I love photography, I really do. I love taking photos of cool things both for me and for other folks to see. I have been wanting to take a photo of a certain Steam Locomotive UP 4014 at this spot for years. I have investigated it and know exactly what I wanted to get. So on a clear April Day I was there. Middle of nowhere on the west side of the Great Salt Lake. The train was stopped doing some last minute lubrication before crossing the causeway. I'm ready to go. See:

I get a text, I turn to put my phone in the shadow and a gust of wind does this:

Tripod blown over, LCD broken, grip broken and the mount torn off of the lens. I cannot describe what I was feeling at this point. The title of this post is a start. Even as I type this, I feel the sick feeling I had all over again. I had planned to write a triumphal post talking about planning and having in pay off. Instead... this...

Even worse, I somehow bungled my cell camera video with not being able to see the screen in the bright light and didn't get even that. I later figured out that the camera body still worked and I could have put another lens on and taken some photos had I had the ability to think straight.

It was sincerely a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I have insurance and the camera body should be repaired soon. The lens is going back to Japan for an estimate. My dad bought me that lens a year or so before he died.

It will all be covered, but the opportunity was lost, and I have been feeling really down about it. Hopefully, I will soon be back at lens testing and all my usual shenanigans, just with more awareness of tripod stability and more than a small helping of extra care.

Here are my last two photos with this lens and camera before the big boom.