I think that will go down as the most unique experience of the entire event. The people were fun, interesting, and challenging, the locations were spectacular, the physical environment was also challenging, the hours ridiculous, but the sunburnt eyeballs were a brand new experience for me.
I noticed after a sunny day of filming on the lake that my eyes were bloodshot, as if I had partaken of some extracurricular smoking, beyond what was required in the film. I chalked it up to being tired, until Tom was filming in the truck while I was driving into the sun.
He wanted me to put up the visor so that the sun would shine on my face for better light. As soon as the sun shone on them I understood that this wasn’t just tired eyeballs, and I put the visor back down very quickly accompanied by a short whine.
Which begs the question, does anyone manufacture sunscreen for eyeballs? Sun glasses would have been good, but they weren’t part of the wardrobe. Contact lenses simply weren’t in the budget, and they wouldn’t have covered the whites of my eyes anyway.
Maybe this is something I could suggest to the company that makes Visine? I can see it now, Visine with SPF 15. Of course my Scottish blood and red roots generally require SPF 30…
Owen Stairs
