Several weekends ago I make a quick trip to Joshua Tree National Park to work on a sunrise assignment. I left home at 2:30 and arrived in the park about an hour before sunrise. The sky in the east was already growing light. I grabbed my camera backpack and tripod and headed out into Lost Horse Valley to an outcropping of rocks from which I planned to shot.
Scrambling to the top I took off my backpack, set it down and started setting up my tripod. I turned around to see my camera bag sliding down the rock, heading towards the edge. I dove for it, stumbled and we both went over the edge. The fall on that side was only six or seven feet. The other side would have been a lot worse, more like 20 feet.
I remember thinking, “Oh my God, I’m going to fall.” I don’t remember landing but I do remember watching my backpack rolling all the way to the bottom. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt and either was my camera gear. We had a good shoot that morning and I got the shots I had come out for.
Here are some pictures taken this weekend when I was out there again, reenactment of the scene.
Be Careful out There 1
Be Careful out There 2
So, here’s a friendly caution. We’re landscape photographers and we often find ourselves in wonderful, solitary settings far from the madding crowd and at times when less inspired people are hours from stirring from their warm beds. Mother nature is seductive in her beauty and we can easily be lulled into a sense of comfort that may not always be justified. We must not forget that one false step, one slip and we may end up injured in a place where no one would find us.
So let’s all be careful out there.
(386)
You’re too funny.
Been there, done that.