🚀 go-pugleaf

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<p>There we were on a catamaran sailboat in the Cyclades Islands enjoying the day. A sunny day, like almost every day this summer on the Aegean Sea, where our cares were reduced to making a choice of what to drink and ensuring we’d all applied enough sunscreen. SPF 45 for me, please. As we made our way, the pretty ladies with us took turns playing in the spray on the boat’s webbed bow deck and I made photos. A rough day, I know.</p>

<p>The waves were fairly mild and much of the spray was fairly predictable. As I got a feel for it, I made my way to a better angle. Unfortunately, I was having a bit too much fun—or maybe that last drink had a bit more in it than I realized—and I stopped paying close attention to the water. The sea, tricky mistress that she is, noticed and threw a curve ball. My first hint was the increased volume of everyone’s screams.</p>

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<p>My second hint was feeling the boat lurch down and the sound of the spray coming. Uh oh. No time to run. Not even time to hide. I went from oblivious to fully aware of what was about to happen in an instant, but with no viable option to protect my camera—which wasn’t in a housing—I braced and made the best of it, thinking that if these were the last frames it was going to make, I wanted my camera’s sacrifice to at least have a chance at something interesting.</p>

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<p>I kept focus on K and kept shooting while the spray hit me from the right. It raced up my body, soaking everything as it went. Buckets of water enveloped me, pelting me forcefully and even making its way between my face and my camera. I tasted salt in my mouth.</p>

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<p>After the wave passed, I turned and calmly made my way inside the boat to sort out out how bad things were and if I was going to be able to save the camera. Several of my fellow passengers expressed concern and I know at least one fellow photographer thought everything would be ruined for sure, but there wasn’t time for discussion and I brushed them off. The first enemy of electronics is water. The second, and more more deadly one, is salt. Making a bet that the weather sealing had held—the only real chance the camera had—I quickly took some towels, moistened them with fresh water, and wiped my camera down multiple times to pull the salt off.</p>

<p>Once I was satisfied that I’d done as good a job as I could—verified to the best of my abilities with the best salt detector I had with me: my tongue—I dried the camera, then pulled off the lens, took out the battery, and opened up all the other bits and bobs and carefully examined and then cleaned every seal. Twice. The prognoses was getting better. I didn’t find a drop of water that had gotten beyond the seals. Quadruple cleaned, I left the camera to dry in the sun and then went up to the bow deck to enjoy the spray myself.</p>

<p>After playing a while, I went back inside and cleaned it again, then, with a deep breath, I powered it up and checked everything out. Much to my relief, it worked.  You know what? It continues to work without a problem. I got lucky.</p>

<p>But you know what else? It would have been OK if I hadn’t gotten lucky. Yah, I would have been miffed and I would have hated dipping into my rainy day fund to replace the camera. On the other hand, I think you’re playing it too safe if you’re not taking risks now and then with your gear. For me, at least, the point of having a camera is to make images, not to drool over it and pet it lovingly like it’s precious.  If I’d killed the camera, at least it would die in the process of doing what it’s supposed to be doing.</p>

<p>Then again, I’m really glad it didn’t come to that.</p>

<h3>Notes</h3>

<ol>
<li>This is the first post I’ve made with double-resolution Retina-ready photographs. If you’re viewing this on a Retina device with a WebKit-based browser and your JavaScript is turned on, you should be seeing them in all their glory. The only exception to this is on the new iPad when in landscape rotation where the iOS web content limitation bug kicks in. I expect that problem to be gone in iOS 6, though I’ve not yet had a chance to try it.</li>
<li>I’m not sure what that square reflection/flare on the final photo is from. I think it’s the sensor. It’s the only thing that seems to make sense.</li>
<li>The camera: A fairly new D800 that had its intiation on the dunes of Qatar.</li>
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<p><a href="http://duncandavidson.com/blog/2012/08/splash">Link</a>