Andy Piper , Aug 26, 2009; 09:11 p.m.
Went to Colorado School of Mines' freshman initiation Monday. Followed Robert Capa's dictum "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough". Got caught in the crossfire.
You can see the moment it happened in a video at the link below - about 3:02-3:03 into the video you can see paint hit the girl to the right in the neck and splatters appear on the videocam lens. M8 features in the credits, too.
(link)
They did indeed repaint the "M" - in more ways than one.
Camera kept working - finished that assignment (see stills gallery bottom of web page), and has shot two more assignments since (after careful cleaning).
If I'd wanted the White Edition - I'd have bought one (wink!)
M8 Jackson Pollock edition?
Marc Bergman 
, Aug 26, 2009; 10:47 p.m.
It looks like the Timex Edition for us old folks. It takes a licking and keeps on clicking.
Ken Shipman , Aug 26, 2009; 11:56 p.m.
Congratulations for sitting there and laughing it off. Next time take a long lens, too. ;-)
Vivek . , Aug 27, 2009; 07:50 a.m.
Andy, You are one of the true M shooters. Good going! :)
Ray . 
, Aug 27, 2009; 09:25 a.m.
Nikonos might have been in order.
John R. Fulton Jr. 
, Aug 27, 2009; 11:24 a.m.
Nice shot of you at the end admiring your M8. LOL.
Alex Shishin 
, Aug 27, 2009; 12:51 p.m.
Interesting article and video. Did you get the paint off, Andy?
Andy Piper , Aug 28, 2009; 12:39 a.m.
Yeah, it cleaned up pretty well except for a couple of thin cracks - edges of the front viewfinder glass; in the seam between the on-off ring and the shutter release bezel. As I said, I've used it for two assignments since with no problems.
So it won't go down in history (yet) with Jim Marshall's or Gary Winogrand's famous brassed M4s.
Dayton P. Strickland , Aug 29, 2009; 05:15 p.m.
That's priceless! Are you on staff there or was that a hired gig? Either way, you earned your keep!
Andy Piper , Aug 31, 2009; 02:34 a.m.
Dayton - actually, I'm a partner. I guess that's "staff". Eh! - it was a fun story.
