The worst photography day of my life

A good few years ago I headed of for the weekend with my wife for our wedding anniversary. We booked ourselves into a nice hotel in the Fermanagh lakelands. At the time I had a Nikon D7000 and had just gotten a Sigma 10-20mm lens a few days before. So of course I wanted to try out the new lens so I set the camera up on a tripod at the end of a jetty. My wife asked me something and as I turned around to answer I knocked the tripod with attached camera and lens straight into Lough Erne.

Now I can't swim, but not thinking I jumped into the Lough to retrieve the camera luckily enough it wasn't that deep. The camera and lens was completely destroyed though and it obviously put a bit of a dampner on our weekend.

On the way home I stopped into a local shop and bought a D700, which at the time I had been wanting for a long while but hadn't bought as the missus would normally not have been amused. She could see how annoyed I was about losing the other gear though so let this one slide.

"Accidentally" knocked it in and ended up with a new D700....hmmmmmmm :LOL:
 
I'm austistic, so I would have been in floods of frustrated tears had this happened to me. I'm detirmined to leaarn by my error's and not let it happen again, even through fate hates my guts and wishes me dead. Amazing photos by the way :)
 
I'm austistic, so I would have been in floods of frustrated tears had this happened to me. I'm detirmined to leaarn by my error's and not let it happen again, even through fate hates my guts and wishes me dead. Amazing photos by the way :)

When the Universe and everything in it is against me that's when I'm determined to carry on, just to annoy the Universe and everything in it :D

Glad the OP's memory card was ok :D
 
Three excellent shots to show for your troubles! But I think you can learn a lesson here - this might sound harsh but it reads as a failure to prepare and potentially complacency and a lack of alertness on location. If we're alone in remote places that can lead to serious injury or worse.

The first thing to do is check your car before setting off and that includes oil/coolant/washer fluid levels, tyres etc. Unless you had an oil leak it sounds like you didn't check your car before leaving home, but if you'd broken down you'd probably be waiting for hours for assistance, possibly in the dark in a remote area, and would there even have been a phone signal to call for help?

As someone else has said you need to tread very carefully on boggy ground, step lightly before fully putting your weight down, but if you're rushing you're probably going straight in. Tiredness is a really big problem on photography trips - we drive long distances and being up at the crack of dawn and out late for sunset, with punishing hikes in between and rushing to be in position it's really easy to get complacent and that's when accidents happen like your camera falling off the tripod. Thankfully it's only the camera that suffered, be on your guard next time!

Slightly off topic but I cringed at one of Thomas Heaton's recent vlogs when he was out with Simon Baxter...there was a moment he headed down to a precariously steep and slippy ledge with a big drop to a river below - he was on his own by that point and the river was loud, if he'd have gone in that could've been game over - who'd hear the shouts for help, assuming he'd be able to shout... Photographers who've never had a catastrophe don't see the dangers, but you should always think of the worst case scenario and treat the landscape with respect, otherwise it bites!
 
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There’s no ‘right’ answer with bogs (except avoid!) but I’m a bit unconvinced by the ‘tread lightly’ advice as I think you can end up well into it before you sink in. I have to say I’ve always had a stick with me, which is not always convenient if you are carrying a lot of camera stuff, which I wasn’t.
I do think that you can get a good idea of where the safe bits are from variations in vegetation and so on,
 
There’s no ‘right’ answer with bogs (except avoid!) but I’m a bit unconvinced by the ‘tread lightly’ advice as I think you can end up well into it before you sink in. I have to say I’ve always had a stick with me, which is not always convenient if you are carrying a lot of camera stuff, which I wasn’t.
I do think that you can get a good idea of where the safe bits are from variations in vegetation and so on,
Regardless of precautions, I feel that the only really safe practice is to never be alone in hazardous situations..

I had an accident a couple of years ago on our farm, which we run as a horse rescue and rehoming centre. No harm done except for some badly broken ribs, but it was extremely dangerous at the time. I slipped on some stone steps and landed heavily on my back, which hit the edge of one of them.
There were two other people there but they were in the fields somewhere, and even if they eventually missed me they would probably have assumed that I had gone to another field and wouldn't have worried.
No mobile phone signal.
It was late evening, pouring with rain and I knew that I was losing core temperature.
I eventually managed to ignore the pain and find the strength to get into the house, but it was nip and tuck.

Because of this we now all carry two way radios with a very good range, we can also change channel to contact neighbouring farms and can also transmit on VHF emergency channel 16, which would reach the coastguard via a relay station, and each farm vehicle also carries red flares. But we know that the only real safety system that works is to never be alone, which in our situation we just can't do, because if any of us were to be hurt by, say, the quad bike turning over, a bad fall or injury from an animal, it may not be possible to summon help. I was reminded of this by an accident on another farm, when a visiting vet was very seriously injured by a bull. The stockman was with him, he had the sense to call for help on his radio before trying to rescue the vet - just as well because although he was also very badly injured, they were both saved by the other farm workers.
 
Regardless of precautions, I feel that the only really safe practice is to never be alone in hazardous situations..

I had an accident a couple of years ago on our farm, which we run as a horse rescue and rehoming centre. No harm done except for some badly broken ribs, but it was extremely dangerous at the time. I slipped on some stone steps and landed heavily on my back, which hit the edge of one of them.
There were two other people there but they were in the fields somewhere, and even if they eventually missed me they would probably have assumed that I had gone to another field and wouldn't have worried.
No mobile phone signal.
It was late evening, pouring with rain and I knew that I was losing core temperature.
I eventually managed to ignore the pain and find the strength to get into the house, but it was nip and tuck.

Because of this we now all carry two way radios with a very good range, we can also change channel to contact neighbouring farms and can also transmit on VHF emergency channel 16, which would reach the coastguard via a relay station, and each farm vehicle also carries red flares. But we know that the only real safety system that works is to never be alone, which in our situation we just can't do, because if any of us were to be hurt by, say, the quad bike turning over, a bad fall or injury from an animal, it may not be possible to summon help. I was reminded of this by an accident on another farm, when a visiting vet was very seriously injured by a bull. The stockman was with him, he had the sense to call for help on his radio before trying to rescue the vet - just as well because although he was also very badly injured, they were both saved by the other farm workers.
Yes, I remember you coming here for advice on radios after that! I agree about never alone etc though sometimes even that doesn’t work on moorland at least. A couple of years ago a friend of mine was out on moorland in winter in a dispersed group with no one near. He fainted and fell back among the heather and was quite invisible. By mere chance someone saw him fall or he might have lain there for hours. Also by chance she was a nurse and had a mobile phone signal to call the air ambulance!
 
As above some of the posts can be summed up as "risk assessment".

I recall visiting one of my customers whose premises were one of a small group of industrial units within a much larger estate.

I saw that he was in plaster and clearly had had a nasty injury......though he was (when I saw him) continuing to run his business. Now why was his situation a salutary 'lesson'?

  1. He worked alone in an environment with injury hazard/risk.
  2. He quite often worked late when all of his neighbours had gone home.
  3. The injury was the result of a fall from an unguarded small mezzanine to the works floor approx 10ft below.
  4. As far as I recall it was his wife, when having not arrived home and being unreachable, found him at the works......and it was she that called the ambulance!
FWIW
Approx 10 months after that customer visit, having made other visits in the meantime, he advised me he was going to sell up and close the business to retire!
 
There’s no ‘right’ answer with bogs (except avoid!) but I’m a bit unconvinced by the ‘tread lightly’ advice as I think you can end up well into it before you sink in. I have to say I’ve always had a stick with me, which is not always convenient if you are carrying a lot of camera stuff, which I wasn’t.
I do think that you can get a good idea of where the safe bits are from variations in vegetation and so on,

Yes, it's not easy sometimes to find your way. It was pretty much all bog around the base of Mt. Errigal in Donegal when I slipped and ended up waist high in water. I was using walking poles at the time - obviously I need more practice! Luckily my camera was in it's bag and okay. I injured my hip and back with the fall and had to hobble the rest of the way down.

Glad you made it home okay and you did get some lovely photos @Andy Into The Wild

Edit: I wasn't alone.... the lengths I go to, to get my husband to carry my camera bag :LOL:
 
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The first thing to do is check your car before setting off
As someone else has said you need to tread very carefully on boggy ground
Well, the headmaster has spoken!

But let's move on. I've spent a lot of time alone in wild places, and before digital technology and cell phones existed, too. Yes, you do an overall risk assessment - terrain, hours of daylight, equipment carried, etc - and as you walk / climb a moment-by-moment risk assessment unfolds in a kind of flow - on boulder scree, say, your attention is two to four paces ahead of your feet, so that if a boulder rocks, small matter, your next footfalls are already planned and you're already leaving it ...

Essentially, you take responsibilty for yourself, and yes, it's a serious business - but at the same time, no adventure is without risk. You may find your own balance point between the two and it might be gauged by how many dependants you have ... but we are all mortal and you have to LIVE whilst you have the chance ...

I was coming down a hill once in a winter mid-afternoon, and met a guy going up. He told me his route intention and I told him that I thought he was pushing it, daylight-wise. The rescuers found his body the following day.

I've had a few scrapes. Yes determination is bloody useful, and often luck is handy too - luck is always handy. Something or other can happen to any of us. But experience of a given terrain is vital. How do you get experience, though? Ah ...

Well done, Andy. Great pics!
 
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Well, the headmaster has spoken!

You can mock but it sounds like Andy didn't check his car before the trip so that could've been a self inflicted breakdown in the middle of nowhere with a knackered engine as well as a camera to pay for. I've had stupid injuries on these trips and can totally relate to Andy's story, it often only takes a moment's loss of concentration for an accident to happen and if there's no one around you can be in trouble as you've alluded to... In the end he got off ok but we shoudn't take these trips for granted, I'm only saying that as someone who's had bad experiences and hopefully learnt from them!
 
You can mock but it sounds like Andy didn't check his car before the trip so that could've been a self inflicted breakdown in the middle of nowhere with a knackered engine as well as a camera to pay for!
You can do all the checks in the world on your car. That won’t stop it from having a break down in the middle of nowhere after a 12 hour drive. These things can happen. Best to have some roadside cover at the least if you are planning a long drive somewhere.
 
Yup, my car actually does have a slow oil leak so it most likely would have cropped up at some point over the 1.3k miles I did in those 4 days. Luckily the known issue was the cause of the engine warning light in this case, but I do have gold plated breakdown cover as well.
 
You've got some lovely shots though, I'd be happy with them... and in some ways it sounds like you had a bit of an adventure. Sometimes a bit more fun to look back on than plain boring days spent not doing anything?

Life's for living and it sounds like you did just that.
 
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