Relax. Nothing sordid! A couple of days ago, I was going down a small dip to get to the river path. It was icy, but I thought it was fine - grass along the side, etc. I had my camera in my hand from trying to track a woodpecker. Well, I slipped and went down, but once I sat up, my first thought was my camera. Was it all right? Does it still work? I tested it out, then got to my feet, with a really sore knee and shoulder, but all I could think about was the camera.
I’ve heard that the first thing a cyclist asks (I’m one) after a mishap, is ‘how’s the bike?’ I’ve done that too. Have other people experienced this - shown more concern for their equipment than for themselves? Or it reserved for the odd folks like me?
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(moved to Nature Talk as it’s not directly related to iNaturalist)
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I tend to be worried about what plant I crushed or web I ruined…but yes, I definitely worry about external objects if I’m okay enough to.
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For me, when I found that the dry autumn leaves underfoot made a nice little sled for launching me down a bank, the first thought was “who saw me”! A very close afterthought though was “oh dang, hope the camera is still good…” and a very long after thought was “bet that’s how someone came up with the idea of tobogganing…”
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I’ve wounded myself a number of times – including almost puncturing my femoral artery on a spiky branch atop a beaver dam – while falling in the field with a camera in hand. But no matter how I tumbled, the camera was always saved. I figure I can heal faster than an expensive SLR with telephoto.
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When I slipped toward my right side, I moved my right hand, holding the camera, toward my left shoulder to protect it rather than catching myself. I then quickly got up, glancing around to see if anyone saw it. Then noticing all the mud on me, checked my lens for mud. Then realized I shouldn’t worry if someone saw me, I should worry if someone sees my current state. :)
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У меня привычка перед сложным или рискованным участком прятать фотоаппарат в чехол. И только после преодоления участка или надёжного закрепления на оном - доставать фотоаппарат и фиксировать наблюдения.
I have a habit of hiding the camera in a case in front of a difficult or risky area. And only after overcoming the site or securely securing it, take out the camera and record the observations.
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Many times. (I fall a lot.) Especially with the phone since I don’t have a camera, I’ll fall and while falling I stick my hand in the air with the phone so it doesn’t touch the ground. Then after checking the phone isn’t cracked, I yell, “I’m okay!” (Because I have never had the luck to fall without a witness.) It might sound weird but I do the same thing with food. ;-) Most of the times I fall is because I am running. You are not alone, unless we are all odd. Which is a good possibility if you are comparing us to the rest of the world. I don’t mind being called weird. I feel sympathy for people who aren’t “weird”, cuz they must be so bored. ;-)
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I hadn’t thought about that aspect of things. Now one more thing to be worried about, although I do tend to walk on (and fall on) beaten paths.
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That’s the thing - I heal, objects don’t. The only time I didn’t think of the bike first was when I somehow missed going into a 3-4 m driveway (!), hit the curb and broke my collar bone. In two. I still managed to ride home (6 to 700 m) and drag my bike up into the porch. I have yet to perfect the technique of holding the camera up.
@kiwifergus leaves can be as bad as ice for slipping. Although tobogganing came from the Canadian North (moving stuff through snow), it is certainly an interesting line of thought. One I may have pursued if I lived in NZ, where +12C is cold!! For the record, I do have good friends in Dunedin, and would love to live there.
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Yes, that’s typical. Make sure the equipment is working before letting anyone else know! Glad to see the younger folks have better reflexes than me. I tend to fall when I’m alone (I’m almost always alone when I’m outside), so I don’t need to inform anyone until I get home. I suspect your tendency to fall will get less as you age. Although maybe not!
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My camera plus telephoto lens weighs just over 5 pounds. I rarely sling it over my shoulder since I like to keep it ready, and I usually carry it out away from me slightly so I can keep it away from brush while bushwhacking. If I do slip, I can hold it up away from whichever way I fall. Hanging it around my neck seems to throw off my balance more than keeping it in hand (where it makes a nice counterbalance – like a squirrel’s tail --when scrambling over boulders). It’s worked so far – never dropped it or banged it against the ground – but that technique has given me occasional tendonitis and a damaged rotator cuff over time. Small price to pay, I suppose.
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I fall cuz I’m clumsy and careless. I know better, but I get overexcited. Especially with nature. Also I have a problem with my ankle. I’m known for"cukoo", “nuts” and “weirdo” to my sisters, and I don’t mind. Instead I prove it, by breaking out into dancing because I got a good picture or because I could point out all the plants in the yard and their medical uses. ;-)
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I definitely try to protect my camera if possible, but good cameras are pretty tough.
I did, however, switch from using my expensive Sony to an Olympus Tough camera for tidepooling. I was spending way too much time worrying about my Sony out on the reef, and not enjoying myself.
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So far I only use my iphone and clip on lens for iNat observations. Personally I’d choose my well being over my equipment. There was one time when my clip on lens fell into a bunch of debris (leaf litter, sticks, critters etc) and I briefly went to panic mode, but thats about the extent of my “adventures”.
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When my camera was new, I slid down a steep slope covered in round pebbles.
The camera survived.
I limped carefully for a few days.
Still using that camera.
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I can see it now. Insurance carriers asking if you are active with iNaturalist…
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Always. Camera gear is expensive, and sometimes you’re far away from any alternatives. Gear always gas to be protected.
A long while ago now I was in the Bolivian Amazon on raft we’d made for a deep jungle trip. Had my old Canon AE1 with me (this was pre-digital, more-or-less, and manual cameras have a vastly longer battery life anyway), and in a rough bit we had to hop out in some rapids. They weren’t deep, but there was pretty good flow and I got knocked off my feet as a boulder turned under my feet. I went down, fully underwater, but got my arm and camera up and safe as I went down.
Edit:
If anyone is interested the raft looked like this, but it was on a slightly more shallow and rocky portion, and we needed to take the weight off. In this photo the other two folks I was traveling with got off and walked around, but I wanted to stay on and run the rapids.
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Yup!
I tripped over a tree root in Central Park (NYC) several years ago, looking through the viewfinder instead of at my feet. The camera was OK, but I limped around on a badly sprained foot for a month.
Nor helped when a co-worker remarked, “We all have to suffer for our art.”
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For expeditions like that it always pays to catastrophise… to list the worst case scenarios and have an action plan in place.
[from the leader of the expedition]
“In the event we trip in the water and the cameras get munted, we will have some crayons and cartridge paper to sketch what we see”…
[after a short silence, and in a quiet voice from the new member of the group]
“what if the paper gets munted in the river as well?”
[the quick and confident reply from the most experienced member of the team]
“then we shall do what they did before there even were cameras, or crayons, or cartridge paper, or even the ashen sticks to scrawl on the cave walls… we shall partake of the fermented berries on the vines, and all problems will cease to be…”
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