plonq | Year In Pictures: 2010/03/13 (Reply)

The weather was gorgeous today, which coincided nicely with our trip to the zoo this morning.

atara needs to do a photo journal for her photography class, so the zoo trip was going to happen regardless of the weather. The fact that the day was so clement was just a bonus.

The only downer on the day was when I dropped my camera in the aviary house. I had just finished changing from the zoom, to my 50mm lens in order to get some indoor shots. I was putting the big lens away in the camera bag when the camera slipped out of my hands. I also had the strap in my hand, but not wrapped around my wrist or neck as I usually do when executing manoeuvres like this. When the camera reached the end of its strap, it simply snapped the strap out of my hand without slowing. I had been holding it at about chest height, and it landed on the concrete with a sickening crunch.

At first glance everything looked fine when I picked it up, but it sounded like a baby rattle when I shook it. Not good. As luck would have it, the camera landed lens-down. I tried removing the lens cap, and that's when the damage became more apparent (if the rattling wasn't enough of a clue). The cap had been driven back into the lens, and steadfastly resisted any of my attempts to remove it. I swapped back to the large lens and, somewhat to my relief, I discovered that the rattling was limited to just the lens; it had apparently absorbed the bulk of the shock, and the camera body seemed to be intact. I handed the camera to

atara and asked her to take a picture while I tried to pry off the lens cap and assess the state of my new lens.

In the end, the only casualty from my butterfingers was my UV filter and my nerves; the lens and camera escaped unscathed. The cap is a little battered, and the filter literally exploded, but they acted like a crumple zone for the rest of the camera.

Anyway, here is my picture of the day. I shot this one about 5 minutes after my camera disaster. It's some birds. They are pink.

No real thought went into the composition of this picture beyond, "Pretty birds! I wonder if my camera still works?"

Shot at f/5.6, 1/45th of a second at 95mm zoom. Cropped, sharpened, and slightly colour enhanced.

The grumpy leopard doesn't seem to be around any more - mind you, he'd have been pretty old by now as leopards go. This guys is more interested in watching people and less prone to hissing at them and throwing himself at the fence.