07.25.2020

Fujifilm X-T4 + 16mm F/1.4 R WR: 1s, f/11, ISO400

Nearly always when a storm is hours away and I’m feeling too lazy to leave my bed, I casually browse my social media feeds and get envious and regretful as they fill up with the most beautiful sunrise or sunset photos. With hurricane Douglas slated to weather the state in 36 hours, I was determined to be the one taking those photos this go-round.

Having just been to this general location a week ago (see the previous post) and quite often in the past, I was determined to find a completely new composition that I hadn’t tried before. I wandered around the beach side, which is the opposite direction from where I typically shoot, and came across a nice little spot where the water flowed in a way I liked. Being that it was still dark, I set up the camera rather conservatively positioned and tried a few long exposures to pass the time until it was light enough to get the effect I was looking for. When the light got bright enough to see the landscape, I noticed a little “cave” like opening in the rocks over to the right and I thought “score!”

I set the camera up as low as I thought would be safe enough to clear the waves, but would also create a cove-like perspective surrounded by the rock walls and could see through the other end of the cave as well. As I looked down at the camera to load my filter into its slot, in just that 2 second moment, a large surge of water rushed in and splashed my camera from the front, ricocheted around the cove I was in and soaked my shorts and camera from the back. “AUGH!” with many repeated letters echoed in the wet prison as I dug through my bag for lens wipes to pull away the salty water from the sensitive electronic gear as quickly as I could! The Fujifilm camera is pretty highly regarded in terms of its weather resistance, but salt adds a corrosive element to the equation. After raising the camera back up to a much safer and less desirable composition position, I snapped a few more frames then packed up my gear and headed up to the parking lot (where I store a gallon of fresh water in a jug in my trunk). I trusted the claims on my gear more than I ever had and gave the camera a fresh water rinse to remove as much salt and sand as I could…

The great news is that the camera is still functioning at 100%! The less than great news is that there are a few signs of corrosion around the exposed area around the lens mount. In retrospect, as soon as this had happened, I should have packed up immediately and removed the battery and memory cards before attempting this desperate maneuver, but I am fortunate that no water, salt or otherwise, penetrated the interior of the camera as far as I can see. Be careful out there. Don’t be like me.