Snapperjdj Loc: Bury, England

We all experience them at some time, it's just that some are more willing to own up than others.
While on a shoot in Egypt for a UK client I had to take pics of a remote industrial complex on the desert road between Cairo and Alexandria. It involved walking away from the site for a couple of miles over enormous sand dunes to achieve a particular viewpoint. No suitable vehicle available so it had to be on foot. I'd already loaded several backs for the Hasselblad before setting off from my hotel. To keep down the weight for my walk I didn't carry any extra kit. Tripod, camera couple of lenses and filters - and plenty of water - middle of the day and very hot. Spare backs lenses and other gear left at a factory on the complex where I was working. By now you've probably guessed what happened. After a walking a couple of miles I set up and attached a back to the camera. No film. Tried another, and another - no film. I'd packed the wrong set of backs and stupidly never double checked. I had to walk back and collect the correct backs, then retrace my steps out across the sand. By the time I'd finished I was wilting in the heat while colleagues watched on in amusement. Any one else ready to own up?

Yackers Loc: Norfolk, UK

I was asked to do some head shots for a local accountancy firm a few years back. After getting the first person in situ I looked through the view finder to compose and dial in the appropriate settings etc. when all I could see was total black. Being a little flustered (through embarrassment) I tried to redeem myself and show that I knew what I was doing and started turning dials and pressing buttons at random. After a few seconds the person who I was photographing (who was the managing partner of the firm) asked in a sarcastic voice "aren't you meant to take the cover off the end of the lens?"


I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.

G_Manos Loc: Bala Cynwyd, PA

Love it, can't top it. Closest deal was going out with two dead batteries (thought I had charged both but forgot to do so). At least I could DRIVE back to get the other spares! Sorry to hear about this disaster, applaud your stamina.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

My sister's wedding.
MX sync switch slid from the X (electronic flash) to M (flash bulb) on the 80mm lens of my Mamiya C-330.
Needless to say, the flash had no effect on the images shot with that lens.
The photos with the 55 and 180 all came out fine.
After that mishap, I taped it in place.

Had another flash related issue when I worked for a newspaper.
Shooting a high-school football game , (I think it was again with my 330) I noticed the flash was recycling really fast (we could use flash at games).
I loved that Braun RL 515 but thought nothing more about it.
Back at the lab, I processed the film and had maybe 2-3 images on that roll (220 film).
Luckily someone else shot at the same time as I did and I got a few dramatically-lit photos, one of a touchdown from the end zone.
Just needed one.
The culprit....no sync cord....not even the spare I kept in the battery compartment lid.

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

Oh yes, I was visiting the famous geyser old faithful and wanted to get a shot that included the hotel and surrounding areas, so I decided to clime a nearby high point that involved about a mile or so up and wanted make sure that made it before the next eruption. I made it to the look out and shot 10 or 12 shots and then hiked back to the hotel where my wife was waiting.I shot a few more pics around the area and realized that I had shot more photos than the 36 roll of film would allow. I turned the rewind crank on my Minolta SRT202 and there was no resistance at all, it turned easily and all you old film shooters know that feeling you get in your stomach that something is really wrong. In my hast to get up to the lookout, I had loaded the film too quickly and the leader had slipped off the take up spindle. Needless to say that part of our vacation photos was missing. As the saying go's "Haste Makes Waste"

vicksart Loc: Novato, CA -earthquake country

I was the only one with a camera (film) to capture the first expression at a surprise party. When the shutter count got up past 36 and kept going, it dawned on me that there was no film in the camera. The subject was my mother-in-law - her 65th birthday! We have no record of the event or the look of surprise. Hooray for digital and instant feedback.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

[quote=Smudgey I had loaded the film too quickly and the leader had slipped off the take up spindle. Needless to say that part of our vacation photos was missing. As the saying go's "Haste Makes Waste"[/quote]

I think everyone who shot film has done this at least once (and hopefully just once). That's how I learned to always tension the rewind to make sure the film was actually engaged with the rewind spool.

My worst was shooting wedding group photos with an RB67 and forgetting to rotate the film back from the horizontal position back to vertical (in spite of the red lines in the finder). You guessed it - took the top of everyone's head off. Saved from total embarrassment because back in the film days (with no chimping available), I always shot with a 35mm beside the RB67 for redundancy (to screw up someone's wedding pictures is to risk death).

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Been there myself!

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

1998 High in the Rockies on a snowmobile, -30 degrees. I saw a Wolverine trying to get at a critter in a pile of logs. Shut off the snowmobile, put on the snowshoes, grabbed my Nikon F5 and Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 out of my backpack and began a 1/4 mile trek through the deep snow to get a good vantage point. The F5 was freshly loaded with Fuji Provia 100 and I had 6 more rolls in my pocket. Stuck my head and camera over a boulder 30 feet from the wolverine and he was so busy chasing his meal that he ignored me completely. Clicked the F5 into constant high and started grabbing shots. After a few seconds he decided he didn't like the noise and took off. I knew I had a pretty full roll of GREAT shots as the light was perfect! Looked at my shot counter to see how many I got and it said 42. ?????
Hit the rewind and it took at least 1/4 second to rewind the roll, I knew I was in trouble. Opened the back and sure enough, the film had broken at the takeup spool due to the cold. Only one frame was exposed and it had 42 exposures on it. Cold weather lesson learned, and I was REALLY missing Kodachrome again!!@!@ (It had NEVER broken off in the cold)

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

In 1968, I was in the Army in helicopter flight school. It was at that time I got married. My roommate told me that he was a bit of a professional photographer and volunteered to take the wedding photos. I was grateful to that, and because he did not have a camera and I did, I let him use my Pentax Spotmatic and flash unit. After the wedding he asked me how big a roll of film was in the camera. Stupidly, I had forgotten to load the camera up and we got no wedding photos except for a couple of lousy Polaroid shot from someone's SX70. Not getting a shot of a scene or subject in the wild is one thing, but being responsible for not getting our wedding photos is quite another.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

I always have fresh charged batteries, and extras with me.
So I set everything up for a location shoot and there no batteries in the pocket wizards. So I took the batteries out of the flash to use in the pocket wizards, and they were dead.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Hawaii, Jan '69. My wife, at the time, met me there for my R&R. Rented a Mustang convertible and we were touring Oahu. Taking pictures all along the way with my Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder camera. After the first dozen or so shots my wife asked "Aren't you supposed to take the cap off of the lens when you take a picture?"

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

While filming a balloon launch in Aspen, I came across a 10' silver conquistador statue made entirely of car bumpers behind the town's police station! It was magnificent. Made a note to come back and film it as I'd run out of film from the balloon launch. As luck would have it, didn't get back for nearly 30 years. Went to the police station; no statue. Searched everywhere. Finally, a local pointed me to the town square. There, in a rusted heap, lay a legless horse with no conquistador - just a rusted body. Still upset that the statue, made by a local monk who had gone off to New York, had virtually disappeared. Sad. Thank God for the dslr era.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

Had a great spider loaded up for a 50 frame stack on the computerised macro rail bench rig.
Takes about 15 minutes and every thing was moving, clicking and flashing like its supposed
to so i ignored the monitor and made myself a sandwich.
When the stack was assembled, everything was fuzzy but his eyes.
I had left the camera/lens in auto focus and every time the rail moved the camera,
the camera seeing an error, refocused on the same spot.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I opened this thread!