I used to think nothing much of hiking out with a 60 lb. pack and an additional 25 lbs of camera gear just to enjoy the great outdoors. I made it to some fantastic places that few others have gone and only a small number of those had a camera with them. I would take a couple of prime lenses, several zooms and 2 bodies when I shot film, as that enabled me to shoot nature in all her glory at the scales I found most pleased my eye. Since my interest was piqued by the macro world, landscape, seascape, cityscape, any size animal or plant and people, I felt most comfortable being prepared for anything. I would take backgrounds and studio lights to shoots. I never thought anything would get in my way or slow me down. I carried most of the same lenses when I switched over to digital photography. My interests were still the same, so keeping the ability to choose on the go seemed logical. About 5 years ago, my knees announced to my body, “ENOUGH ALREADY!!!”
I was about half a mile from “The Wave” hiking out of Paria Canyon when my right knee buckled for no apparent reason. I sat down for a few minutes, then pressed onwards. My pace was about half that of the hike in and I had enough water to make it out with no problem, but I knew from the way my knee was feeling that something was not right and getting worse. By the time I got to the halfway point, both knees were letting me know that they were not going to be kind to me. Although I had left “The Wave” in what ordinarily would have been plenty of time to be back to the car by sun down, this time it was about an hour after sunset before I managed to reach my truck. Such was my introduction to the wonderful world of Arthritis! Each day has been a battle ever since then.
It has forced me to make sacrifices in my approach to photography. The first to go were my kayak and canoe which I had used for capturing whitewater action. It was no longer practical to carry either one and I felt as if that was a change I could deal with, besides with a right shoulder that was getting accustomed to being dislocated at least 2 times a year and a left one that had already been rebuilt, they were becoming a bit of a drag. My knees demanded more. I sold my heaviest lens. That was not enough! I stopped doing most of the glamor shoots, as the lighting equipment was getting too heavy for me to set up, shoot and take down. Still my knees were not satisfied! I stopped carrying prime lenses and reduced the number of zooms. My knees were still angry with me! I now use a bag that holds either the camera and a lens or the camera and a flash. It hasn’t helped reduce the pain.
My battle with Arthritis has been fought using everything I could find that had a greater than 50% chance of providing relief and could back up the claim with actual peer-reviewed science. I do not like pseudoscience. I tried some of the “remedies that others swear by, but found them useless at improving my symptoms and a drain on my wallet! The RICE principle (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) provided the best outcome early on, but due to the nature of the disease it is not as effective these days. I have used Acetaminophen, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naproxen Sodium and COX2 Inhibitors over time and found them to be wanting in both actual relief and more irritating to my stomach. I do exercises to keep my range of motion and try to maintain as much strength as possible. The only medication that has actually provided relief, although only for a 2 month period at a time, has been Synvisc (Hylan G F 20). Unfortunately it is only given at 6 month intervals, which means that I get to suffer for 8 months out of the year! At least with Synvisc, I do not need to take pain medication! The downside of Synvisc is that each time it has worn off, my knees seem to hurt more than they did the week prior to the injection.
Since photography is the art form I used to use to alleviate stress, I find it very stressful these days when I pick up my camera during the 4 month period of pain I am forced to endure.