Oops

So shot my second wedding just over a month ago and just delivered the disk to the B&G and thankfully they were delighted with the images. However me not being too careful nearly ruined the day for me.

After the ceremony I took the wedding party to a local park, large lake, tree lined avenue etc. Started off at the lake and worked our way around a few other locations in the park. Took around an hour or so. Getting back to the car I suddenly shouted 'f&*k' to my wife who was with me and started to run back in to the park. I had left my camera bag at the first location. It had been unattended for nearly an hour and you can't believe the sense of relief when I found it still there with everything intact.

Anyone done anything similar?

I do it all the time
I have a habit of leaving my kit in the church and when taking photos outside, they lock the church and go home.

I was photographing a family at a park. We move up a hill for about 10 mins and my bag was next to everyones coats and some light stands,,, when I came back,, someone ripped off the bag,, Lost about 3k in gear,, now everything is in pelicans and I roll it everywhere I go.

I've done it once long ago. I thought I'd lost my equipment bag, but it was still at the Church.

I use a backpack now that I never set down, except to change lenses or get something out. I put the pack back on to shoot. It's worked for me.

At my last wedding, and in the evening, I plucked the B+G from the cocktail hour for a few minutes to grab some shots outside the venue. We shot a few and then moved maybe 20 feet away--but I totally forgot that I left my bag at the first location. My assistant popped back into the venue to look for it, couldn't find it; and I had a, oh, 20 second internal freak-out. I dashed back to the first location and realized how unbelievably clumsy I was. All was safe, despite the area being fairly high traffic, and trafficked mainly by drunken folk at that hour.

Glad I am not alone. Left my bag unattended in a park and moved to another location. Almost died when I realized what I did. I was lucky though and it was not in a heavily visited park.

I just got a smaller roller so it should help We will see *L*

I think it's because I spent so much time living in NYC, but I don't dare leave anything unattended. I carry almost everything in a sling backpack (back-up gear) and a shoulder bag (gear being used). One time I checked my bag into the coat check because I was seated at the table right next to it so I could literally have my assistant watch it from where we sat. Probably crazy, unnecessary paranoia, but I've never had anything stolen! *knock on wood*

I also left my bag in a park when I was doing engagement photos... when I went to grab my 70-200 I realised the bag was missing! Thankfully it was where I left it behind a tree safe and sound... never done it again

One of my assistants jobs is to make sure I don't lose anything. I lost a case of empty memory cards once, and I left a ladder behind that had my name on it, but other than that doing pretty well. I've even kept all my lens caps so far!

tim wrote in post #15294150
One of my assistants jobs is to make sure I don't lose anything. I lost a case of empty memory cards once, and I left a ladder behind that had my name on it, but other than that doing pretty well. I've even kept all my lens caps so far!

same with my assistants. If i'm shooting a wedding my gear isn't far from me. It stays ina large pelican case so nobody can 'run off' with it without being totally obvious. Plus i would throw down lol

Given where I live if it had been left any longer the army would probably have cordoned off the park and carried out a controlled explosion on my bag lol

Almost lost/left my Singh-ray vari-ND filter once.. never again! lol

I've left stuff behind, and found stuff left behind, at many popular wedding locations...
Once found a 100L in a town over an hour from me. Left a biz card with the nearby wedding hall in case someone came looking for it...
Almost 2 weeks later, it's owner emailed asking if I had his lens... Said he had been looking everywhere for it!

I did test drive that100L a bit.... Ended up buying one...

SMP_Homer wrote in post #15328662
I've left stuff behind, and found stuff left behind, at many popular wedding locations...
Once found a 100L in a town over an hour from me. Left a biz card with the nearby wedding hall in case someone came looking for it...
Almost 2 weeks later, it's owner emailed asking if I had his lens... Said he had been looking everywhere for it!

I did test drive that100L a bit.... Ended up buying one...

wow, good on you for helping that guy out like that!

i've had a bunch of close calls, but the worst lost item was the car key.
my wife went to the car to swap things out, and a couple hours or so later realized she didn't have the key anymore. We were out at a reception at a farm house, where we literally covered acres of ground in the course of that time. All in the dark, all grass. It was a single prius key and we were about an hour and a half from our house where there was a spare. the key essentially can't get locked in the car either, so we knew it wasn't in there.
luckily we didn't need in the car to finish our jobs, and the drunk father of the groom offered his keys to his new truck, but miraculously I eventually found it with the little flashlight i keep in my camera bag.