Lens Cap Overboard!

Just the thought of dropping ANY camera gear into the water drives me nuts.

Last summer, I got a surprise phone call from my good friend, Craig Wolf, who was supposed to be in the middle of a 2 week shooting trip to the pacific northwest.....but, he was calling from home....here in the LA area. "What's up?" I asked. Well, he had dropped his brand new Canon Mark II 1Ds in the ocean, and it was toast! Seven grand. What a way to end a trip.

So, last week we were shooting from a bridge over the Merced River in Yosemite valley...... as usual, while changing lenses, I had set some excess gear on the wooden rail. While reaching for the tripod, the lenscap got bumped, and fell to the surface of the slow-moving water, below. My thoughts quickly flashed back to Craig's nightmare at the ocean, and was relieved to think that my loss here was about three bucks! In reality, the least costly piece of gear in my bag!




Someone in the group yelled out, to let me know that something had fallen overboard. The splash of plastic on the still water added a few interesting ripples to the surface, and I heard the shutters clicking to capture the harmonic patterns. Nice! ....everyone else getting better pictures at my expense. Well, at least the expense was pretty darn low. Luckily, this lenscap floated....and since the water flow was so low, it wasn't going anywhere.

It's funny, how people react to situations based on their past experiences, or even occupations.

Manny Ybanez, who was standing on the river bank below, is a trauma / critical-care surgeon in Florida. So, when he heard the cry..."overboard!"... he went into action. He quickly assesed the situation, and determined that an immediate rescue attempt was in order, and he was in a good location to execute the procedure.

As our errant victim drifted and slowly washed closer to shore....Manny found the appropriate tool (a nearby stick) and at the risk of his own personal safety, saved the day.

Thanx.

I certainly hope that John Adler and Jessie Friend, along with the other good folks at Lee Filters learn of this heroic effort to prevent the potential loss of one of their custom accessories. Not to mention littering and pollution potential to one of our national parks. Just imagine how Manny would have reacted, had I dropped a complete lens shade and filter holder, along with a couple filters!

PS... a month or so later, Craig's submerged camera body mysteriously came back to life, and is now working fine.

Shown Below: The temporarily missing Lens Cover back in it's proper place