I nearly paid a dear price for these unremarkable evening photos of the UW campus and the capitol.

Walking along the dimly lit Lake Mendota shoreline at Picnic Point, I stepped from a log onto what looked like solid ground. Wrong. I immediately sunk up to my knees. With camera in hand, I tried to retreat, only to hear the sucking sound of my sandal being pulled from my foot by the viscous mud. One more quick step to get my balance, and one more sandal sucked off by the soup.

The sudden loss of footwear was surprisingly disorienting. For a split second, I thought I might have to sacrifice the Chacos to save the Nikon. But I regained my balance and, with my free hand, reached down into the still-open cavity left by my escaping leg, found sandal number one and tossed it safely to the path. As the cavity holding sandal number two began to close in on itself, I repeated the delicate extraction, then waded back to safety.

With that, I’m proud to announce that today’s #Project365 post is brought to you by the Peak Design Cuff wrist strap — the world’s most low-profile, unobtrusive way to protect your camera from accidental drops. 

There… I’ve sold out to the man. it was only a matter of time.

Now I need to floss my Chacos.