Horror shoots, share your stories.

[Collin85]

I couldn't find a thread on this, so I figured I'd make one.

Have you ever had an absolutely terrible shoot? Whether you're a live band photographer, professional portrait photographer, wedding photographer, sports shooter, photojournalist or whatever, feel free to share your stories.

The only rule is that the shoot you were on must have been remunerated (so that you were working as a paid professional) and hopefully, there were some interesting consequences which occurred as a result (e.g. bad results, client getting very angry etc.).

An example might be "I was shooting a wedding and my camera's shutter failed and unbelievably, my backup kept getting Er99 so I couldn't complete the shoot - the clients were very upset and are thinking of suing" or "I was shooting a live gig and suddenly got a bout of explosive diarrhea in my pants". :lol:

Be as detailed as possible so the rest of us slackers can take comical advantage of your misfortunes (while feeling relieved that it hasn't happened to ourselves).

Merry Christmas everyone! :cool:

[tfd888]

What a thread to start on Christmas :lol:

This should be a fun one :cool:

[onebikeonehorseone5D]

I'm subscribing to this one for sure! This is gonna be fun.:cool:

[asysin2leads]

"I was shooting a live gig and suddenly got a bout of explosive diarrhea in my pants".

Ok, who squealed?

I have not had a horrible shoot, YET! I'm sure my time will come.

[Karl Johnston]

I'll start. On a recent portrait shoot with a family...

I had everything set up and ready, the booked time would start in 6 minutes and all of a sudden the seamless background snapped the legs off the stands and it all came crashing down, unrolling and tearing. I called up quickly and rescheduled. After realizing the lighting stands I had got were unable to support the weight of the 9' seamless backdrop I ordered as they were the "light" versions I cut down the seamless to about 5'.

Next weekend I just so happened to tear my rotary cuff tendon and had to cancel the shoot....again within 2 hours of the session. I called up from the hospital and biting my lip I realized how bad it must have sounded - like I didn't want to do it and were tooling them around. Felt extra bad doing it. Now I can't do any portrait shoots at all so when we rescheduled again...I had to admit I had no idea when I could shoot their portraits. I have no idea when I'll be healed up enough to shoot portraits.

[AmandaMarie]

I'll start. On a recent portrait shoot with a family...

I had everything set up and ready, the booked time would start in 6 minutes and all of a sudden the seamless background snapped the legs off the stands and it all came crashing down, unrolling and tearing. I called up quickly and rescheduled. After realizing the lighting stands I had got were unable to support the weight of the 9' seamless backdrop I ordered as they were the "light" versions I cut down the seamless to about 5'.

Next weekend I just so happened to tear my rotary cuff tendon and had to cancel the shoot....again within 2 hours of the session. I called up from the hospital and biting my lip I realized how bad it must have sounded - like I didn't want to do it and were tooling them around. Felt extra bad doing it. Now I can't do any portrait shoots at all so when we rescheduled again...I had to admit I had no idea when I could shoot their portraits. I have no idea when I'll be healed up enough to shoot portraits.

Uh oh!!!!!!!!!!! Poor Karl! You okay buddy?

[harroz]

yeah man thats rough!

so I'm shooting people coming on board a cruise liner, I have to photograph this family of kids(teenage) mum & dad, and grandparents, approx 7, everything all gud and happy and it takes all of 1 minute to stand and look and smile, dad's not into it though and causes a scene big time, pushes out of the group, pushes into one of his family who bumps into a sign and sends it to fall, as I see it falling towards his daughter my instinct is to drop whats in my hand and reach out and save her. In my hand was an eos1v, 24-70L and 550ex. it hit the floor and I realized what I'd done, everyone in the group stood silent, including the dad. I said the F word. Only time I've ever said it in front of a customer of sorts. Anyway, I pick it up and the lens is all mangled and on an angle , the flash doesn't work anymore but the camera does so I pull it up and take their photo then send them on their way. That photo was utter crap, kinda wierd oof, no flash, etc. The camera died a few days later.

Then there's the time I was photographing a house and the plumbers left the nails sticking up out of the floor, I'm walking around in socks and I see a shot and move and spin and go to bring my other foot around, nail in sock, lose balance, go down, camera in hand...The End.

Oh another time I dropped a cf card with a lot of people photographs on it and it bounced twice and went into the depths of the ocean. clients never found out, I went into hiding... j/k

[Karl Johnston]

Uh oh!!!!!!!!!!! Poor Karl! You okay buddy?
Oh hell yah, can't keep me pinned down...take a look (http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=25&month=12&year=2009)
Gained more out of that shoot than I would have in 3 family portrait sessions, but I'm not knocking them - i love it all.
But..I really gotta take it easy from here on or I'll lose all function in my left arm, completely. :(So no more cliffsides at midnight.


Here's another horror story..though it wasn't really a horror story, more of a bit of a mis-communication . I had a client ask for a personal portrait session prior to the christmas holidays. I just misinterpreted just how "personal" in that sentence if you know what I mean(to clarify; this turned out being my first boudoir session :o oops...). So I'm set up at the client's place and out she comes....and yeah I was a bit taken aback but we both laughed it off and went ahead with it anyway trying out different poses and stuff But I wasn't expecting that was what we were doing. I figured it was just portraits. Often you hear people say "personal portraiture" it's often akin to saying "portraits" in general. I didn't expect the mid-aged woman to be the type ...well you know what I mean? Not that they can't, just that I didn't expect that would be the type of person who would inquire about a photo session to be ...that...

:lol:

[Lonnie]

Here's another horror story..though it wasn't really a horror story, more of a bit of a mis-communication . I had a client ask for a personal portrait session prior to the christmas holidays. I just misinterpreted just how "personal" in that sentence if you know what I mean(to clarify; this turned out being my first boudoir session oops...). So I'm set up at the client's place and out she comes....and yeah I was a bit taken aback but we both laughed it off and went ahead with it anyway trying out different poses and stuff But I wasn't expecting that was what we were doing. I figured it was just portraits. Often you hear people say "personal portraiture" it's often akin to saying "portraits" in general. I didn't expect the mid-aged woman to be the type ...well you know what I mean? Not that they can't, just that I didn't expect that would be the type of person who would inquire about a photo session to be ...that...

This could be the beginning of a letter in "Penthouse Letters" :)

[MJPhotos24]

Oh another time I dropped a cf card with a lot of people photographs on it and it bounced twice and went into the depths of the ocean. clients never found out, I went into hiding... j/k
Pirates of the Caribbean - Search for Harroz Card, argghhhhhh

[scorpio_e]

This could be the beginning of a letter in "Penthouse Letters" :)


*LOL* SOOO TRUE !!!!!

[AmandaMarie]

You're such a trooper Karl!

[asysin2leads]

Here's another horror story..though it wasn't really a horror story, more of a bit of a mis-communication . I had a client ask for a personal portrait session prior to the christmas holidays. I just misinterpreted just how "personal" in that sentence if you know what I mean(to clarify; this turned out being my first boudoir session :o oops...). So I'm set up at the client's place and out she comes....and yeah I was a bit taken aback but we both laughed it off and went ahead with it anyway trying out different poses and stuff But I wasn't expecting that was what we were doing. I figured it was just portraits. Often you hear people say "personal portraiture" it's often akin to saying "portraits" in general. I didn't expect the mid-aged woman to be the type ...well you know what I mean? Not that they can't, just that I didn't expect that would be the type of person who would inquire about a photo session to be ...that...
:lol:

Talk about taking one for the team! http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/784/animheadbang.gif

[kazleberry]

I'm bumping this because it seems like an interesting read, I'm nosey and I want more people to respond. Any takers? :D

[icopus]

http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/images/smilies/popcorn.gif

[ZXDrew]

Okay, I guess I'll go. I am a sports photographer who specializes in 5k, 10k, triathlons, marathons, etc. I was headed down to a 5k and half-marathon race mid-January of this year. It was about 45 degrees out which for us Texans is basically arctic weather. Right before we get there it starts drizzling. At that time I was shooting finish line shots strobed with a generator for power. We got there and looked around the finish line. I was able to setup my strobe under the corner of the timers EZ-Up Canopy tent. I was also was able to get a little room for myself under the tent. I even found a power outlet about 10 feet from my light. I made a little impromptu water shield for my strobe from a opt-tech rain sleeve with slits on the side for air. I ran back to my car threw rain sleeves on my 70-200 and 16-35, hooked up my dual black rapid strap and was ready to shoot. My crappy day was turning around. About 3 mins before the pre-race briefing, I felt a little gurgling pressure from my gut. I made it through the briefing and got a few start shots. I thought about running but could only manage a fast waddle to the mens room inside the bar that was being used at the race start. This bar had one toilet, no toilet seat, and about about 10 feet of unsoggy single ply sandpaper. I know I've got 15 mins to make it out before the first runner crosses the finish line. About 14 and change I make it out, get one test shot with the strobe before the first runner. Somehow I make it through all 45 mins of the 5k runners coming across, but this only gave my gut time to refuel. Having learned from the first trip, take off the dual black rapid before squeezing into the stall, and make sure to grab some cocktail napkins from the bar. I made it back in time for the half-marathon finishers. Luckily I remembered I packed imodium in my camera back in the car. Ran back in a lull, 30 mins later I was feeling better. All the finishers done, we head to the covered outdoor stage for the awards. I bring my strobe, point it straight up on full power to bounce off the ceiling. First few age groups were great. Then what sounded like a 10 gauge going, turned out to be a single drip hitting my strobes capacitors. Needless to say, I lost an alien bee that day.

That was the most stressful, uncomfortable I've been out shooting.

[S.Horton]

I'm not sure this story is as horrible, but I had a family self dress for a portrait and candid shoot at their B&B. They decided that one side of the family would wear white shirts, the other black.