[Eaglerapids]

So I'm down by the lake early this morning looking to shoot something. The eagles are gone, thank goodness, I don't need that frustration anymore:-). Nobody else is around. Slowly driving along and there's a raccoon in the road. He scurries off as I pull over so I wait. I know he's just over the bank. About 5 minutes later he peeks over the edge and I have to move the camera ever so slowly. As I do he ever so slowly lowers his head. He was a big ole raccoon, too, but I never get a shot. I mosey along and get down to the parking lot at the end of the road. It's foggy and overcast and there was a fresh skiff of snow. I have my K200/4 on the K10D. Spike and I get out and I'm enjoying the morning even though the weather sucks on this weekend just as it has every freakin weekend this whole god-forsaken winter. The lot is mostly bare with some patches of the new skiff of snow. I take one more step and my feet are over my head. I hit on my ass, the force snaps the back of my head into the pavement and my camera slams onto it's lower left corner sending the lens hood across the lot. There was a patch of super slick ice that I didn't see because of the skiff of snow.
Now, this isn't the first fall that I've endured in my life but I believe it was the worst. I wish one of you guys had gotten a picture of it because it was a solid 10, a solid solid 10. I don't normally brag on myself but believe it or not I'm saying this fall would be an 11....maybe a 12. And this is based on a ranking system of 1-10.
I know how to fall, I mean I used to know how to fall. The fact that I allowed my head to bash into the pavement proves that I have lost the ability to protect myself in a fall. Even though I'm pretty sure I was going down in a head first attitude, backwards.
That hurt physically and it hurt my feelings.
It put a scuff mark on the corner of the K10D. The camera hit hard, I remember hearing it hit. Not a mark on the lens. I haven't found anything wrong with the camera or lens, everything seems to be fine. It didn't crack the body. I just can't believe it. It took me a minute, laying there, to take inventory and shake the cobwebs. I knew the camera was trash, I just knew it. My hips seemed fine, I was expecting blood behind my head. I got up and nothing was broken, a big knot on my head, though.
How the camera survived this ordeal, I don't know, it doesn't seem possible.
Thank you Pentax for a beautiful strong tool.

[bluespearbone]

Ouch! Makes you wonder if those conditions justify some kind of crash hat (like the cyclist wear maybe? a green or white one?) Glad to hear you're in one piece -insurance can repair a camera. A head? now thats not quite so sure.
Pleased you're still with the forum (and that your gear suffered you no cost).

[raz]

Glad you are OK, I once fall exactly like you in winter, on my back and I hit the back of my head on the pavement, really hard. Even if this happened 10 years ago I still remember it as it was yesterday, and I got chills every time when I think back...

So guys, be extra careful on winter/ice/snow

[krs]

We got a bunch of sleet and feezing rain here. I was checking on my 140 pound dog in the back yard (I learned the hard way I cannot bring him inside) and as a result of a playful bump from him, I took a swift trip to the ground. My 40+ year-old back told me about it the rest of the day, but my cameras were safely in the house!

[Stratman]

When I was younger, I used to worry what people thought , now that I am older, I don't care. I walk like a little old lady on ice now, lol, haven't fallen in a long time, and hope i never do again !!

And yeah, that sleet and freezing rain sucks, Bring on da springtime, and the hot humid St Louie summer !!

[Peter Zack]

Glad you're OK. A bonus that the camera made it OK as well. Hope you don't have a mild concussion.

[Eaglerapids]

Thanks for your replies guys. I think my head is ok, no headaches, no seeing double or any of that kind of stuff. I think tomorrow may be a long day at work, it's sore where I landed on my butt, we'll have to see how it feels in the morning. I haven't even looked back there yet:-), kinda scared to. If I can stand up in the morning I will go to work because that's what I do. If I'm dizzy or anything like that I'll have to be very careful around the table saws.

But the camera! Can you believe it could withstand that kind of stress? Wow, I'm still amazed.

[FotoPete]

Oh ouch careful! Glad you're ok. Ditto the camera being ok part too! I shoot with old glass too and my heart would sink if any of them ever fell to the ground even though I have a feeling they'll be better off than I am if I slipped like that.

I bought a used Pentax A-70-210 for $99 and it has a nasty scruff+dent on the built-in filter. Can't imagine the kinda fall it musta taken but it still shoots like new.

I didn't think raccoons would be out it in open in this kind of weather! I guess they got rather hungry and decided to leave their burrows.



Here's a raccoon photo I took last year with a Vivitar 75-205mm f3.8.

Hope you feel better!

[Mallee Boy]

G'day eaglerapids,
Its a funny thing about falling down as you get older....you seem to land harder! first hand experience speaking there.

I, like you, once knew 'how' to fall, or perhaps more like 'minimise' the damage, but a recent tumble was so quick and the landing (on my lower back across the bottom of three steps) so hard (two cracked ribs & a heap of internal bruising) that it was a real wake up call to the ageing process and that thing called mortality.

Anyway mate, glad your able to tell the tale and the good news is.... it does mend!

now can we see the racoon shots please, falling we understand & sympathise with

....but missing the shot!!! not at all in the Pentaxian spirit.

Cheers & get well soon (hope I could make you smile... a little bit).

[christinelandon]

Thanks for sharing that (painful) story with the happy endings for both you and camera. Best of luck on healing the sore spots quickly and enjoying the retelling of the story for many coming years.

So sorry to hear of your spill. Lucky you and the camera are only scraped and bruised. So easy to break a hip, get a concussion... You are very lucky.

I have found my ability to fall gracefully has been severely altered. I think it has something to do with gravity and it's affect on older living things. I have noticed that when a tree crashes to the ground, it is almost always an older tree. And I crash more, and harder now than when I was younger. Of course it could be that I weigh twice as much, maybe that is what gravity is acting on. I am not a scientist but I do watch Discovery Channel...

Great to hear you got right back up...

[Eaglerapids]

Yes, I'm very lucky, whew. I got a good nights sleep and feel fine, a bit sore but not nearly as bad as I feared. When I think of what could have happened.............

And I never got the shot of the raccoon.:-(

[mtnbearhug]

My goodness what a story and what a fall!! Stupid Varment anyway.. . !!!!!

Glad your ok.. that is the most important part.. and the camera seemed to survive as well!!!

Kim

[khardur]

To echo everyone else, glad you're okay. Hidden ice under a thin layer of fresh snow is about the worst at catching people off guard. Take it easy.

[jsherman999]

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Good to hear you weren't hurt (or the camera either, secondarily.)

Speaking as a Minnesota boy, falling like that on super-slick black ice is not something even a youngin' can really control very well, you're at the mercy of your momentum and how quickly your center of gravity goes upside down. What happens to your noggin is up to physics at that point, not your reflexes.

At least you weren't attacked by the raccoon when you were on the ground seeing stars. (it was probably laughing at you... "Not so smart NOW, are you.... biped!"





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