Fuji Confession Time

[AndyMcD]

So, finally I need to get this off my chest.

I volunteer for my local sea cadet unit (where one of my kids goes) and they've asked me to deal with all of the photos of events etc. We live out in the country so is a 20 mile drive to the unit (which is local to where I work).

A few weeks ago, it was a two-yearly inspection which is a VERY big thing for the unit. The kids practised at length (including staying over a weekend to go through it all) and several dignitaries were present.

I duly turned up with my big Domke bag containing X-T1, 16/1.4, 35/1.4, 50-230 and two Godox flash units, a Godox TTL controller and a flash bracket.

Unfortunately, that morning I had swapped from my usual bag into the big Domke.

Anyone spot what I didn't bring? Batteries - and the one in the camera was showing 2 bars when I started, which meant it dropped down to nothing within a few shots.

Boy, was I embarrassed! My late father was a professional photographer, and once carried on to a wedding after being shunted into a wall in his car (the car was badly smashed up and he had to get a taxi) so that only makes it worse.

What's the stupidest (photo related) mistake you've ever made?

 

[gordo]

Forgetting the camera. Forgetting a specific lens I wanted for shooting.

But being just a hobbyist, it was just a lost opportunity.

 

[Richard]

Forgetting that I had left my camera set to 10 second self-timer mode. Out on busy city streets the following day I convinced myself that it had locked up, while I was actually taking random photos of my leg.

-R

 

[KillRamsey]

A) This thread is awesome. And necessary.

B) Forgotten spare batteries several times, for the same reason... having 2 or 3 bags is a trap waiting to go off.

 

[Tim Williams]

As I am not a pro, the thing that gripes me the most for film is filters for some reason. Or maybe SD cards and flash batteries for my digital. As Kyle says having three bags of gear is a trap, so it could be anything on any given day.

 

[tonyturley]

I've framed an image or 2 that my mind had already decided was going to be on the cover of Nat Geo, carefully focused and pressed the shutter button, only to look down and see NO MEMORY CARD on the display.

 

[rayvonn]

No SD card. Then taking the camera to the shop to demand an explanation as to why images weren’t being saved.

 

[Tim Williams]

No SD card. Then taking the camera to the shop to demand an explanation as to why images weren’t being saved.

That's a classic and gets my vote. I don't care what anyone puts up here.

 

[kyteflyer]

Batteries for me. It doesnt matter all that much when you're only a couple of miles from home (and not Pro at a working gig), but when you have gone to a particular location 3 hours from home, for a specific purpose... its really really annoying.

 

[Bobby T]

I showed up for a portrait shoot and forgot the clamps for the backdrop. And didn't discover it until after the lights and backdrop stand were set up. I've also gone to use my seamless paper only to discover there was only enough left on the role to cover half the body of the person.

 

[tonyturley]

I showed up for a portrait shoot and forgot the clamps for the backdrop. And didn't discover it until after the lights and backdrop stand were set up. I've also gone to use my seamless paper only to discover there was only enough left on the role to cover half the body of the person.

Ouch . .

 

[bluzcity]

I was shooting a wedding. Just before the ceremony I changed batteries in my 580 Canon flash, but didn't slide the door on tight. When the room went silent for the prayer, I tilted my camera and the batteries fell out and rolled down the aisle.

 

[Adam Bonn]

I once had to shoot a professional cross country run type thing on the hills of the Douro valley

I was SO focused on how many batteries I’d need for the hundreds and hundreds of shots I’d take, that I completely forgot to factor in how many SD cards that would take...

My role was to photograph people as they ran past a certain spot. The race being how these things goes, it quickly split into groups of people.

Some groups didn’t get their picture...

Instead they just saw a photographer chimping and deleteling like a motherf****er, desperately trying to curate images on the fly

Another photographer life lesson from that day...

I thought I’d try and sell the images (with the blessing of organisers as they were only engaging me for event coverage) to the individual runners via the run’s facebook page.

I made the crappiest 80kb, hideous watermark pictures possible, to give them an idea of what they could buy...

I sold ONE and the rest the cheeky sods just helped themselves too, and for a long, long while it seemed that I couldn’t go any where on facebook without seeing a REALLY sh**ty quality PP’d picture....

....with my name on it, in massive letters

 

[alexmilesg3]

So, finally I need to get this off my chest.

I volunteer for my local sea cadet unit (where one of my kids goes) and they've asked me to deal with all of the photos of events etc. We live out in the country so is a 20 mile drive to the unit (which is local to where I work).

A few weeks ago, it was a two-yearly inspection which is a VERY big thing for the unit. The kids practised at length (including staying over a weekend to go through it all) and several dignitaries were present.

I duly turned up with my big Domke bag containing X-T1, 16/1.4, 35/1.4, 50-230 and two Godox flash units, a Godox TTL controller and a flash bracket.

Unfortunately, that morning I had swapped from my usual bag into the big Domke.

Anyone spot what I didn't bring? Batteries - and the one in the camera was showing 2 bars when I started, which meant it dropped down to nothing within a few shots.

Boy, was I embarrassed! My late father was a professional photographer, and once carried on to a wedding after being shunted into a wall in his car (the car was badly smashed up and he had to get a taxi) so that only makes it worse.

What's the stupidest (photo related) mistake you've ever made?

That is why I love that we can now recharge the battery in camera. During an airshow I ran out of juice, and during the "dead" time between exibitions I was able to keep my X-T2 battery charged enough to keep shooting thanks to a USB battery pack.

 

[Deleted member 13442]

I was shooting a wedding. Just before the ceremony I changed batteries in my 580 Canon flash, but didn't slide the door on tight. When the room went silent for the prayer, I tilted my camera and the batteries fell out and rolled down the aisle.

Please excuse me Im not being disrespectful, but this really made me laugh.

 

[KillRamsey]

Adam that's hilarious. Chimp-delete-shoot... I've done that.

 

[Tim Williams]

And that's is why I stopped watermarking my pics. The perpetrator of this abomination shall remain anonymous lol. My copyright is in the Metadata, most of them are not good enough to deserve that Lol.

 

[AndyMcD]

Phew, glad that I'm not the only one.

My other bad moment was on a once in a lifetime holiday to Alaska. We went on a glacier hike and my Olympus C2040 was utterly dead. I had spare cards and batteries in that instance, but an utterly dead camera and no backup.

That was in the early days of digital and my mother had specifically told me I was crazy to not be taking my OM-1n as a backup.

Reminds me of a Douglas Adams joke from the original Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series:
“You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why, what did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen.”

 

[davect01]

Great experience all

My aunt's photographer shot their entire wedding (early 1970's) and then exposed the film prior to development.

She has no images from her wedding

And I too have done the forgot to check the battery level a few times.

 

[Bobby T]

Oh man, what happened to your aunt is terrible. And one of the reasons I love digital for working shoots. Especially with cameras which take two cards so in camera backups can be made.