Embarrassing fall over

[Peter Rush]

Ever fallen over while filming at a wedding? Well never in 8 years for me but I managed it at Friday's and Saturday's weddings...

On Friday's wedding when the tog had finished her big group shot I go their attention for a shot of my own. I was stood on a low wall and in front of the wall was what I took to be a small shrubbery - how wrong was I. When I got their attention I took a step forward and what I though was a shrubbery but turned out to be the tops of 4' high trees - down I went and all that was visible was my A7 held aloft like Excalibur! - I suffered a grazed shin and bashed kneecap - my ND filter flew off but I managed to find it intact.

At yesterday's wedding I had just borrowed a bridesmaid's bouquet for a quick shot and set off across a rough footpath and tripped over a wonky kerbstone - again down I went - I held on to the bouquet but my camera suffered a knock - it scraped badly my lens hood, bent the microphone jack and cracked the little door that closes over the sockets, the socket seems ok but I might get it checked over at the end of the season. I also suffered a bash to my other kneecap and scraped my wrist which started to bleed - worse somehow was the fact the both the knees of my pants tore so I felt a bit like tramp the rest of the day - not just my dignity in tatters!

I ache like hell today.

Any similar experiences?

[Roger Gunkel]

Pete it's a sign you're getting old :-)

I haven't fallen over yet but your torn trousers reminded me that I did have a wedding a few years ago, where I bent down to get a low level shot and split my trousers from fly, right round my crotch to the waistband at the back. That was highly embarrassing, but a guest at the wedding had a pair of beige Chinos in his car that he lent me. Trouble was they were 2 sizes too big and it wasn't! helped by the girls at the wedding commenting 'Nice Trousers' for the rest of the day.

Roger

[Noa Put]

Not myself but I have seen my share of falling photogs, once a woman photog who dragged her lowepro bag with trolleywheels up some stairs while holding her big 5dIII in the other hand, at the last stair, just in front of me, she trips and I see her make a nose dive but I never forget how she managed to keep her 5D pointed up in the sky when she hit the floor :) She was all bruised up but her canon was perfectly fine :)

[Steve Bleasdale]

Using glide-cam last week backing up walking, fell over and bumped into a large tree, ouch...

[Noa Put]

Well, I just remembered something that happened last year, the bride prep was in a hotel and it had a main bedroom and the bathroom was a separate room without any door inbetween, at least that was what I thought, when I walked from the bedroom to the bathroom where they where doing the makeup I slammed real hard into a full glass door that was closed. the glass was so clean you couldn't see the door. I had my gh4 in my hands and my luck was I was looking at it to change some settings while I was walking so my head which was sticking out a bit and took the full hit first. The bridesmaid that was getting her make up did see it happening and couldn't stop laughing. :)

[Adrian Tan]

Hey Peter, I'm still recovering from a fall from maybe a month ago. Slippery shoes, I was running, wet pavement, ankle twisted under me, down I went.

Pretty sure I broke a finger; it's still swollen and doesn't close properly. Badly sprained the ankle, still doesn't fully flex. Lots of bruising to outside of thigh. Spent the rest of that wedding hopping around.

Main problem: 70-200 lens got damaged. The lens parts are loose, and IS is dodgy. Filter thread bent. But actual surface of lens almost alright. I'm still using it, though I'm very suspicious of it. Seems to produce OK image, but can't shake suspicion that it's a little softer than it should be.

Main morals I take from the story... Well, shoe grip is important if you're going to run. But the other moral is "Always use protection". I've dropped a camera once before (while doing photography: didn't lock the belt holster properly, and it popped out when I bent down). What I found, surprisingly, was that the UV filter on the front of the lens saved it completely. Filter cracked at point of impact, lens didn't.

This time, same sort of deal -- UV filter cracked, and later had to be sawn off, because of bent filter thread. Actual lens was scratched a little bit, but only at the point of the crack, where the glass from the filter might have touched the coating.

People sometimes discuss whether or not to use UV filters, since any glass in front of the lens is going to degrade image quality. But I guess I've found that lenses I've used without UV or clear filters have had scratches to coating over time, from debris and overzealous cleaning. And that plus the unexpected benefit of fall protection make me a UV advocate.

[Craig McKenna]

Have yet to fall over, though I did nearly fall off a mountain when I was taking a picture on a mountain in Banff, Canada. I was walking backwards with a prime attached, and my entire right leg slipped down the mountain side. It'd have been quite a fall, but I managed to hoist the rest of my body forward as my leg went, which saved me.

At least wedding fall overs are just death by embarrassment... and hopefully NOT death to your gear.

Feel for the 70-200 in particular! Pete, the excalibur line is a classic! Hahaha hope you're alright!

[Robert Benda]

Just a few weeks ago, I took a hard fall when I stepped on a spilled drink at the dance. It was very dark. Fortunately the only damage was to my Canon nifty fifty. I can't imagine why I had that on my 5d Mark ii, but the lens is in 2 pieces now.

[Chris Harding]

Drinks are a curse! I did a wedding last year and the dance floor was literally swimming in spilt beer! A guest near me slipped in the wet beer and crashed into me and I went backwards into the DJ desk and landed on his expensive laptop! Like the rest of you I held the camera high in the air so all it got was a bit of a beer splashed on it ... Amazingly enough I was fine and the laptop survived as well. All the camera needed was a wipedown but the next day it did smell a bit like a brewery ! We have strict venue rules here "no drinks on the dance floor" and obviously the DJ neglected to enforce it !!

It was only my last little bit of footage of general dancing so no critical footage was lost.

[Paul Mailath]

walking backwards with a full steadicam setup

Vimeo

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by Paul Mailath

walking backwards with a full steadicam setup

https://vimeo.com/99299074

It says on my iPad that there is no video present ??

Roger

[Dan Tolbertson]

Last year I walked off the edge of a stage. It was only a 2 ft drop but when you are focused through a little viewfinder and walk off into nothing it makes for a pretty hard fall. I was using a Sony CX760 which was on a monopod and it completely flew out of my hand when I fell. It hit hard (as well as me) and the battery few off and I figured the camera was toast. Nope! I lost the clip that was being shot but that was the extent of the damage (other than pride) rough part was that I knew a lot of people at the wedding as it was a friend of mines wedding. Still hear about that one occasionally.