Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: Image Northwest on December 29, 2004, 07:57:54 pm

Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Image Northwest on December 29, 2004, 07:57:54 pm
I've lost a couple cameras and lenses, fortunately not stolen. but broken in the act of using/transporting them.  The worst experience was losing a camera and expensive lens over a cliff.  I was in the Olympics and walking out of a steep basin, which required a climb up a rock wall of about 150 feet.  Not able to do it with my backpack on, I simply tied a rope to it, with the intent of hauling it up after me.  Once at the top, I nearly had it within reach when the strap broke.  My camera was attached to the outside of the pack, along with my tripod. What seemed like several minutes (probably several seconds) all I heard was my pack tumbling down and pieces of metal flying,  I cried right there.

Eventually I got the courage to retrieve everything.  Naturally none of the outside camera equipment was intact.  I gathered up the pieces, since I didn't want to be accused of littering, and marched back to the car.  The silver lining is that I went to a different camera system and never looked back.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: on December 29, 2004, 11:16:12 pm
Not my experience, but it happened to a friend of mine. Let's call him Fred.

Fred spent 6 weeks shooting 4X5" transparency film on a dream trip around the American southwest. He returned home with a couple of hundred sheets of film, and though it was a Saturday night, and his lab was closed, he dropped everything off though the night deposit box. To keep things safely together, he put it all in a large green garbage bag.

On Monday morning he called the lab to see if they'd started on his film. Their response was, "What film?"

Long story short, a newly hired cleaning lady working the Sunday shift at the lab, found this green garbage bag on the floor inside the lab, and thinking it to be just that, garbage, had thrown it in the dumpster. By the time the mistake was realized the dumpster was at the city dump, and the film lost forever.

He didn't touch a camera again for two years.

Michael
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Image Northwest on December 30, 2004, 11:56:11 am
Another one for me is the time I spent 10 days at Malheur National WIldlife Refuge getting shots of sandhill cranes and various other birds.  I was getting up early, before sunrise, and planting a blind in various places.  I was using film at the time and after each roll was taken out of the camera I put it (without the canister) into a zip lock bag.  At the end of each day I then deposited it into an ice chest back at the field station.   Well...the ice in the chest eventually melted and the zip lock bags were not exactly zipped tight.  Water leaked in and destroyed 40 rolls of film.  Unprocessed Velvia and Provia produce a highly saturated yellow/green liquid when mixed with water.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: FGARVIN on January 04, 2005, 02:03:46 am
I have a very recent bad experience, I shot a job three weeks ago, toward the end of the shoot my flash card filled up and my camera battery went dead simultaneously. When I got back home I could not download anything, tried everything. I called Lexar, they had me send the card in, three days later I had a new card overnighted back with this sad reply "original card experienced an electrical failure, files unrecoverable". I hope that never happens again.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: boku on January 04, 2005, 10:21:14 am
I have found that I can now expect to "Christen" my major aqcuisitions. So far I have had two such "Christenings."

1) Early Spring 2004: New 10D and 70-200 f4L Zoom. I thought my L bracket was secured in the Acratech saddle and went to move my tripod for a better angle on a shot. Kerplunk. 5 foot down to parking lot gravel.

2) Late Fall 2004: New 20D and 300 f4L. I thought my L bracket was secured in the Acratech saddle and went to move my tripod for a better angle on a shot. Kerplunk. 5 foot down to snow covered pavement.

I was able to use copy and paste because my 2 Christening events were like deja vu.

Lessons learned:

A) Canon makes some good SH*T. Nothing ever broke either time.

 Always check the camera attachment before major tripod moves.

C) Get an RRS lever shoe instead of a thumbscrew type for visual confirmation and feedback. (I have an RRS ballhead on order.)
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Abdee on January 06, 2005, 05:55:10 pm
Few days ago while roaming streets i saw this guy peeing (its noon, busy street, but he was doing it anyway):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/Abdee/pisach.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/Abdee/pisach.jpg)

I took shoot and like i knew what would happen i put my camera into bag. Suddenly i heard few fast steps behind me and felt something sharp hiting left side of my back. It was guys foot... He than tried to punch me but i was stronger and i managed to take him down with 2 hits into face... He ran away.
When i got home my mom saw that my t-shirt was bloody... I'll have nice scar... Funny thing is that he had some weird kind of shoe that managed to cut me altough i was wearing M65 military jacket...
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Coops on January 20, 2005, 07:41:53 am
this is a personal recount of something that happened to me a few years ago (as opposed to the luckless Fred) while on a 4x4 trail in my Landrover Defender. A friend of mine who had accompanied me on the trip had to park his own vehicle before I proceeded up a exceptionally trecherous section of the trail, which wound its way up a mountain... This friend of mine hopped into my Defender from the rear end, but failed to close the door properly, and during a particularly bumpy section the door swung open... I didnt think much of it at the time, but when i arrived home later that evening (after driving the 200km home), I realised my camera equipment was not where I thought it was. What had happened was when the door flung open, my Lowepro bag fell out, along with my prized Canon and lenses... I am quite sure i wept, ha ha... Fortunately i knew the owner of the reserve, and contacted him, and managed to describe the exact point at which the incident happened. He promptly sent out a search party (friendly South Africans, i must say) and located the camera equipment intact, and had it delivered to me... I could happily wipe away the tears...
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: andybuk99 on February 01, 2005, 05:02:53 am
argghhhhhhh nightmare

my worst experience was having to photograph a handbuilt jaguar c type, the client didnt want to pay for a studio with cove so had to shoot it in his barn!!! my assistant let me down on the morning of the shoot so not a good start. turn up at the shoot then the client advises me that we have only till lunchtime to get the shots as the car was going to be shipped later that day. so rushiing around like a goon setting up lights paper etc and then it happens!! 1) trip over wire, 2) wire pulls background stand over, 3) look round in horror as £50 background roll penetrates bonnett of substantially more than £50 car.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: wolfnowl on February 24, 2005, 10:16:23 pm
Worst photography experience?  Hard to decide...  There was the time I was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at low tide; very windy so I had the tripod legs set very wide.  Not to be outdone the wind changed directions and blew the tripod over onto a rock. Snapped the tripod collar on the 400mm lens and dented in the top corner of the XD-11.  Minolta offered me a trade on a new body.

One time in Regina (Saskatchewan - prairie province up here in Canada) I received an enlargement back from the lab, along with a 1 cm scratch across the middle of the slide.  Almost pulled the guy over the counter, but it wasn't his fault.

Funniest time was when I was working with Environment Canada in Quebec.  Sitting at streamside, just before sunrise, with camera, (different) 400mm lens and tripod a few feet away.  A white-tailed deer doe came quietly down to the other bank to drink.  Being a seasoned biologist type person and an experienced photographer I immediately LUNGED for my camera and she scooted off.  Set it up anyway and she came back a few minutes later.  Took some wonderful shots of her, several songbirds later that day, and about 3:00 p.m. I realized I hadn't loaded the film.  Being up before dawn addled my brain.

A similar experience was on the east coast of New Brunswick, Sunday morning.  Traveling east to Nova Scotia, and I had parked the car on the side of the roadway to shoot some boats and scenery at low tide.  Going on a visit to friends'; not really a photography expedition, but never want to be without some equipment.  Finished the last of the film, drove about 300 yd down the highway and there was a salt marsh with THIRTY SEVEN Great Blue Herons in it.  And so where does one find film on a back highway in rural New Brunswick on an early Sunday morning?

I was asked to shoot a wedding once for a friend's son.  Never again.  I'm NOT a wedding photographer!  But that's another story.

Bottom line:  Equipment can always be replaced and there will always be another 'once in a lifetime' shot.  Sunrises aren't going anywhere.  As for the others?  The film in my memory never gets lost...

Mike.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: wolfnowl on February 24, 2005, 10:20:24 pm
Forgot about when I was in college and had my own key to the darkrooms.  Used to bulk load my own film, develop, etc.  One day I had loaded a roll of shots of lightening onto the spool for developing, set it down, then started loading another roll.  I was having trouble getting the film leader started, so I took the roll and the spool and put it in a drawer then turned on the light to find another spool.  Took the first roll that was still sitting in the spool, on the counter, in 100W of incandescent light, and threw it out...

Mike
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Stef_T on December 29, 2004, 06:43:59 pm
One of the biggest concerns that I have about starting to get serious about photography is the idea that I am going to invest a great deal of money into this, and that the chances of something happening to my equipement seem pretty high. Seriously, I have been having dreams of spending my savings on a 1Ds MkII and a 600mm lens, then for some reason it falls of a cliff, or into a river or that I leave it on the top of Mount Everest.

I realize that this is pretty unrealistic, but I really am concerned that something along these lines, or more probably theft, will happen if I ever get this type of expensive equipement. I was wondering if some of you would care to share if this type of thing has ever happened- dropped into water, or down some stairs, or you forgot it on a tripod on a mountain or it got stolen. I ask so that we could perhaps share some laughs (or tears) but more importantly so that I see if my fears are actually valid, that you could ruin or lose your equipement even if you are careful with it?

Thank you, Stefan Tarnawsky.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Stef_T on December 29, 2004, 07:31:46 pm
I have yet to get  dSLR, and yes I will definetely get insurrance for it. I simply wasn't aware the insurance will cover theft, and other losses of the equipement. Does it actually cover this, and if so how much does it cost?

Thanks, Stefan. Please keep the experiences coming.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: camilla on December 29, 2004, 08:13:11 pm
well let me choose one of many.. my mind goes right away to an experience about ten years ago I guess when the ElanIIe came out. I bought two, to be on the safe side, and took with me another older Canon camera as backup. I used the cameras for several weeks without any problems.

Went to the Southwest and in Monument Valley, my very first day... the Elan IIe's did not work- a problem with the contact of the batteries I learned later--- the older Canon had a problem with changing lenses so I ended up shooting for 9 days, with one lens on my old old Canon AE. It was a pathetic sight indeed as I had hired a special guide to take me to an extensive trip to the Anazasi ruins...
 
Canon replaced the two cameras with new ones, but, who can replace the time, the cost of the trip and everything else?

My suggestion, travel VERY prepared for many unforseen circumstances..
Now, I am prepared and take backup cameras and ship everything I didn't need back home from one or two destinations. It's expensive, it's sometimes cumbersome, but, in most interesting places there are no supplies, no replacements, nothing at all.
Lots of luck
Camilla
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: rickster on December 29, 2004, 09:36:45 pm
Making the same hike ten days in a row waiting for the perfect fall foliage and weather to coexist, then finding you left your CF cards behind.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: BryanHansel on December 29, 2004, 11:43:41 pm
This summer, I kayaked 560 miles of the Mississippi River.  When I got back my film all the rolls were processed wrong.  I still had a few shots to take on the roll in my camera, so I have one roll that looks good.  Too bad, it was from the last day.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Paul Sumi on December 30, 2004, 12:08:10 am
Nothing terrible, but have made some easy mistakes.  Once I was in a hurry, didn't secure my camera properly, and dumped it off a tripod into the dirt.  Fortunately everything survived although my heart skipped a beat when I picked it up.

I've also been caught without spare CF cards or camera batteries and have had to cut sessions short.

One other easy mistake to make is to not check your ISO, exposure compensation or other settings to be sure they are appropriate.  I've shot at ISO 1600 in broad daylight before discovering my error.  I now go through a checklist before shooting.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Lisa Nikodym on December 30, 2004, 11:35:54 am
From the "it could have been worse" category:  I'd have to say, the time I dropped my camera bag while hiking in the Sierras.  The trail was unfortunately winding its way up an extremely steep slope, and I watched as the camera bag tumbled its way down the slope for over a hundred feet, unable to do a d*mn thing about it except stand and watch and occasionally wince.  Once it got to the next switchback and rolled to a stop, I hurried back down to get it.  Fortunately, everything in it was completely undamaged.  On that occasion, I dubbed that camera bag "The Camera Bag of the Gods", and have used it ever since (to the extent that I refuse to get any gear that won't fit in it; though it's getting to look rather grotty from longtime use).  Good ole Tamrac!

Then there's the time my camera was broken when my spouse, who was carrying it at the time, slipped and fell into a creek in Yosemite and landed on his back in the water on top of the camera bag (yes, same camera bag).  What was funny was that the trail had been very close to the edge of a precipice for parts of it (just not that particular part), and he couldn't remember how close the edge was to where he had fallen, so he just lay there in the shallow water for several very long seconds before asking something like, "Excuse me, just how close am I to falling to my death if I move suddenly?" before we reassured him he was in no danger and he got up.  The camera never worked after that (having had someone land heavily on top of it, that would have been too much to ask for), no photos survived that trip, but it was about time for a new camera anyway.  :)

Lisa
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Peter McLennan on December 30, 2004, 12:11:47 pm
On collecting my forty-plus rolls of exposed Kodachrome 64 from a trip to India, the lab lady started piling stacks of new yellow boxes on the counter in front of me.  "No, no", says I.  "I want my exposed film back, not new rolls".  "Sorry", she said, "You had emulsion batch 103.  You get all this film to replace the damaged rolls."  My entire shoot was three stops underprocessed and VERY magenta.

At least I could blame Kodak and not myself.
 
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: seth1595 on December 30, 2004, 03:24:45 pm
I went to shoot a testamonial dinner for an important local bigwig. Since this was an important job I decided to borrow my partners brand new 645 system with three lenses and a prism finder. 645 slr's were brand new then. During the speechifying, my flash was acting strangley firing at odd moments, and driving me crazy. When I processed the film, I realized that the lenses in this system have a seperate "T" setting on the barrel and the 150mm, the lens I was mostly using was set to time exposure. Calling the client was my worst experience. Always know your equipment.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: how786 on January 04, 2005, 06:35:40 am
My worst experience occured while I was being trained by my dad to develop his B&W film. (In those days he was using Plus-X) I was about 13 or 14 at the time.
 My dad was a teacher who worked weekends as a photographer of weddings and bar mitzvahs to make extra money and summers at a hotel in the Catskills doing photos for guests.
  He was quite good at what he did.
 The disaster that had occured is that, very early on, I must have poured hypo into the developer and vice-versa. Needless to say, the next batch of film that I developed came out totally blank! I think it was 3 rolls shot with his Rolleiflex.
 I was totally chagrined.
  Howard
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Ray on January 04, 2005, 08:52:22 am
Might as well add my worst experiences although they're really quite trivial compared to some I've read.

After picking up my D60 a few years ago, which cost by far the most I'd ever spent on a camera in my life, I went on a shooting trip for a few days. Whilst hopping along half-submerged rocks at the top of a waterfall, with camera in hand, I slipped and fell in the water. I remember those split second decisions one makes in such a situation ... whether to protect life and limb, or camera. There was no danger of going over the fall so I probably got it about 60/40 in favour of life and limb. The camera hit a rock with a sickening thud and got severely splashed, although not totally submerged. Of course it wasn't insured.

Was I surprised to find the camera, after wiping dry, seemed to work perfectly. I continued to take over 10,000 shots over the next few years without a hiccup.

Camera equipment can be more robust than you think  :) .
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: flash on January 05, 2005, 07:23:04 am
I rode a push bike from Cairo to Capetown. For quick access I kept my cameras in a bag on top of my front luggage carrier. My main camera at the time was an EOS5 with a 35-350L attached. In Uganda while travelling down a hill at 60kmh the rack broke and fell under the front wheel of the bike. After digging the gravel out of my hip I inspected the camera. The inbuilt flash was completely ripped off, the LCD was smashed and the back door was twisted. I twisted the back door flat (It had a great white stress mark in the plastic for the next two years), loaded a film and took pictures with the camera like that for the next 18 months. Never had any idea how many frames were left on a roll. Not one bad frame.

Four months later I had 40 rolls of exposed and processed flm (including Mountain Gorillas, 9 African national parks and 3 months of travelling where tourists dont usually go) stolen in Victoria Falls. I had only had it processed two days earlier. Also lost $2000 in cash at the same time. To this day I miss that film. But the next day I met my wife.

Gordon
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: John Camp on January 05, 2005, 10:18:29 am
This didn't happen to me, but I was right there when it happened to somebody else...Years ago, when I was a newspaper reporter, I was sent to cover the Pope's visit to Des Moines, Iowa. The Mass was held in a huge open cornfield that had been cut to provide the space, and there were photo towers for the photogs. The day was hot and sunny, and a bunch of priests and a few other people, including me, were standing in the shade from a tower. One of the photogs fumbled a long lens, which dropped glass-down off the tower and hit one of the priests on the head. I was looking right at him when it hit. Dropped him like a hot rock. He had a large half-circle cut on his bald scalp where the edge of the lens or the filter cut him, and was taken off to the hospital, I believe. But, thank God, the lens was okay. (All right, for you folks with a limited depth of humor field, that was a joke; I really don't know, but suspect that the impact didn't do the lens any good.)

JC
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: gwarrellow on January 09, 2005, 05:45:54 am
Quote
(Hummm....  I also had a hippo in Thailand fling a turd at me when I annoyed her by taking a lot of shots of her calf(?)  At least I think she did it intentionally.  She backed up to a low wall in her enclosure, produced a turd, then used her tail to launch it in my direction.  
But did you get the shot of it flying towards you?

Besides the usual (wrong ASA, shutter speed etc) I have had only a few bad experiences.  First one was about 20 years ago when my brother asked me to take his wedding photos.  It was the first time in over 5 years of faultless use that the shutter blind developed a problem. Of course I didn't know about it until we picked up the photos, all gathered around in a group to recapture the memories only to find each photo with half the frame blacked out.  Never again.  I take my hat off to wedding photographers.

My only really heart-stopping moment happened last year when I was taking photos with my 1Ds attached to an Astrophysics Traveler telescope.  Just to give you some background, the Traveler is a highly prized telescope that I had been on the waiting list since May 1999 (yes, 5 years!) and after import taxes, etc. cost me around $5,000.

I had just set it all up on a tripod with a Kirk King Cobra on a stone terrace, all perfectly balanced, turned away only to hear the tripod swooshing through the air.  The $25 T-ring had come loose, the 1Ds was falling one way and my Traveler was falling the other way to meet their death on the terrace.  In a split decision I threw myself across the terrace.  As I slid across the tiled terrace I caught the 1Ds in one hand, banged my head against the wall, and stretched my leg out to break the fall of the Traveler (weight around 10lbs with accessories).  I saved both from certain death.  My leg suffered for several months (the Traveler took a direct hit on my knee) but I felt good about the experience

Some great stories guys, so what are the lessons?  Here's a few thoughts after reading everyone's stories:
Sounds like comprehensive insurance is something that is a great idea but I'm sure few us take out out.
Lots of scare stories about film but I'm sure we'll hear more about memory cards in the future.  It worries me sometimes that I use 2GB cards instead of smaller say (500 MB) cards to spread the risk.
If possible, carry a back-up camera on important trips - maybe a digital and a film camera?
Make sure your batteries are fully charged and carry a spare.
Besides rechecking all the camera settings and canceling any unnecessary custom functions don't forget to look at the info in the viewfinder from time to time.
And finally, if you have a really bad photo experience then you should spend the next 24 hours looking for your wife to be.

 

Graham
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: hhuxford on February 01, 2005, 10:43:28 pm
Several years ago I lived in an extremely rural town in TX. One Saturday in the summer, I was in the backyard and looked up to see a huge black cloud of smoke billowing in the near distance. I grabbed my old Pentax and telephoto lens and drove toward it. A fire had engulfed a two story home across from a gas station. I started taking pictures and since I knew several of the volunteer fire fighters, I was allowed to get a little closer than the rest of the public. I got some terrific shots! You know, the kind that as you've finished taking it you get goosebumps on your arms because you know it's gonna be so good?

As the fire was winding down, a man approached and gave me his card. He was from a newspaper in the big city next to us. He confirmed that I'd been there from practically the beginning and asked if he could borrow the first roll of film, develop it for me, and return it to me and use one of the photos for the newspaper the next day. I agreed and gave it to him. (okay guys, stop shaking your heads!)

The next evening he knocked on my door and thrust a white envelope into my hand while thanking me profusely and backing away, saying he had an engagement that he had to get to. (see reporter run...)

I opened the envelope as he was speeding down the driveway and looked at the negatives. All but three pictures had a ghostly fog across the bottom of the frames. Some had it at the top of the frames too.

He, or someone there that weekend, had developed the roll incorrectly. I cried. There had been several very good pictures on that roll!

The picture that appeared in the paper? A shot of firefighters putting out the gas station dumpster that had caught fire from the burning, flying embers from the house. Caption under the picture was "House burns in Anna" (Anna, TX). Yes, it had my name beside the picture.

I learned to never, ever, give my film to anyone!
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: RobertJ on January 08, 2005, 01:58:50 am
Quote
Quote
But the next day I met my wife.

Gordon
Oh my god that IS horrbile!  
LOL!

T-1000
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: jwjohnson on January 13, 2005, 07:38:13 pm
I just had my worst experience last month.  I left a Canon 24-70 L zoom on the back bumper of my truck then drove away.  Here's a link to all the gory details (http://www.f-8andbethere.com/JeffJohnson.htm).  I do have my stuff insured and ended up with a new lens about 10 days later.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Blotzphoto on January 28, 2005, 10:20:22 am
My worst experience is one I don't really remember. I shoot a lot for a Cincinnati band called Jackass (www.jackassrock.com). At the CD release party, which doubled as my de-facto bachelor party, I must have shot 300 or so images.

I don't remember any of them. The next day when  i downloaded the camera, I was evidently lucky enough to have tucked the camera away before the after party, so no harm, no foul.

Don't mix Bushmills and Photography.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Murph on January 29, 2005, 03:49:42 pm
Standing in the middle of the swift Guadalupe River after the 1998 flood, using my 4x5 to shoot some film.  I turned, and the current knocked me down.  My wife was on the bank (very pregnant at the time).  I am managing to hold the camera over my head, and out of the very cold water as I get swept down stream.  She's screaming at me to drop the camera.  I'm screaming at her to save the camera!  

Fortunately, I hit a rock, and was able to regain my footing, and make it out of the river.  I had to listen to "I told you so", and "Why didn't you drop the stupid camera" all the way back to San Antonio.  Nothing was broken or wet on the camera, although I ended up with a huge bruise on my back and side from hitting the rock.  The photographs were unfortunately just so-so....
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: pcnilssen on February 10, 2005, 01:29:42 am
20 years ago, I was asked by some fellow student friends of mine that was marrying each other to take some pictures during their wedding ceremony and the reception afterwards.  Error #1: I said yes.
Error #2:  Instead of using my trusted old camera, I borrowed a Nikon from my father, and a winder from a friend, so that I would be fully prepared, and would not miss any opportunities  (ha, ha)
Error #3: I picked up the camera and winder on route, and did not check them.

Well, the wedding went fine, my friends remembered to say "yes" at the proper places, and the reception was very nice. The day after, I handed over all the rolls (approx 5-6, which for me then were many) to the groom and I went back to the University, and they went on their honeymoon.

After they came back, they didn't speak of the pictures, there was no thank you, and the situation was a bit uneasy.  After some weeks, I couragely asked how the pictures were.  And then the shock came:  ALL pictures were razor sharp on the upper half and very blurry on the bottom half.  All pictures were useless.  I did not understand how this had happened.

I soon found out.  It turned out that the press plate on the door to the film compartment, which ensures that the film is totally in plane, had fell off a few weeks before, and was just mounted on the door again.  We didn't know that the press plate had been mounted up-side down, and therefore unable to hold the film right.

The friendship was never the same, even thougt they had lots of copies from other guests.

I still could need some therapy .......
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: wolfnowl on February 24, 2005, 10:20:58 pm
Forgot about when I was in college and had my own key to the darkrooms.  Used to bulk load my own film, develop, etc.  One day I had loaded a roll of shots of lightning onto the spool for developing, set it down, then started loading another roll.  I was having trouble getting the film leader started, so I took the roll and the spool and put it in a drawer then turned on the light to find another spool.  Took the first roll that was still sitting in the spool, on the counter, in 100W of incandescent light, and threw it out...

Mike
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Ben Rubinstein on December 29, 2004, 07:06:31 pm
Worst experience ever?

Totalling, losing or having gear stolen sucks, but then so does every time you have to deal with insurance, you do of course have extensive cover on all your equipment don't you....

Getting back proofs from a wedding (film) and only then realise that your lights were not recharging fast enough and every second photo is dark on one side and has horrible shadows,
Shooting 6 frames at the first dance and then realising that you don't have any film in the camera,
Seeing from the EXIF data that you were shooting portraits at a wedding with a long lens and by accident you had nudged the shutter speed down to 1/15 and yes it DOES show,

Those are bad photographic experiences, I'm sure others have more landscape orientated stories, such as getting to kenya on a safari and then totalling your 600mm, however just losing or totalling gear, nah, that's not a 'worst experience' not if you're insured....
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Jonathan Wienke on December 29, 2004, 09:17:50 pm
Getting film back from the lab unexposed because the film detached from the take-up reel, or opening the camera after shooting a roll and discovering that the film had torn loose from the spool while rewinding and was still in the camera mechanism, totally ruined.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: DiaAzul on December 30, 2004, 05:44:56 am
I don't have a personal happened to me camera tragedy, so I will recount someone elses story.

A couple of years ago there was a Mr X (for the sake of keeping the thread consistent we can call him Fred) who worked in a Camera shop in Montparnasse, Paris, France. Tour Montrparnasse is Paris's tallest office block and one day, whilst Fred was working in the camera shop, a large terrorist bomb exploded just outside the tower - which was across the road from his shop.

Fred realised that there was an opportunity to get some photographs which may be of interest to the newspapers, so he grabbed a camera and lens from the shelf, ran outside and started getting pictures. He was on the scene within 1-2 minutes and was getting good images. As he was going round he was counting how much money he would receive (FF250,000 Paris Match Cover, Le Figaro, Le Monde, etc...).

After taking some 50 pictures he started to think that there was something strange with his camera and it was only then that he realised that he hadn't loaded any film into the camera!! (this is in the days before digital). All of a sudden all the money that he dreamed of, the fast cars, the women, fancy restaurants...gone. Hit with a wave of complete dejection and despondancy he returned to the camera shop and wept.

Now, the moral of this story is not to ensure that you remember to load film (or CF card) into the camera. The true moral of this story is that even though Fred had not loaded film into the camera first time, he still had time to go back to the shop, load up with film, and get back out shooting long before any of the staff newspaper photographers were on the scene. So even if you think you have missed the opportunity, keep focused on the photography and don't let the money cloud your emotions until it is in the bank.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: michael g. o'callaghan on December 30, 2004, 12:39:21 pm
re: insurance -- make sure you get the specifics in writing from the agent.  some policies cover you only in the USA others worldwide.  

i was nailed twice by a rogue wave in the Pacific (once in Hawaii and the other time in CA).  first time i lost my camera, second time involved $1400 cleaning bill for equipment.  salt water is incredibly dangerous to equipment.  i am very careful now!

i also had a tripod blown over as i was atop of rocky perch in Arches NP one morning before the sun came up.  My mamiya RZ67 blew to the ground on top of the tripod.  i almost was toppled but was able to regain my balance.  the camera smashed down onto rocks about 12 feet below.  the AE prism finder was smashed to pieces but the camera itself and even the lense were useable ---later had some repair but i was heading out for a three day trip on the white rim trail in canyonlands that afternoon.  i was amazed how tough that Mamiya was/is.  no wonder why it weighs so much!
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: didger on January 04, 2005, 06:49:44 am
I guess I'm doing something wrong; never had any bad photography experiences.  You know the old bumper sticker saying "The worst day fishing is better than the best day working".  Well, substitute "shooting or processing images" for "fishing" and you've got it for me.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Rob Whitehead on January 04, 2005, 07:57:36 am
Quote
I guess I'm doing something wrong; never had any bad photography experiences.  You know the old bumper sticker saying "The worst day fishing is better than the best day working".  Well, substitute "shooting or processing images" for "working" and you've got it for me.
O.K. - that gets you
"The worst day fishing is better than the best day shooting or processing images."

Didger, you must really love your fishing!  Me, I quite enjoy my photography.

My disasters:
12 months, 22 countries, 7000-8000 velvia exposures.  My main lens (a new 28-105 f3.5-4.5) developed a technical fault on day 5 and cut the corners off all my images from then on - images unusable.  I test processed several rolls along the way, but didn't pick the problem.  Couldn't look at my images when I got home and still can't happiloy do so (despite some great shots from the primes I was also carrying).  No real photography for 2 years afterwards.  Therapy is going well.

Last year, went out in a boat with friends, as an unplanned trip, in NW Australia.  Didn't take camera, as was 'only going fishing'.  Humpback mother and calf come up along side boat, and mother procedes to teach baby how to breach, right beside boat.  I grab boat owners ancient Canon 850, bam, bam , bam , beautiful!
Rush to photo store to rush process my BBC wildlife photo of the year (will be tough to explain my choice of camera, lens and emulsion to judges but that's OK).
Shutter jammed on the camera 3 shots before I started shooting.  All subsequent pictures blank.  Therapy ongoing.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: kaelaria on January 05, 2005, 09:15:25 am
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But the next day I met my wife.

Gordon
Oh my god that IS horrbile!  ;)
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Bobtrips on January 08, 2005, 01:33:05 pm
I've had my share of stripped leaders that didn't advance, rolls not securely attached at the end, wrong ASA settings, cameras and lenses failing.  I even had a clerk drop and step on a roll that I was taking in for developing.  And I had an elk chase me out of a field when I tried for too much of a closeup.

My worst experience was after transiting the Panama Canal in my sailboat discovering that the zip lock with my shots of the experience had gotten some water in it.  All the film was ruined.  (I also lost all my lenses to fungus on that trip.)

(Hummm....  I also had a hippo in Thailand fling a turd at me when I annoyed her by taking a lot of shots of her calf(?)  At least I think she did it intentionally.  She backed up to a low wall in her enclosure, produced a turd, then used her tail to launch it in my direction.  

I'm not sure it was intentional, but it sure seemed so at the time.  She was certainly staring me in the eye as she performed the feat.)
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: stefanie_ch on January 28, 2005, 01:13:25 pm
How about a mountain trip, walking and climbing for 7 hours to a cabin in the alps, we planned to stay over night to get some spectacular sunset shots. In the cabin I started to clean the lenses and wanted to load my film magazines.
That was the moment I realized that before the drive to the parking area in the valley I took the film out of my camera bag into the cooled trunk of my car to make sure its in perfect condition when I will use it. It was, when I restarted taking pictures one month later.
The booze in the cabin was helpful  :-)
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 02, 2005, 09:52:34 pm
I think my own worst experience was after my first (and only, so far) trip to Iceland in the summer of 1974. I shot about 30 rolls of Kodachrome in addition to a bunch of black-and-white (35mm and 4x5). After I got back I sent all 30 rolls of K-chrome to Kodak for processing. When the slides came back it was clear that something had gotten into the production line the day my film was processed. About half of the pictures on every single roll had streaks of some gunk across the surface.

After several mail exchanges with Kodak, they agreed to try to clean the slides (without admitting that it could have happened at their end). They did succeed in cleaning the worst off maybe 75% of the slides, and, of course, they gave me 30 rolls of film to replace the film that was damaged.

Fortunately, amost all of the best pictures were either untouched by the goo or were adequately cleaned by them. Since that day I have never sent more than three rolls of film to any one lab on any one day.


A couple of my friends had a bad experience a few years ago. They were both view camera types, one using an 8x10" and the other an 11x14" (yes it was big -- just imagine the file size from a digital back for that thing). Anyway, they had been out on a shoot together and were packing up. The driver got into the SUV they had come in to turn it around, without realizing that the other guy's 11x14 was still on a tripod behind it, and backed over it. As you can imagine, they both felt pretty miserable about it.  

Eric M.
Title: Worst Photography Experience
Post by: Concorde-SST on March 21, 2005, 02:09:16 pm
Murphy rules on me too...

Worst thing:

- losing a Hasselblad Zeiss Sonnar 180mm at a shoot at the Falkland Islands - a striated Caracara (like a falcon) dived at me, knocked
me half unconscious (of course he came from behind!) and when I
woke up again I was being dragged away by others and just realized
I left the lens (was about to change) - never found it again...so if some-
body is getting to Steeple Jason Island, he may be lucky to get a
rusty lens :-) (was in 1997) - but insurance covered - anyway I missed
this lens a lot in the antarctic then...

- Letting a Superachromat Zeiss 350mm fall off the tripod with
  Hasselblad camera attached - screwed up the wrong knob on the
  Gitzo head - result: $5000 repair - no insurance for being so stupid

and so on... well that´s life, you make mistakes and if you want
to avoid them at all cost - you just be dead...


hope I´ve not frightened some guys :-)

Andreas.