Ow.

I spent the day at a video shoot for one of our wine brands. It was amazing to be surrounded by such talented and creative people - extremely inspiring! I know I always say how I want to shoot more after these and it's true, I still need to shoot more.

Towards the end of the day, the light was getting to be perfect as it does almost every day, so as they were shooting on the little beach, I set up some bottle shots on the deck above the beach. Got a few shots in and decided to move the bottle to the railing for a different perspective. I warn you all, please do not do this while looking through your lens. I backed up, very expensive fancy camera in one hand, bottle of Riesling in the other, and tripped over a massive, rusty, horn cleat (how did I know what it was called, you ask? I just looked it up, I'm not a boater), like this one:

I can honestly say I didn't see it. That could be because I was walking backwards, one eye closed, one eye smashed to the viewfinder. To give you some perspective, this particular horn cleat was about 5 feet long and a foot wide. Not a tiny little thing...

In slow motion, I tumbled backwards, struggling with all I had to stay upright, how human adults should be. I was diligent (obsessed) with keeping my camera in the air and making sure I didn't drop it or fall on it or smash it in any way. Broken bones will heal, a broken camera will not. Here I am, crashing loudly onto the deck, with seven video crew members and three models right below me on the beach. Production stopped while they asked if I was ok, I called out that I was and more importantly, my camera seemed to be fine. My ego, on the other hand, was not. Well, that's not true. Falling down is extremely funny, especially if you're the one it's happening to. I'm pretty banged up, but hey, the camera is fine and the bottle of wine didn't even break. I'd say today was a good day.

PS: Hey, horn cleats: Number 1, your name is stupid. Number 2, why don't you stay on DOCKS where you belong and not on DECKS. That may have helped my brain remember you were there. I don't care if you are retired and you just want to hang out on the deck and watch the sunset. You're big, rusty and you have no flexibility to get out of the way when someone is about to fall over you. I'm just sayin' - go back to your home.