Several weeks ago during one of my brother’s layovers in Boston (he is a commercial pilot for Delta Airlines) I wanted to photograph him in uniform. We were outside the terminal, it was cold, and I was wearing thin fleece gloves. As I was about to take the photo, I lost my grip on the camera and it fell four feet onto the concrete with the lens extended. Despite significant cosmetic damage it continued to function, producing perfect images. Today, however, it finally succumbed to its injuries and is no longer operational. Knowing my passion for photography you would be correct in assuming that this is not some cheap point and shoot model but a rather expensive high end compact. It has a huge one inch sensor and very high quality lens. The combination, given adequate light, is capable of producing images that rival my DSLRs in quality and I carry it with me at all times. Although I have special insurance for just this sort of scenario, I will probably not file a claim.  There will come a day when my seriously expensive DSLR and  lens is stolen or falls off a tripod and I don’t want to have depleted my good will with the insurance company. Several years ago, I filed a big claim when my camera and lens took an ever so brief dip in the North Atlantic rendering them both dead as a door nails.