in life.

Yeah..yeah..right!

That's gonna happen!

[Jable]

If Dan says that the elbow is working correctly and has only slight pain, for sure he has not a dislocated elbow.
I´ve seen many olecranean bursitis in my professional life as Traumatologist and Orthopaedic Surgeon.