Finally, before our main story, here is the latest in my series of vlog style videos about the book.

A Crazy Find in Milford Sound!

Now, on with the main story... Last weekend I was out with the Fiordland Camera Club doing some sessions for their workshop down here on the South Island and after they had filled me with some awesome muffins (really, they were fantastic and numerous) we headed down to Milford Sound for a fun sunset session.

As my friend Chris and I were running about setting up our shots we stumbled across this embedded in the sand...

That'll be a Canon R5 with an RF 24-105mm f4 L IS and accompanying tripod! (Photo credit for all 3 images: Chris Watson)

So how did many thousands of dollars worth of gear end up like this? That's what we'd like to know too! Experience tells us that the water levels in this area of Milford Sound can change rapidly. So maybe someone here on vacation set up for a long exposure or timelapse, went to snack or "something" and then returned to find the camera was out in fairly deep water, unwilling to risk the rescue. One thing is for sure, it's been there for a while.

As Chris mentioned, the water has caught him out before and he's had to wade back to the shoreline. I've been a little stranded too, so it does happen.

Chris has spent some time with it now, digging out the memory card from within and our hope is to rescue some or all of the contents. We'd love to find out the full story and maybe get the final images to the owner. Not sure they'd like the leftovers! :D So, please do share this newsletter with your photographer friends and let's see if we can track down the owner. Here's the link to the web version of the newsletter if you want to share that. Email [email protected] with any info on the mystery camera owner!