I was so mad tonight, I wanted to punch my own balls off…

Here’s the deal. I called my buddy Kevin earlier today and asked him if he could help me with a quick photoshoot after dinner. I had to shoot about 10 different mud tires, so I had to set up the background, all the lights, clean up the tires, etc… Believe it or not, there’s quite a lot involved in setting up a studio to shoot products. 

To make a long story short, things were humming along nicely - we had all the tires clean and in place. I just drank an ice tea…I was feeling good…

Anyway, I had my brand new Nikon D3 sitting on one of my camera boxes. For some reason, I picked up the camera by the top, not even thinking twice. Well, the dangling camera strap must have snagged on the box and WHAM!!! … the camera slammed to the ground from about a foot or two high and it made a sickening sound as it smacked the ground.

You know that scene in the movie “A Christmas Story” when little Ralphie knocks over all the lugnuts?

Oh FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDGGGGGGEEEEEEEEE.

Yeah. That’s what I screamed.

I quickly scooped up my cherished D3 and cradled it like a wounded child. It looked back at me with a “dude, what the hell?” kind of look… My 50mm lens was torn up and the outer focusing ring was smashed and cracked. There were also some very minor scratches on the camera body itself (minor as in Enrico would laugh at me if he saw it…then would continue using his own D3 to hammer out some dents in some nearby sheet metal or something).

I felt sick. Not because the camera cost $5000 (hey, thanks TransWorld - and I really, really hope my boss isn’t reading this). It also had nothing to do with the fact that it was a bonehead move and I was mad because my buddy was sitting there watching the stupidity all go down… Unfortunately it’s because I am a super anal-retentive gear freak and I can’t stand it when my cameras are even the slightest bit dirty. I shoot in some of the muddiest, grimiest, dirtiest conditions imaginable…yet my  gear is borderline mint condition at all times. I spend hours cleaning my stuff after most photoshoots.

So now, my D3 is forever going to be tainted. I’ll always wonder if that one crash has done something to it internally… Will it fail me when I need it most during a shoot? Will it let me down like I let it down?

It better not. I’m shooting a hot poster model this Friday, so it better hold out until then!