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Dumb Mistakes
Lets hear about any dumb mistakes/embarrising shoots any model/photog has had My 1st one would be yesterday, shot for about 5 mins, then was going to drive my car across this field to get to the next location spot, looked like a thin layer of snow, snow gaves in a little bit and my car gets stuck, had to get towed Jan 23 06 01:02 pm Link Absolutely the most embarrassing shoot I had could have been avoided had I had a spate sync cord on me. I did a glamour style nude shoot for a website. The shoot is going fine. We had 3 hours to do the shoot and 3-4 outfits to shoot her in. The first 30-45 minutes goes just fine, then suddenly my strobes decided they did not want to fire. Without the strobes I could not get the look the site required. I struggled the next couple of hours as the strobes fired now and then.I missed a lot of good shots but luckily I GOT a lot of good ones. This time the sweat was from embarrassment and not from all the work I was doing and the lights. I still wince thinking about that shoot. Jan 23 06 01:06 pm Link just last week...i heard and felt the ungodly rumbles and tremors of explosive diahrea...i explained that i would need additional memory cards and flew home at warp 9...no other details to share, but suffice to say, i made it. Jan 23 06 01:24 pm Link Was doing youth sports photos before the digital with my Nikon F4 did 13 teams 130 some odd kids. Got my film back everything was black. The shutter had given out and had to have it replaced. Shot that and a 1st communion on the same weekend. The we did a reshoot on the sports but had drama on the communion photos. Jan 23 06 01:30 pm Link Dan Gallegos wrote: reason number one why I loathe doing shoots at once in a life time events like that and weddings. Not something you can really recapture and you open yourself to suits more often. Jan 23 06 01:32 pm Link Glamour Boulevard wrote: Exactly why I gave that stuff up years ago. I don't need people sticking pins in a doll that resembles me. Jan 23 06 01:46 pm Link Only 5 people willing to admit they make mistakes? Either there is a lot of ego out there or this thread just isn`t being seen,lol. Jan 23 06 08:54 pm Link can models admit their dumb mistakes too? Jan 23 06 09:25 pm Link ...Stacy wrote: Of course. General Mayhem Jan 23 06 09:41 pm Link had the shutter set to 1/500 instead of B. Felt like a moron. Jan 23 06 10:11 pm Link About a decade ago, shooting with a Fuji 670 Rangefinder camera (loved that camera) but on my first paying gig with it, fired three frames and the model asked in all seriousness, "That's a strange filter you have on that thing." Confused, I looked at my lens, and sure enough - lenscap still on. But I fessed up - "Yes, that's the Dumbass-Photographer-Not-Used-To-A-Rangefinder Filter. Probably better off without it." She didn't get the joke, but the art director laughed it off... Jan 23 06 10:21 pm Link I wish I could say I've been shooting enough recently to have made mistakes. On my 420ex flash, you really gotta screw it down tight to make the connection. One time I was shootng Engagement portraits with a couple that had heard RAVE reviews about my work, and there I am, trying to figure out why the flash wont work. 20 min. later....... Jan 24 06 08:51 am Link Well, not a technical mistake... but a mistake none the less... I had a shoot the other Saturday for a band's promo shot. It had been arranged for a few months. I live in NYC, they wanted to shoot out in Brooklyn, which should have been a simple train ride. But to anyone who lives in the city knows that the trains are screwy on the weekends. So I gather up all of my lighting equipment, and backdrop that we had selected, (a 9 foot roll of seamless) and I struggle w/ some help from my fiancee to get down into the subway. The express train I needed was running local, and then didn't end up going into Brooklyn at all. So to make a long story short... I went 3-1-2-5 to finally get to the stop I needed... just to miss it because I couldn't get my equipment off in time. And I found out that you can't travel on the subway w/ anything taller than the door. I found that out after getting kicked off one train. 4 transfers were hell... getting everything off the train, and bumping people w/ my 9 foot roll! Sweaty, frustrated and tired I got out of the subway and called the guy who was supposed to be there to pick me up. I was 45 minutes late, and found it strange that there was no messages from him or any missed calls. I called him a few times and left messages... standing in the middle of brooklyn w/ all my gear.. and the 9 foot roll or seamless... w/ it drizzling... yeah, the umbrella helped lots! I get a little upset that I can't get in contact w/ him, so I check my old messages to see if I missed something... here was the message I had gotten earlier in the week... "Hey Matt, just checking that everything is set for Sunday..." I almost scrapped the backdrop and canceled the shoot entirely... But it was my oversite, so what can I do but suck it up and proceed as planned. The happy ending is that he arranged for someone to pick me up the next day, and here is the concept photo that almost cost me my sanity... http://gothamphoto.blogspot.com/ I almost kicked my own ass... Jan 24 06 09:16 am Link Gotham Photo wrote: HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Jan 24 06 09:33 am Link Lets just say that after two hours, the phrase "There has got to be desert around here somewhere," was being parrotted back to me by the models in the car, Star Jan 24 06 09:36 am Link I think I got you all beat... "While doing a shoot with a hottie I did a human thing.... I farted.....she heard it , nuff said" she called me fart boy for about a week.....lol...its ok to laugh that was 3 years ago ..im still laughing... Jan 24 06 09:42 am Link Glamour Boulevard wrote: Oh, I've made mistakes, too. Jan 24 06 09:50 am Link My most memorable stupid mistake? Despite having a twice weekly gig taking photos @ a club, I still managed to forget to replace the memory card before heading out. It was a more than an hour drive to go back for it, but the shot of the DJ (Starr on our page) was worth it! Jan 24 06 09:58 am Link Gold Rush Studio wrote: I'm guilty. Guilty guilty guilty on all accounts of experiencing those. Though my #10 only does g/g stuff. Jan 24 06 10:09 am Link Last winter shooting landscapes in Guadelupe Mountains, TX. I park right off the HWY and pull the camera out of the car on the tripod set it to the side to get the rest of my gear. BIIIGGG semi goes screaming by, I look over just in time to see the tripod get blown over right on to the 24-70mm 2.8L. Ended up destroying the $1200 lens and a $340 Singh-Ray filter. Non-detereed by this turn of events, I reach into the bag for my backup lens only to find that it somehow didn't get packed. Being 4 days into a month long shooting trip. I decide to head the 90 miles for El Paso to buy a replacement only to find there isn't a single camera store in the whole city. I am supposed to shoot in Big Bend for a week so I end up driving to Austin (550+ miles each way) to be back in Big Bend the next day. Never leave home without your backup equipment. Eric Foltz ps. I also once drove 2hrs to shoot with an internet model (no-show). Jan 24 06 10:14 am Link Gold Rush Studio wrote: Friend of mine did that once a few years back. Big paying job for someone who had recently hired him. He drove 5 hours to the shoot. Got out of his car, went to his trunk to get his gear and the trunk was empty. He left it all at home. Jan 24 06 10:28 am Link How's about on my second model shoot (shot film back then) Took a break between rolls of film for lunch...Never reloaded the film. must of been 40+ frames shot before I figured it out! Once I realized what happened, I promptly turned my back too change the non existing roll. I wonder if she ever knew??? Jan 24 06 11:49 am Link Eric Foltz wrote: I'd have had a stroke. Plain and Simple. Someone would have carried me off the mountain...lol Jan 24 06 11:58 am Link Eric Foltz wrote: I guess that goes to show that jamming a cheap and crappy filter on the end of a lens won't save you all the time. Jan 24 06 12:01 pm Link Getting married TWICE ! Jan 24 06 12:10 pm Link Eric Foltz wrote: I saw that happen once to another photographer. His mistake was putting a camera on his tripod that was not made to handle such a heavy camera. Especially with a long lens on it. A good breeze came along and knocked it straight forward directly onto the lens. The guy was so stunned he just stood there in disbelief for a few moments and then managed to mutter" I haven`t even used it yet. I just took it out of the box before I brought it here". If there is ever a situation where I could have said" I feel your pain", that was it. Jan 24 06 12:16 pm Link I shot what would have been a great roll on two models. When I rewound the roll I left the tongue out and you guessed it, put it back in the camera for some wonderfull double exposures. mark Jan 24 06 12:24 pm Link 1) Ripped out the seat of my too tight pants at a shoot...thank god it was almost over and I had a jacket with me...the rip wasn't detected as I quietly snuck away. 2) Didn't thoroughly check a rental flash kit, only to find 2 of the 3 heads were inoperable. 3) Dropped a lens on a marble floor while in a rush to change at a wedding. Managed to say "shit" quietly enough that the whole congregation, who were now focused on me, didn't hear me. 3) Wasted half a shoot out of town dealing with a flaky MUA who did absolutely nothing as agreed upon earlier...which led me to a love of written agreements. 4) Dinged the best man's van leaving a wedding reception. (to be fair, he was in a "no park" area and pulled in after I had started backing out...I was watching a hyperactive kid running along my passenger side.) 5) Wore a blue silk shirt to a wedding, in 90 degree heat...only to sweat like a pig and have it turn a lovely white pattern in the AC later that day. 6) Hired a pilot for an aerial shoot who shouldn't have been driving a car, let alone a plane. 7) Flew with a suicidally depressed Norwegian chopper pilot. 8) Fell through the ice while working on some documentary photography for the Canadian Wildlife Service. 9) Fell out of my boat with most of my gear...into a leech filled swamp. No fun at all. 10) Worked as a wedding photographer. Jan 24 06 12:31 pm Link double post...sorry Jan 24 06 12:31 pm Link On my second paid shoot. The bride to be was getting some lingerie and implied done. I do hair and makeup at my shoots and I did her hair everything went greeat looked gorgeous...I had her bring her own foundation, so I start putting it on her while holding the bottle in my other hand..Tipped it too much and spilled it down the front of her shirt. I use the cream to powder foundation usually...I felt like such and idiot!! I gave her some extra print for all the trouble..LOL Jan 24 06 12:37 pm Link Vita Brevis wrote: Jan 24 06 10:23 pm Link Side Effects Studio wrote: Jan 24 06 10:24 pm Link I deleted a bunch of pics here before checking if uploading was temporarily suspended. Jan 24 06 10:27 pm Link This past weekend, couldn't get my strobes to fire when desired. They would fire indescriminantly, WTF. Said to hell with it, went outside and got some great images anyway. Turns out the DIP switches on the remote trigger had been knocked out of position. Doh! Jan 24 06 10:35 pm Link Had a wonderful set of images at the end of a roll of film - I KNEW that I had caught lighting in a bottle and they were going to be special. Just KNEW it. Losing light - Got (slightly) out of sequence. Grabbed new roll, opened canister, prepped film, opened camera to put new film in . . . . . . and stared at the shiny back of the best images I had taken to date - glowing there in the soft sunlight - having never been rewound. I then said a few choice words that defoliated the bushes nearby. Only one shot survived the disaster - and I was right about the images - it was the first time a model asked me to print an enlarged version for her wall - and asked me to sign it. I'll always cringe about the 5-6 that were lost. VintageV Jan 24 06 10:40 pm Link Back when I shot film and did all of my own processing and printing I had a VERY specific routine for developing my film. Well after a long shoot one day I decided to develope the film instead of go to bed like I should have because I was so excited about the photos. Well somehow my routine got turned around and I poured in the fix INSTEAD of the developer. So at the end of the process I had nice clear film instead of the images I was so excited about. What made it bad was that I was rolling the film back to back on the reels so I could develope more at a time so I had EIGHT blank 36exp. rolls instead of four. Luckily that was still only half the film from the day so it wasn't all lost, but I felt like a complete ass when I had to explain to the model what happened. Jan 25 06 03:10 am Link Glamour Boulevard wrote: If I was there, I would've taken his picture. I'm sure it'd make for a great picture. Jan 25 06 03:19 am Link Glamour Boulevard wrote: There's no ego. I never make mistakes. And my farts smell like roses. Jan 25 06 03:21 am Link VirtuaMike wrote: I didn`t either but it was almost a close call. This shot was done to make fun of what almost happened. I noticed the sign AFTER having her up allover that fence for about 25 minutes. I was like,uh, here, let me help you down ok hon? Don`t touch the fence". Mom was with her and looked at me like" What`s wrong" Jan 25 06 03:32 am Link 1) Was shooting a new model. She wanted some implied nudes for her husband's birthday. She showed me the pinup photo of a model barely covered by a towel. It took us several shots for her to muster the courage to let the towel reveal as much as the shot she showed me, but the shots were turning out fantastic...until I realized the film advance was suddenly turning easily...too easy. I had forgotten to change the setting from 220 to 120 when I made the last roll change and lost the best 3 of the series. 2)I had made a track from PVC pipe and hung it from the ceiling so I could have a hairlight anywhere I want in relation to the model despite a low ceiling. During a shoot, I stepped out of the studio while the model was changing and went upstairs to grab a drink. I heard a crash and dashed down to make sure everyone was OK. I made sure it was OK to come in and there was the model half-dressed and her sister beside her....both wide-eyed at the structure laying on the floor.....I had forgotten to glue the pipes together after the test-fit... Jan 25 06 09:15 am Link |
