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Think!!! For just 10 bloody seconds
Fact: Things go wrong⦠Some things are beyond our control, but many are not. For 10 seconds worth of thought and 30 seconds of action many of the risks that we accept when we shoot could be mitigated. Example: While shooting Theda, I caught my foot on a cord running to a strobe and pulled the light over. Now, no one was hurt and the only damage was the loss of a light bulb (modeling light) but the whole thing could have been prevented if I had taken a few seconds to check the light in the first place and to secure the cord with a Velcro tie (like the one that lives on the cord to be used for securing it out of harms way) Yeah, I felt stupid. In the interest of education and public safety: Have you ever had an injury or a close call while shooting? What happened? How could it have been prevented? Nov 23 06 09:53 pm Link I think Theda has broken many lights..... Nov 23 06 09:57 pm Link Happens, you have to plan for things to go wrong. When I first started I would get upset if some equipment was not working. Shit happens but also take the ten seconds out to plan or think of the consiquences of your actions or the set up during a shot. What will you do if the autopoles come unloose? That can often be quite heavy if it might take down the lights also. If your dog decides to piss on your stobe power pack?, because you did not want her in the middle of the shot. Are you ready for that or at least will not freak out. Trust me, I think it was on purpose. She is a Chow. I have been busy with relatively safe shoots. When I was visiting my parents I did two shoots in my hometown. One on the roof of my mother's house and one with a model in the cold surf(lite waves but she had on a big dress) I had to be prepared to drop the camera to deal with whatever happened. I had some assistance watching but no ambulance standing by. I had to press this into my brain not to just watch what ever disaster might happen like a duffus.. I have known people that never considered the consequences of their actions or of mistakes. Choosing is often easy, dealing with the mistakes is often the hard part. But standing frozen always afraid is also a mistake. Insurance of some sort based on your income level and risks taken is wise to consider also. I will think of more stories later but this happens from time to time. Okay, have more. tubs I was trying to light something on fire in a tub and poured a bit too much lighter fluid or whatever I was using, maybe paint thinner. And poof, big flame out. I knew what to do, keep it simple and back away. the first blast is the worst. Nothing happened except a big of tinge on my 8 x 10. More shoots of setting up a catch system so that if I hit the light stand while shooting someone in a tub it would pull the cord out of the wall by default. The light never hit the water. I caught it but in that split second the power pack was now off. Some of you may feel uncomfortable with the stories. not the way I work always but sometimes it is needed to push what is happening. But you still need to take the 10 seconds to think if you cannot afford the extra assistants or a safety net. How safe is safe? Not sure. But do take the time to try a bit. Nov 23 06 11:37 pm Link i work as a carpenter, the guy that was training me in the circular saw (1970) was missing 3 fingers.. there's lessons and then there's lessons Nov 23 06 11:55 pm Link NewBoldPhoto wrote: Radio slave. Nov 24 06 12:00 am Link NewBoldPhoto wrote: Tape. Lots of tape. Nov 24 06 12:02 am Link I have whitelightings and I was adjusting on block on the stand and soon discovered the mounting plate was loose. I caught the head just before it hit the floor. It was so close. I was so lucky. Now I inspect the mounting plates. Nov 24 06 12:02 am Link Stephen Melvin wrote: Actually I use a radio slave. It was the power cord I tripped on, which I should have secured to the very bottom of the light stand leg with the Velcro strap that I bought and secured to the cord for the express purpose of preventing this type of thing. Nov 24 06 12:12 am Link lotusphoto wrote: The best shop teachers are always short a digit or two. Nov 24 06 01:57 am Link Your avatar catches Theda in an entirely new light..  Nov 24 06 01:59 am Link Sometimes you got to do what you got to do...... RIGHT AT THIS VERY MINUTE I am watching near real time video from Stormount [the Northern Ireland Assembly building] where well known, long time, and notoriously violent, Loyalist paramilitary, Michael Stone, has chucked a bag into the main assembly room during an assembly meeting claiming it to be a bomb. In getting in he reportedly attacked two building guards - one stabbed and one hit with a heavy object of some kind. He has been arrested but the news guys who are there to cover the meeting are doing their damnedest to get the pictures. Some are/were standing less than 50 - 60 feet from him with the only shielding between them and him being thin air, and the issue of if it is a REAL bomb has not yet been resolved. Got to give them the credit that's due them for doing their jobs in the face of THAT risk. [edit]Stone was armed with a hand gun in this incident as well. Some of his previous claims to fame include a 1988 attack on an IRA/Catholic funeral, at the graveyard, with hand grenades and killing three people on that occasion. Quick screen grab  video here where you can see the press guys at work LINK- BBC VIDEO FEED Studio36 Nov 24 06 05:47 am Link My nearest miss was many years ago when covering a motor race. A car lost control, and started somersaulting toward the photographers. I kept the drive running as it came to rest just 8' in front of me. I turned to find that I was all alone everyone else had seen sense and run.. Nov 24 06 06:20 am Link I had a similar incident to the OP. I had set up with a 6 x 4 foot softbox on a boom with the strobe and box elevated 4 feet above the model. My first incling of trouble was a loud crash a the 10 pound counter weight that I had not securely locked down fell to the floor. Immediately, the whole rig came crashing down onto the set. Fortunately, this all happened before my model was in place. For the duration of the shoot, she didn't seem too nervous. LOL Nov 24 06 08:24 am Link Wow.. nothing electrical for me.. But on a few occasions the Atlantic has tried to take me home with it.. huge wave crashes over you and you cling on to the rocks for dear life. In Nova Scotia, it's not sandy beaches, it's cold water and huge granite shelves, and the odds of climbing back out once you're pulled in aren't great:-) Nov 24 06 08:28 am Link One of my photographers told me he was on a hill and backing up to get the PERFECT shot when he fell, slid down the hill (pretty steep) and broke his leg! During a shoot! Oh man, I feel most bad for the model... Nov 24 06 08:52 am Link KelseyAnn wrote: OUCH. But did he get the shot? Nov 24 06 09:14 am Link BlindMike wrote: Always have rolls and rolls of duct tape handy. You never know when you'll need to tape a model to the ceiling... Nov 24 06 09:27 am Link As many have noted: We canât be in control of everything and at times we simply accept the risks and keep shooting. But sometimes⦠A little awareness can prevent an injury. KelseyAnn wrote: I suspect that every photographer here has experienced this feeling before, that one step back which leads to the discovery of a curb or other drop. Nov 24 06 10:10 am Link Rolando Gomez taught me a little trick to help miminize that risk. Take the strobe's power cord, and run it under one of the legs of the light stand. That way, if you catch on it, you'll just scoot the stand over, it won't tip, because you're pulling at the bottom and not the top. In general, I take the same approach to equipment that I do to using a knife: I always ask myself, "If this goes wrong, what's going to happen? Where will the edge go?" With equipment, if it falls, what will it hit? How can I make it less likely that something bad will happen? Is anything hot touching anything that shouldn't get hot? Et cetera, et cetera. M Nov 24 06 11:32 am Link UnoMundo Photography wrote: Is anyone ever gonna have some balls and send her a bill? Nov 24 06 11:43 am Link If you ever drop a hot soldering iron, don't try to grad it, it hurts. Nov 24 06 11:52 am Link UnoMundo Photography wrote: I kill with my mind. Nov 24 06 12:36 pm Link theda wrote: No doubt... your mind is a very scary thing. Nov 24 06 12:40 pm Link Shit happens for sure... Rock and roll shoot...shot with the guitarist in the foreground and this OLD guy (in his 60's, so he said) in a toga with solid blue contact lenses standing in the water at the L.A. river (a huge concrete slimy gutter most of the time)... ..without warning his feet go out from under him and he falls, hitting his head so loudly on the concrete that it echos off the opposite wall. He slides down the wet concrete slope right into my lap, knocking the camera out of my hands. Ok, I think. Dead guy. Broken camera. Gah. But he gets up..."it's ok young man..I'm just FINE!" as blood starts streaming down his shoulders...I turn him around, and see a perfect X of torn scalp about 4 inches each way. GEEEZ. I walk him out..he's insisting he's fine. Im insisting he's not. Thinking skull fracture...law suit...3 to 5 in LA county... Just then a cop appears (they never do when you want 'em there) and I'm thinking..ok...no permit...pile that one on... I throw a towel over the old guy's shoulders to conceal the blood...nod "good day" to the officer...stick the guy in my car (bleeding all over the leather..christ..more evidence for the trial)...and take him right to the hospital. Check him in..turns out he's not 60ish...he's 88!! My stomach is getting knottier and knottier by the second..but at least he's still conscious and talking. But happy ending...the ER doc says. "he's got a head like a rock"...they put about 16 staples in the guy's head...and says he can go back to WORK! (I glance heavenward). Final shot...cool looking old guy in a toga, back to camera, slightly out of focus with the gnarliest fucking staples in his head...and the lead singer smiling like a madman in the foreground. God watches over guerilla photographers...and hard headed old men, I guess. What a day though. B Nov 24 06 01:00 pm Link martinimages wrote: Great story.. Glad it all worked out for you. Nov 24 06 08:11 pm Link A photographer I was assisting yanked on a cord and the light which was at the top of 10' stand was starting to slowly make it's way to the back of the models head. I yelled something like "light is falling" and she ducked. I caught the light by the stand inches away from her head. Another time, different photographer, left an 11' ladder against the loading bay door then proceeded to raise the door with the remote wall switch. Everyone just stood around stupid looking as the ladder slowly fell towards the middle of the studio and the location of his RB67. After the big bang and the shock wore off we saw the camera sitting there safely between the rungs of the ladder. Nov 24 06 09:21 pm Link I have to shoot around pools all the time, both indoor and outdoor. Strobes hung over the water connected to 1000ws packs, in the water (sb800s in ziplock bags). It used to freak me out to set this stuff up! Planning, sandbags, gaff tape and an assistant help to control some of the risks. So far no mishaps but my $2mil liability policy helps me sleep the night before any shoot! Nov 25 06 09:09 am Link  I had a near miss(see photo and read sign very closely).This shot was done after having had her pose on this fence for about 10 minutes THEN I notice the sign and with as calm a voice as I can I ask her to climb onto my back so I can get her off of the fence. I then pointed out the sign, mom jokingly says"Ray, death was NOT covered in the release!" After we noticed the fence was unplugged she got back on the fence for this photo. Nov 25 06 05:54 pm Link On friday the 13th, I posed in a white sheer gown, on a black backdrop, with two soft boxes, red hair ablazing surrounded by white candles. And well, you can imagine what happened as I leaned down... the hair actually caught fire. I was lucky enough to have lots of it, and catch it quickly enough, but it comes with the set, and I'm clumsy enough as it is. That'll teach me to think that my playing with fire is without its consequences. Nov 25 06 06:02 pm Link martinimages wrote: Would love to see this image! Please share.. Nov 25 06 06:10 pm Link UnoMundo Photography wrote: That's why I made her bring her own. Nov 26 06 01:31 am Link Here's a quick tip I learned at a workshop and follow regularly. Run the cable from a head under a leg of it's stand. This way if anyone trips over the cord it pulls from the bottom instead of the top. Works best on stands with casters. Nov 26 06 01:38 am Link JMX Photography wrote: Yes... NewBoldPhoto wrote: The fact remains that I did not take the time to think and therefor did not act, resulting in a falling light. Nov 26 06 10:15 pm Link |
