The sound of one hand...?

[Ari]

I broke a metacarpal yesterday, requiring a substantial cast, leaving me without the use of my left hand (I am left-handed) for 3-4 weeks.
Have you gone through this before?
Would you care to share any tips regarding loading film, processing, shooting, etc with one hand?
Or just tell me to relax, which I'm already finding impossible?

Thanks

[SergeiR]

Aye. I am ambidex, and my left hand was torn up pretty badly by icefall (it looked like somone chew on it and spat out). Half of nerves there never recovered in full, so i had to relearn how to use right arm as primary (i cant hold wee things with left one anymore). Not fun , but i get by :) Took a while, though.

Sorry to hear about yours.. It will get there, you can use torso movements to help a bit with day to day stuff.. Shooting, if you always were left handed might be a bit iffy, but if you do use release - should be ok. Loading film - tricky, but can be done with 4x5 - just need to figure out how to keep flap.. i cant think of good way to load 8x10 with single hand.

I trained right one by doing all those funny things like rotating juggling balls and pencil between fingers. Helped a lot. But again - took time.

[Ari]

Thanks, Sergei; sorry to hear about your hand, but you're still shooting, and that in itself is remarkable. Moloditz!
I have no problem with dexterity in my right hand, it's just the stuff that really needs two hands will be a problem, i.e. loading film onto a Jobo reel.
My wife says to turn this into an opportunity for reflection and rest, which sounds harder to me than loading a Jobo reel with one hand!

[SergeiR]

You can get that loading thingy for Jobo reels :) Then you need one hand only.

[Heroique]

Sounds like a good time to do some scouting for future shots!

Can you take scouting notes w/ your non-writing hand?

You could also bring your 35mm camera, sorry, I mean iphone. :D

[John Kasaian]

Been there. Adapt.
Even if you aren't able to accomplish much during your recovery, it will be an eye opener for you!
Do it. Turn a bad situation into a priceless experience.

[ROL]

I broke my right thumb in a botched contact jam move (don't ask – my first broken anything, ever), resulting in a hand cast to make sure it healed correctly. Try to keep in mind that there are people out there without arms (or legs) who function happily their entire lives. You're only in it for a few weeks and you will become more adept at using one hand as time goes on. This might even turn out to be great learning experience for you. RELAX.

I adjusted for the short time (6 weeks) I was unable to use my dominant hand, both physically and work–wise. I got a lot of procrastinated work done on the computer (like editing scans), but did go into the hills with my LF kit a week before cast removal. It was only slower and a bit more of a hassle to set up and shoot, but I didn't bother with any lab (wet) work, until the cast came off.

[Vaughn]

Heal fast!

[Drew Wiley]

I'm right-handed, and when I was young broke my right wrist. I did a lot of illustration back
then and was surprised how fast my left hand acquired the same skills as my right. But not
long after I was out of the cast and had full use of my right hand again, my left lost its
analogous dexterity. Strange.

[David R Munson]

I'm right handed and broke my 5th metacarpal in the first term of my freshman year, when I was taking a photo course and a journalism course. I also had mono at the time. On my right hand, my little and ring fingers were splinted with the cast, but I had the (awkward) use of my other fingers. I learned how to do a lot of things left-handed, adapted a lot, and just got used to holding a Nikon F4 with a casted hand. I suspect its impact on your day-to-day life and photo activities will diminish to mere inconvenience in short order. By the time you get the cast off, you'll have adapted in ways you probably hadn't expected.

[Ari]

Hey, thanks, everybody; I really appreciate the input on an essentially temporary problem.
I am always grateful to have use of all my faculties, I hope there was no self-indulgent whining coming through in my post.
I have to lay low for a while, and focus my energies on the non-mechanical aspects of photography, which is something I don't do often enough.
As a good friend told me this morning, walk around; you'll see and feel new things that will have an impact on your images when you start making them again.

[Jody_S]

I can't comment on losing the service of an arm for a time, but I've had 4 knee surgeries and I know how I can go stir-crazy when I'm prevented from getting out and about. All I can say is that this happened in a period in my life when I had quit photography altogether, and I regret that. There are so many new feelings, from frustration and helplessness and dependance (in my case, on people who weren't dependable), and I had no way of processing, much less expressing, any of those. In the end, it turned out to be a transformative period in my life, but to quote Andy Warhol: "They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."