A lot of photographers are glad they took out the damage waiver on equipment when accidents happen. While we hate losing equipment, I have to admit we sometimes enjoy reading about exactly how this lens or that camera returned in the shape it did. This weekend, though, we not only got one of the best stories of “how I broke your stuff”, but the photographer, Andrew Kane, sent pictures of the actual event. How, you ask? Because Andrew, like the pro that he is, had a second camera and lens around his neck in case there was some close-up action while he was shooting wildlife with a Nikon D4 and 600 f/4 VR.

Here’s the story in Andrew’s words:

I recently rented a D4, Wimberly head, and 600VR from you, and the day

before yesterday, I had a little bit of an accident. I was photographing a

coyote here in Yellowstone and I followed it into the woods about 300yds

away from the road. As I am taking pictures of the coyote, I heard twigs

breaking behind me, and as I turned around I saw it was a grizzly bear. I

picked up the tripod with the D4 and 600 on it and slowly started to back

away. The bear got closer and closer as I tried to back up. When the bear

got to within 20 yds. of me, I bumped into a brush pile that I could not

lift the tripod over, so I had no choice but to leave the gear and continue

away from the bear.

And here’s what happened next:

Not being willing to let things go with just a full pushover, the bear decided jumping up and down on the equipment would be a good idea too.

In a testament to the durability of the new D4, in Andrew’s words “The D4 functions properly, but the lensmount is bent and the images are backfocused severely”. In a testament to the wisdom of having the damage waiver, replacement equipment is already on it’s way to Andrew. If he gets shots like these with his backup equipment in a situation where I would simply be concentrating on not soiling myself, I can’t wait to see the shots he gets with the D4 and 600 VR in more stable conditions.

Addendum: Our friends Jody, Linda, and Anne sent us this “Bear’s Perspective Flow Chart” to present the bear’s point of view.