Dumb Stuff I’ve Done on Shoots
I’ve been keeping a list of all the dumb stuff I’ve done on shoots over the years. At the risk of never having anyone ever read this blog again, I thought I would share! (If you’re a photographer, feel free to add your best goof-up in the comments section.)
- Locked the keys, camera, all the lighting and wardrobe in the production van at the perfect golden hour.
- Pulled by police for driving a rented motorhome with expired inspection. I tried to explain that I had models and crew waiting on me. They wouldn’t let me drive the vehicle so I talked the officer into taking me to the shoot. You should have seen the client’s face when I got out of the back of the police car!
- Assistant forgot to bring camera on a location shoot. We remembered at midnight and we have a 6am call-time, and we’re 3 hours from the studio… yes, we started shooting on time!
- In college, I shot sports to make a few extra dollars. One time, I forgot to check see if the Tri-X film was winding on my Nikon. Shot the entire second half of an important football game on one frame of film. That sucks. End of my sports shooter career.
- At an assignment to do a group shot of an entire college class, I was standing on top a 4 story building shooting with a Mamiya RB67. When I changed backs, I didn’t get the bottom catch locked properly. The first time I wound the film, the back came flying off, bounced once on the roof and plummeted 100 feet to the ground. After a hushed moment, the gathered crowd of several hundred students started cheering.
- Talk about missing the boat… We had permission to shoot fashion models on a cruise ship in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the guard hadn’t been told so we talked out way into shooting while the client tracked down the captain. Then we found out we were on the wrong ship. Ooops!
So the next time you forget to take off the lens cap, forget the client’s name, or trip over the lights… I’ve “been there, done that!”
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ha! this is funny. i locked my keys in the rental car 30 mins before wedding time, with all my gear in it. Locksmith came jsut in time but I will admit to trying to bust the window once with a hammer and it bounced back faster then it struck…i just had a intuition to wait…just another minute. jay
When I was first starting my career as a photographer, I was so nervous about shooting portraits of a family that I shot nearly 40 frames before I realized the roll of film had never ended. Oops. . . I forgot to load the camera with film. For that instant of realization though, I thought maybe, just maybe that I had loaded a special extra long roll of film in the camera. Unfortunately I had to own up to my mistake and tell the family that we would have to start over.
We all make mistakes, so I suppose the best thing to do is have a good laugh about them once we make it through the initial frustration. Thanks for the post Ron. I’ve really been enjoying your blog.
Ryan
I accdientally dropped my camera onto a 4 year old kids head during a closeup for an autumn shoot. And of course it nicked him right in the corner of his eyebrow and broke the skin. I think I cried more then he did.
It makes me feel so much better to read all these “goofs” !! thank you ! ;O)
One of my young children models (4 years) managed to lock himself into the bathroom. it took me and the parents about 25 minutes to get him out and we stopped the shoot since he was emotionally shaken.
Robert
Thanks for this post. Just the right amount of humour to ease my mind about my upcoming shoot.
It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one who goofs up!