Two weeks ago I decided to head out in the early morning to September morn beach here on Bowen Island. I have never been to this particular beach but had heard great things about it and I was desperate to get out and make some photos.
I got there at 08h00 which was a little later than I had hoped since sunrise was at 07h15. However I was not disappointed. The tide was in and the beach area was therefore relatively small. The light was unusual. The sun was hidden behind mist which covered the ocean and the beach was bathed in a soft warm filtered light. I was alone, so I put my camera bag down and immediately felt drawn to a rocky outcrop with some driftwood on it. While I started to frame some test shots I heard a ferry blasting it fog horn in the distance.
Suddenly a series of waves appeared out of nowhere. I need to explain something here. Bowen Island is located in Howe Sound which is sheltered to such and extend that the sea looks more like a lake than an ocean. Waves of any size are pretty rare. However, I did not reckon with the wake of a large ferry. All of a sudden I found myself in the ocean with this series of six or seven large waves crashing into the driftwood on the beach. Since I was busy framing my first shot as the waves started rolling in, I simply kept shooting while I tried to move up the beach to get out of the water. I am very pleased with the results and will probably add one of the series of images to the 4th dimension limited edition series.
I was so taken with the moment and carried away in shooting images that I did not even think of my camera bag. When the moment had passed I lowered my camera, took a look at my shoes and pants that were soaked and turned around to pick up my bag when I realized that it had disappeared together with my 16-45mm wide angle zoom which was in it. The magnitude of what had just happened sank in with a cold sweat when I noticed the now very wet bag lying high up on the beach.
My preferred bag for landscape shooting is a “Crumpler” shoulder bag. It is small, tough and lightweight. It is just big enough for my camera, one lens and my filters. The bag closes with a flap and Velcro pad and has no zipper, so it is not waterproof even if the material it is made of is water resistant.
I was convinced that the lens was destroyed by the salt water. I grabbed the bag and opened it, and to my utter amazement found the lens and my filters with nothing but a few drops of water on them. The bag had protected them from the impact of being tossed onto the driftwood and from the salt water.
The moral of the story is this. If you want to get lost in the moment, get a good camera bag…
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