When I drove up to Wicklow Mountains last weekend and tried to keep my balance on a slippery rock while taking a shot, I had a flashback. A major, painful flashback...
Let's go back 1 year in time. I live in Dublin which is on the east coast of Ireland. One fine day I decided to visit my favorite place, Loop Head in county Clare. Yep, that's on the west coast, roughly 3-3.5 hours drive. I was almost there but stopped at Kilbaha to take few photos at the seafront. I set up my tripod, my Canon 450D with my favorite Sigma lens, and turned away to get a filter from the bag. In that 1 second the tripod fell over and everything landed in the sea. I quickly grabbed it but it was too late. The camera instantly died.
Ever since then my Sigma lens only needs 1 hour to kill the battery completely. It's continuously switching between Auto Focus and Manual Focus mode. I still use it, but I have to detach it all the time to save the battery.
After that incident I bought my new camera, a Canon 550D. My new ultra wide angle Canon 10-22mm lens is on its way to Ireland.
So in 1 second I lost roughly €1300.
Few months later I went up to Glendalough with Sylwia and Tom. We were taking pictures on the river bank, when I checked my phone and wanted to put it back into my pocket. Well, I missed it, and my only-few-months-old mobile fell into the river. Guess what? It died. Yep, I know, I am such a plonker. But you know what? I had insurance on my phone, so it was only a tenner to get a replacement.
Few more months later I had another scary moment... Wicklow mountains, Glenmacnass river again. I was balancing on top of a rock in the middle of the river. After taking my shot I realised where I was. The next rock seemed to be way too far and let's admit, I didn't have the courage to move. All my stuff was either in my pocket or in the bag: camera, every single lens I own, memory cards, mobile phone, GPS, wallet. I was standing on the rock for couple of minutes and nobody came to the rescue. I took a leap of faith and stepped. Or rather jumped. I got away with it.
So, I was at Glenmacnass river last weekend having the above flashback. I am very careful these days, when I take long exposure shots or seascape photos, I always make sure that no tide, wind, seagull or anything else can risk my camera.
Instead of whining about my own stupidity I see these as "unplanned upgrades".
Though, a voice in my head keep saying "GET AN INSURANCE!"
Do you guys have any?
