Thursday, April 16, 2009

GIMMIE A BREAK! No, not that kind...

Hell.

That single word best sums up my last few weeks. Let's take it from the beginning.

After my last post to this photoblog on March 3rd, I finally started to kick my photography here in the Virgin Islands into high gear. I had a very productive shoot in the rainforest in which I stumbled upon a very rare butterfly hideout. Some Zebra Longwing butterflies were loitering in a small enclave and were unusually photogenic -- most of the time, butterflies in the wild are notoriously difficult to shoot as they never sit still for very long. These were incredibly docile and gave me what is probably the best outing I've EVER had shooting butterflies in the wild. Needless to say, I got some very nice images from the shoot.

Even better, my assistant and I had an incredible shoot at Creque Dam, a very special and rare body of water right in the middle of the rainforest. I created some beautiful, moody compositions in which some last minute, blood red clouds cooperated beautifully and put the images over the top. I came away with what I feel might just be the single best image I've EVER gotten in St. Croix in all the years I've been shooting here.

Furthermore, we had scheduled a photo shoot of something I'd always wanted to do: a sunrise shoot at the secluded Jacks Bay where I was going to do both some landscape shooting as well as some model/swimsuit stuff (no, not of myself, silly).

In short, things were going spectacularly. And then came Hell: Monday, March 3oth.

Most of the day was great. I sailed my boat to beautiful Buck Island National Monument and had a very fun, relaxing day. But then, on they way back to the dock, my dinghy suddenly took on water and ruined my camera. Yes, my Canon 5D. Yes, the very same camera that had JUST gotten repaired from water damage only a few months ago. Dear God, why me?!

Well, the worst was over, right? Wrong. Oh so unbelievably, horribly and utterly wrong.

Later that same night, a mere couple of hours after the camera incident, I was running down the steps of my house, when I fell, dislocated and fractured my left hip! Sweet Jesus, I have never felt so much pain in my entire 33 years. I literally laid there screaming in excruciating pain for 30 minutes until the ambulance arrived. I spent 14 days in the hospital, completely bedridden and unable to move my left leg. Two hospitals on two different islands, two surgeries, two cat scans, several X-rays, and a crapload of painkillers later, here I am, back home on St. Croix. I will be in crutches for the next 6-10 weeks. I will be returning to Minnesota at the end of April.

Until then, I will unfortunately not be able to post my latest photos. You can be assured that sometime in May, I will be back in business and will have them posted here. Please don't worry about me. I am keeping a good attitude, and am thankful that I have health insurance and that it wasn't my neck or back that was broken. I am slowly on the mend and will be up and running before you know it.

Before I go, I wanted to keep with my tradition of always posting at least one picture. This is a photoblog after all, right? Here is a picture of an injury roughly similar to mine, courtesy of howstuffworks.com. I know it's not a photo that I took, but given the circumstances, I think you'll understand and give me a pass this one time.

Thanks for reading and take care.