The Worst Shoot I Ever Had - Photographer Columbia MO Kacey D Photography

It started as well as any other shoot. We were exchanging jokes, discussing outfits, and getting some killer shots. My client, who will remain nameless, was the absolute best. It's likely that they don't even know that this was my worst shoot ever.

So, we were about 3 outfits in, and had just changed into the fourth. I was wearing my standard shoot attire of skinny jeans, black top, and sandals. This, my friends, is where things go south.  I shooting an angle from above, and as we finished the pose, I went to move away and (in true Kacey style) managed to catch my foot and full on trip face-first to the ground. Now this isn't the first time things like this have happened during a shoot. You might say that I am a walking calamity. Once I was shooting a few days after a good rain, in Sperrys, and I stepped straight into what I thought was a thin puddle. Turns out it was a four inch deep puddle that was perfectly full of water and completely misrepresenting itself. That's a story for another time though.

Anyway, I fell and I fell hard. Camera in hand. Luckily I threw my right hand forward enough that the camera escaped unscathed. The arm was another story. After hearing a "pop" when the elbow locked out on the fall I immediately went to the worst possible scenario. It could still bend, and since it had gone numb from the elbow down, and I only needed one more pose I thought "Ok, Kacey, we are finishing this shoot." I laughed it off, made sure the camera wasn't damaged, and continued to shoot for about 10 minutes. We wrapped up, and my client left in good spirits, probably thinking I was the biggest clutz ever. Rightfully so.

I sat down and started flexing the arm back and forth, probably rocking myself back and forth, thinking "It's only painful when I go totally straight so I'm probably ok, right?? It can't be broken. I can't have my arm in a cast. I can't have surgery. I NEED this arm to shoot." At that point I called my mom, on the verge of a panic attack, near tears hoping that she would tell me I was overreacting. (Yes, I am 28 and still need my mom to console me in times of crisis.) The fact that she was 2 hours away and had no idea what exactly had happened got me the response "If you think you need to go to the doctor then you need to go." As any self-respecting kind-of adult with no kids will tell you, we don't go to the doctor unless we are dying. (@jonoBLITZ)

Naturally I held off going for a little over two weeks. I know, that's bad. But I had a wedding to shoot! What if they put a cast on it, or worse it needed surgery?? That could mean six weeks of being out of commission. How would I pay my bills?! Clearly, I was freaking out. When I finally went, it took 15 minutes and 2 x-rays to determine that I had a radial fracture in my elbow and needed to see a specialist immediately. Whoops.

In the end, I lived and was able to continue working, sending major thank you's upstairs for that! This shoot will be hard to beat as the Worst Shoot Ever, even though the bad parts had nothing to do with the shoot, the client, or the images. I can only blame myself. My client had no idea that I broke my arm, they loved the images, and walked away happy which is the MOST important thing.