Safety v. the shot

I found this thread:

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=7799&CGISESSID=bac13480318eb4646c19068c1b33b5a7&u=30153

and I wanted to see if anyone has any further thoughts on the risks that you yourself are willing to take for a shot and if or how that has changed with time and experience.

I think that one thing it has to depend on is your own physical and mental agility and acuity, which will vary by individual and by stage of life. I don't mean that to be offensive to anyone at all. I'm 63. I've always been an outdoors person but am realizing now, sadly, that I am going to have to be more careful than I wanted to be.

I've fallen in the same spot (bank on the edge of the spillway in my backyard) three times now. The first time, in August, there were no injuries to me or to my tripod and camera. The second time, a week later, I fractured my left wrist, still no injuries to me or my tripod and camera. The third time, yesterday, I broke my tripod and maybe messed up my camera, and I put a brace on my right wrist and am taking pain pills they gave me for my left wrist. Then there was the situation with the alligator the other day. The thing is, it's a place I really like to go to sit and look for shots. I'm thinking about crawling there instead of walking, maybe. Or maybe I should just not go there anymore.

So I would really love to know how you all arrived at your own balance with safety v. the shot. Whether it's falling on land or falling in the rapids or alligators or rattlesnakes or lions or grizzly bears or poisonous spiders or anything else, how did you come to terms with that for yourself (and your equipment)? Hearing your stories would be awesome. Thank you.

Im sorry to say that im more careful with my equipment than i am with my body, and both take a beating. Bones heal, but a missed photo can never be recovered I think if i accidentally slipped off a 1000 foot cliff, id probably toss my camera towards the closest soft landing spot before i started looking for a branch to hold on to--Its a disease, i tell ya...

As a long-time fire fighter and climber, I found it necessary to maintain situational awareness. This awareness, and knowledge of my skills, coupled with being atuned to what my body is telling me, has kept me out of trouble (and out of the emergency room.)

"Confidence is something you have when you don't completely understand the situation." This can be a blessing, or a curse. The trick is to know which side of the fence you are on.

We need to always weigh risk vs. benefit, in my opinion. A camera can always be replaced, but one may never recover fully from injury, or perhaps not recover at all. To my mind, safety should always be the overriding consideration.

--P

Simple: No shot is worth risking your life for.

Having said that, I did break an ankle a couple years ago while taking a shot off a cliff on the Oregon coast and not watching where I stepped. Fell off the edge of the path, and if I had not grabbed a tree on my roll down, would have likely gone off the cliff to a squished ending.
Had to walk about 2 miles back to the car on the broken ankle (didn't know it was broken then, thought it was just a bad sprain.)
Still drove a couple thousand miles to Bosque a week later for a workshop that required being on my casted leg all day, argh.

Although my recent shots may look "too close" to the grizzlies, wolves, bison, etc - I am always a safe distance away, and have thought of an "out" and also have self-protection training.
I'm actually more worried about encounters in the back woods with weird people, than with animals, and always carry a weapon.
Sandy

I have been fortunate so far. In Glacier National Park, I have had a near miss with a grizzly that charged hikers who I had shared the trail with for a while. We seperated and as my wife and I were taking a rest, we heard an incredibly loud roar from behind us on the trail. Fortunately, everyone was safe. Apparently we had walked right by the grizzly without even knowing it was there. While my wife and I were never threatened, that was close enough.

Another time in Florida, a 10-12 ft gator was lining me up as I photographed it. I left before it came too close.

I took a hard fall on some rocks while photographing some surfers in Mass. The slick seaweed took me right out. At the last second I decided to protect my head instead of my camera. My new Nikon 24-70 2.8 took a beating but kept on ticking.

At Mono Lake, I was very thankful to be wearing hiking boots when I caught my foot on a tufa and fell in a terribly awkward position. I would have done some serious damage to my ankle without the boots. I gashed my knee quite well on said tufa. It was pitch black and I didn't know how bad I was bleeding until I found my flash light that I dropped. In this instance I chose to protect the camera, which I managed to knock over, tripod and all. I stopped its fall, about two inches before it struck the tufa. (Please note: It was not my intention to step on the tufa. I took a step backwards and lodged my boot against part of the tufa that I had not seen.)

All in all I have been pretty lucky. Although there was the time that I was actually rescued by the girl scouts...

Despite my stories, I try very hard to minimize risks. I have spent thousands of hours in the field. I have also refused a few dangerous opportunities. Like the time I lost nearly $500 worth of filters below Sabbaday Falls in NH. I could see them at the bottom of the river. I am confident that I could have retrieved them if I could safely get to them, but that would have required a treacherous ledge walk on slick rocks. I recoginized the strong possibility of slipping and smacking my skull on the rocks. Being by myself, I felt the risk was not worth the reward, but that one was hard to walk away from.

We all have our limits. I believe it was Preston who mentioned being a firefighter and knowing your limits. Its very important that you can be realistic about what is safe and what isn't.

To me, this is dirt simple and it's the very first thing I mention in every single class I teach or workshop I conduct. "Do no harm - no photo in the world is more important than the environment, the subject or the photographer". In other words, don't trample flowers to get to the one you want. Stay on designated paths. Obey all rules and regulations wherever you may be. Don't stress wildlife to get an "action" shot. They need that energy to feed, to grow, to escape real predators and so on. And of course, don't put yourself at risk. Others may disagree but it's my credo.
JR

First, let me say thank god you (and everyone) are ok Barbara!

Well my story and situation are a bit different, but I'll try to keep it brief. I played most sports and was very athletic most of my life. I got sick about four years ago at the age of 43 after getting in the best shape since my 20s, and developed peripheral neuropathy in both legs, complete foot drop in my right, and have other non-related back problems. Almost all at once.

I have to watch every step, and how far I push it no matter what my inner self is saying. I don't wander too far from roadways, watch pathways, can't walk very far, etc. etc. It's frustrating, but I try to be hyper aware, whether i'm shooting myself (usually) or with a buddy. It has also limited my travels to my regional area for the most part. I've fallen several times where it took 10-15 minutes to get up, and warn people I'm shooting with that they may need to call a big chopper if I go down, because not many people would be able to drag my ass out!! So my shots suffer, the angles I can shoot from suffer, blah, blah, blah. I'm looking into new treatments again. Heck, I fell down in my driveway last week and had to wait until a neighbor arrived before I could get up.

But here's the best part of the story. The silver lining you might say. As a result of all this and a move to a rural area at the time... I found nature photography. Or it found me, all around me. My dad is/was a photog for 40+ years, and the simple things came naturally whether by osmosis or genes--the eye I guess you can say. It's also brought us closer together, another big bonus. I still have SOOO much to learn. But it is my passion, it is my euphoria being in the outdoors, no matter how limited. I shoot whatever I see. I've been blessed in that regard and it keeps me going.

So just another perspective, it's not meant to be a rambling quest for sympathy, so please don't take it as such. Love this place and my "job"!!

A few weekends ago I drove to Newburgh, NY, a notoriously dangerous city, to photograph the Washington's Headquarters Historic Site for a book I'm doing. From the "safety" of the actual site grounds I got a few good shots of the vintage homes across the street with my telephoto zoom. Some of these old streets were so tempting but so dangerous, no way I'd get out of my car with $1,500 worth of gear around my neck. Five days later the cops found a double homicide in a house maybe a block from there. Last weekend I drove the narrow, winding road over Storm King Mtn and pulled into a parking spot to get one of the best shots of my life--the morning mist on the Hudson Highlands. Two days later there was a multivehicle accident there because of the fog. When I'm out in the wild, though--I'm always alone--I don't take these chances!

Situational awarness is the key, and the welfare of the subjects. I have never had a serious incident while taking photos, a friend of mine actually fell a short way into the Grand Canyon while photographing the place and forgot where he was standing or didn't look. He did have some injuries, but was lucky to land on a ledge not too far down. It is very easy to get carried away and become too focused on the photography and not what is going on around you or where you are.

Crossing or standing in water seems to be my worst nemesis, or is it me? I've gotten 1 concussion + 12 stitches on one excursion, and a 3rd degree shoulder separation w/ torn rotator cuff and chipped ulna on another. My problem is a warped sense of priorities(like Stan) as both falls had me holding my gear up and out of the way, trying to keep them dry and away from impact with the rocks. No gear impact, but plenty wet. They dried out fine.
I'm 46 and still play sports(hockey & 16" softball), and if I'm not taping something up, I must not be trying hard enough! I do try to stay away from cliff edges because I know I'll have to replace some gear if I survive the fall.

I have to wear full safety gear including hardhats and harnesses for much of my industrial photography, not only on behalf of my body, but also for the OSHA requirements for the job site. It's only natural that I'd have similar regard for my body on my own shoots.

In addition to Preston's insightful comments, I'll add that it's worthwhile having a "spotter" to keep an eye on you and things outside the viewfinder when conditions get iffy. We all get tunnel vision looking through the viewfinder, and there's a whole lot going on outside the field of view.

I think Preston's use of the term "situational awareness" is an important one. I also think an awareness (and honest assessment) of one's own skills and limitations is equally important. The bottom line is that it's never worth getting hurt for a photo.

But the question of acceptable risk is always a personal one. For me, what is an acceptable risk in the frontcountry, with friends, with phones, near a road is an entirely different equation than when I am alone, 15 miles from the nearest road.

After the death of a local photographer last year I posted a topic as to whether people went out with a buddy for safety reasons. Most people indicated they didn't.

For me part of Preston's "situational awareness" is the knowledge that now that I am older the physical strength and endurance I enjoyed in my youth isn't what it once was. I also couple that with my remote location. It is much easier to get in to trouble here than it was in the south and the youthful sense of immortality has long since worn off.

My bottom line now is, if I feel uncomfortable I don't do it.

Alone, far away from anyone, hanging upside down by my legs on a flexing tree limb over the river gorge…. Just a bit too high for the shot of the nest and chicks of the endangered and rare Ooo Ah bird, so I start to bounce and swing to get the limb to give a bit more… The enraged mother raptor comes in at 80 plus miles per hour… I get the shot, just enough time to let go of the straining limb, triple gainer in the air, land on feet….

Perfect.
Got the shot.
Git’er done.
No excuses…

I agree with a couple of the above statements. 1) If your the slightest bit uncomfortable don't do it! Loss of confidence can end with devastating results. Also as Hank said pay attention to whats going on around you. There are times when we become so focused looking through the view finder we become unaware of danger approaching. Over the past 25 years I have had several close calls not being aware of circumstances developing around me.

I find I am much more safety conscious when I have my family along than when I'm alone.


Kent in SD

I find I am much more safety conscious when I have my family along than when I'm alone.

Amen. Kids waiting at home should have the same effect!!!!!

I should modify my point about "spotters." Make sure it's a spotter you trust. Here's an example:

I was photographing bears with my wife and friends, situated on a little rise above the river bank that allowed to bears to pass beneath us unimpeded. Due to the length of the hike to the site and heavy loads of camera gear, we elected to carry only a single 1 liter water bottle each, along with a purification pump for Giardia prevention. Once or twice a day one of us would descend to the river and use the pump to refill all the bottles.

It was my turn, and during the usual midday break in bear activity, I climbed down and went to work.

Over the rush of water I suddenly heard the distinctive whir of 4 motor drives. Looking up, I saw all those long lenses pointed right back at me. Glancing downstream I found myself face to face with a bear at well under 10 feet! Not a word of warning from my spotters.


Yeah, they got some great face shots of the bear, but due to the narrow FOV on their lenses my "trusted" companions missed all the action on my own face!

Well, you don't have to be in a dangerous situation to get injured doing photography. Not my proudest moment........ check out what a bubble level on a camera can do to your teeth.....

http://stephanehachey.ca/blog/?p=213