The Ocean Strikes Back
Not long ago, our crew was up California-way, doing some motion picturing in Monterey. Our location was along the edge of the majestic, but mysterious Pacific Ocean. During some b-roll fancifulness, one of our team members was victimized by a rogue wave. While his eyeball was pressed firmly into the eyepiece, fighting the midday sun, wave after wave of cool, refreshing, salty sea water crashed below along the rock ledge. Trouble was closing in though. Like a prowling tiger shark stalking it's prey, a twenty foot wave was racing inland. By the time the audio technician was able to spot the beast, it was too late. The thunderous noise of the smaller waves was enough to drown out his cries (in retrospect, the audio guy was a little preoccupied snapping photographs of the impending doom to try to warn of the danger). Our cameraman was deep in a rack focus when it happened. In an instant, the entire northeastern Pacific ocean emptied it's contents onto our hero; it was as if Neptune was taking out a millennia of anger on David and our camera. After the initial attempted drowning, our hero dashed inland in hysterical fear, Neptune's trident striking valiantly. Fortunately, David was not swept out to sea, only to be remembered as Tom Hanks was in "Cast Away", unfortunately, our poor camera was lost to a lethal combination of hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, and chloride (H2ONaCL). The lesson we can take away is: don't get your cameras wet- that's bad.