For Whom the Bell Tolls - The damage sustained by my photo gear from two years of travel
05:15
"The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all."
My little camera may have fired it's last round. The echo of that last shot bounces down the mist of memory. In a digital world, the cartridges of film-ammunition never run out, but the brave tools that fire them, do.
All soldiers, present and passed:
Olympus OMD E-M5
The photo work horse
The damage sustained:
-Broken mode selection wheel
-Broken ring on primary exposure wheel
-Secondary exposure wheel metal cover
broke off
-Eyepeice lost. Rebuilt from sugru
-Screen for viewfinder scratched beyond
use
-Various broken plastics on body
-Memory card door no longer stays closed
-Software issue- complete setup format
every few hours
-All buttons rebuilt with Sugru to
increase size (to small for gloves)
-Lost hotshoe and intelliport covers
Panasonic GH2
For Smoooooth Video
Superficially fine. Internally, It's photo processor has gone
through a major melt down. It does however still shoot great video.
Which is all it's there for really.
GoPro Hero3 Black
ROCK . SOLID !
lenses:
Samyang 8mm fisheye
Panasonic 14mm f2.5
Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4
Panasonic 45-150/f4.0 – f5.6
By more chance than anything, it turned out to be a great cross section
of lenses. Good for both video and Photo.
Should my gear be this damaged? probably not. I have always made a point to live my adventures first and document them second. As a result, my camera hasn't always been cozy in a camera bag in a safe place. It spent two ski seasons swinging from my neck under a goretex shell and often falling from my cold hands in -30degree conditions. It has endured many trips to the south coast of Turkey, banging around on my back as i climb the glorious limestone tufas there.
It's life has not been easy.
It paid the price, all my gear has. If I were to start again, would i do the same thing?
Yes, probably. Will i continue to do the same thing? no, no longer.
I've had a change of identity recently with my photography. With the amazing opportunity afforded to me by Alaturka Turkey, I now consider myself a photographer of sorts, and photography to be a major hobby of mine. In the past, images were taken amongst the other things i did, with as little disruption to the people i was there with.
Now, i feel my photos deserve more attention and the chance to become what they could be. Maybe its part of growing up, but i'm more comfortable directing people to do something (often whilst cruxing a difficult climb), in the name of the art.
As such, my gear is no longer something unimportant that should stay discrete. It deserves the time to get the right shot and it deserves to be looked after in between. Don't get me wrong. It will still be there at the top of mountains, amongst sea spray and hung precariously whilst placing climbing protection. but I might invest in a bag this time.
Supporting gear:
It's life has not been easy.
It paid the price, all my gear has. If I were to start again, would i do the same thing?
Yes, probably. Will i continue to do the same thing? no, no longer.
I've had a change of identity recently with my photography. With the amazing opportunity afforded to me by Alaturka Turkey, I now consider myself a photographer of sorts, and photography to be a major hobby of mine. In the past, images were taken amongst the other things i did, with as little disruption to the people i was there with.
Now, i feel my photos deserve more attention and the chance to become what they could be. Maybe its part of growing up, but i'm more comfortable directing people to do something (often whilst cruxing a difficult climb), in the name of the art.
As such, my gear is no longer something unimportant that should stay discrete. It deserves the time to get the right shot and it deserves to be looked after in between. Don't get me wrong. It will still be there at the top of mountains, amongst sea spray and hung precariously whilst placing climbing protection. but I might invest in a bag this time.
Supporting gear:
Gopole Reach – (there is no part of this that in anyway still works. But it was brilliant!)
Random shitty turkish tripod (feet broken, legs bent. To be expected)
Gorilla pod (warning. These are only good for the first few weeks. Once they loosen up, they are useless. Good when it works)
Olympus FL300 flash (mysteriously gave up the ghost. Didn't even have the decency to die with a bit of drama or smoke)
Korean eBay time lapse remote trigger (cheap, works perfectly...still!)
cheap ebay pleather half case (worth its weight in gold. Keeps the rear LCD protected and makes the little camera a larger and easier to hold)
braided camera strap (no logos to advertise your expensive kit!)
steadycam (this was heavy and often unnecesary, but i'm glad to have it and it is useful for certain styles)
cleaning kit (a must have! And a place to keep IT clean)
lots of 16GB memory cards ( about a 50% survivl rate over 2 years. Not bad)
waterproof case for memory cards (because I hate losing work
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