Broken Equipment

Just returned from my second trip to the Lake District, and yes the weather sucked again, but what's worse I trashed 750€ oF equipment.

I was standing with Risrafel on the northern shore of Wastwater waiting for a sunset that never came when suddenly a severe wind blast hit my tripod which was standing in a creek bed about 10 feet away from me. So whilst I was searching for the filter package of my B+W 110 which was still in the backpack I only with the corner of my eye saw the camera crash lens first onto the boulders. I had the lens hood and the B+w 110 on it as well as the battery grip - everything broke.

The filter splintered into a million pieces I assume since we were only able to find 4-5 very small shards in between the rocks. The  threads however were still on the lens but completely bend so I can't get the filter of again since the frontal thread of the lens is also completely ragged. The lens hood was also nowhere to be found and the battery grip is also broken in half.

Now the funny thing is that the front lens of my Sigma doesn't even have a single scratch and the K5 is also completely functional as far as I can tell. So I was able to continue shooting the next day but sadly no long exposures or anything else that'd need a filter. Still it seems like I'm followed by bad luck since I already have some equipment that needs replacement and now another 3 items got onto the list.

• Slik Ball head: 120€ (my 3 way is very rusty already)
• Hoya Pro1 CPL: 80€ (although I'd rather get a different brand since the Hoya one isn't good)
• K5 BG (copy): 80€
• Sigma 10-20: 500€
• B+W 110: 100€
• Compact Camera: 180€

That is basically all the stuff that has given up it's ghost since I came back from Portugal earlier this year. I was finally content with the equipment and now I am stuck being an amateur again having to worry about equipment and money (just a reference to my signature). And I have no real idea where to get the money from. I could sell my lesser used lenses like my Tamron 17-50 or Tamron 90 but that won't really be sufficient to raise the money I need. So it's either hiatus until I get my stuff back together and bide my time until next spring when I'll be off with SvenMueller again most likely or selling other stuff to make up for it.

Also if anyone want to purchase prints even before my website it up; which will hopefully be the case by the end of the year, that might help me out to get some of the smaller things back together. But I guess it wouldn't suffice for the major investment of a new lens anyway. Well, one good thing is that I still have some pictures to process and my next endeavor will be a return to the autumnal Granat Nature Reserve with JanPusdrowski for which I'll mainly need my Sigma 70-200. Yeah, I'm trying to think positively but lately life hasn't made that an easy task.

~Alex