I think I was in denial. I kept telling people how much the weather of the Middle East does not bother me. Well…I felt it today in a big way. It seems like Summer hit overnight. The humidity cloud dropped on Tuesday and its transformed the way this island feels. I had a shoot today so we were out. At 7:00 AM it was 110 degrees with 70% humidity. I got out of my car, and within about 30 seconds I was absolutely drenched with sweat. Its like I was walking around with a wet blanket on my shoulders. It was a strange feeling. We were at an old fort. The camera that we brought with us wasn’t working because of the humidity. My cameraperson did not bring a back up camera. So there we were at a location 1 hour from the office at 7:00 AM with no back up plan. That is the frustrating thing with some of the employees…they just don’t think pro-actively. So we lost two hours.
We went to the next location which was another really cool old fort. It was built around the 5th Century A.D. and restored about 1000 years later. There was a lot of history there. So we were climbing around on this artifact getting great footage when I realized I wasn’t properly hydrated. I didn’t bring water with me, like I should have for my crew. This was the first production I was on in the extreme heat and I just didn’t plan well. We were out in the middle of nowhere and there weren’t any cold stores nearby. So I just wanted to finish the shoot then take a break at the office. So I tried to push through. We were already two hours behind and I didn’t want to lose time as we have real deadlines looming. Please keep in mind Im a total wimp, because I was so miserable and I didn’t have to lug the camera and the tri-pod around. My crew must have been feeling it much worse than I was. There was one shot I was very nervous about. Nishad, our cameraman was on top of the highest point of the fort wall. He was doing a pan of the fort, the problem was his back foot was only inches from the edge. It was about 50 meters straight down. I couldn’t look, but he seemed fine with it. I felt like I was a bad producer allowing him to place in himself in harm’s way like that but he assured me he was fine.
At the end of the shoot, not only was I drenched, but feeling very lightheaded. I think my body was overheating. I had to rush out and stop at the first cold store to get a litre of water. I’ll know next time to plan ahead. I got back to the office and proclaimed “Who scheduled the shoot on a day like today?…that person should be fired.” They thought that was funny since the person was me. It took me about 45 minutes in the air conditioned office and drinking nearly the litre of water before I felt better. That was an intense experience. I had Armand our photographer take a lot of pictures, so I’ll post them a little later this week.
One thing about me, I tend to get anxious when Im not in control of a situation. This happened when I was driving out to the afternoon shoot. I didn’t know exactly where I was going, thus not completely in control. I am usually so anal about charging my phone overnight, but this time I didn’t. I only had two bars of power left. So I have a GPS on my phone and I typed in the address for the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is this massive tree that is out in the middle of nowhere. It must be fed from water from an underground spring. So I’m trying to follow the directions and I hit the car in front of me. It was stupid, and totally my fault. I scrambled to get the insurance paperwork out of the car. This is the first accident albeit incredibly minor that I have been in since I was 16. The guy, who was a well-dressed Indian, hopped out of his car. He looked at his bumper and the dent, and said oh…it looks like only bumper to bumper damage…no need to call police. I said…um OK. He hopped back in his car. As I was thinking about what just happened, either the dent in the rear of his car was already there and not caused by me…or he was an illegal employee (alien) and was afraid a call to the police would get him deported. Either way…I didn’t have to handle the hassle of insurance, and police reports. I didn’t know whether to feel blessed or guilty about that.
We shot the rest of the day out at the beach and the first oil well in Bahrain which is now a monument. Bahrain was the first country in the Middle East to discover oil in 1931. I bet you didn’t know that. We are out shooting again tomorrow…this time I’ll bring water.
3 comments:
It's funny how you immediately assume that the well dressed Indian could be an illegal alien because not ALL Indians are illegal here... or wanting to cover up his dent!
He probably wanted to avoid the hassle of having to wait out in the sun for the police to arrive and not lose precious time in the process. Actually he was being helpful to you.
You are absolutely right Ashish. I hope I didn't come across as racist. He was very kind and I think you're right he probably did want to avoid the hassle. He was very helpful to me, Im am thankful for that. I was very lucky/blessed.
rough crowd Rick!
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