Cliffs at the bottom.
Over the weekend, I had a dance show to shoot. Not as a paid professional, just as a fan and as a friend of the performers. My wife had the video camera (Sony FX-7) on a tripod and I had my new 60D. The plan was to use the 60D both for stills and for additional video clips, to get some extra angles to edit into the main camera's video. She had a couple of spare tapes and a spare battery; I had a case of empty SD cards, spare camera battery, a handful of spare flash batteries, and the new-to-us Epson P-6000. Before the show, we set up our equipment and then put the bags back in the car, locked up out of sight.
I had the camera set to burst mode. Between that and the video, I ate up most of my first card after about five songs. Some good images, one great image. Of course, I'm keeping an eye on my memory card usage. At a break between songs, I notice that I have only about 50 shots left, so it's time to change cards. Left pants pocket is my spare battery and a video tape. Right pants pocket is.. ohhhhh crap, where's my case of memory cards? Left it in the bag in the car. Great.
So they're doing a little happy-birthday song for one of the performers. Sorry to miss that (she's getting a spanking!) but now's my chance to run out to the car and get my memory cards. Out of the club and across the street, pop open the trunk, pawing through the camera bag, then through the video camera bag. Where are my memory cards? Back into the club.. are they in her purse? No. damn. In my mind's eye, I can visualize the case of memory cards on the kitchen counter, right where I left 'em. Crap. Stupid.
All right, I'm gonna miss the next song while I back up the memory card to the Epson P-6000. Pop in the card and hit the backup button, no sweat. Is it doing anything? it's just sitting there. Is it locked up? no, FINALLY the progress bar is moving. Oh, for Pete's sake the progress bar is SO SLOW. Next song comes and goes, the progress bar is about 1/3 done. Then the next song, then the next. Here's my good friend doing a brand-new performance. She says she's only rehearsed it twice, but it's a fantastic routine. The performers take a short intermission and FINALLY the card is finished backing up. Do I wait for it to verify the backup? no, of course not. Card goes back in the camera, do a quick format and I'm back in business. The last couple of routines are fun, and I get a little more video and some decent images.
So I could just kick myself for leaving my memory cards at home and missing half the event. At least I got to watch instead of photograph, so that's a plus, I guess.
Show's over, we're packing up to go home. My wife holds my camera while I head out to the car to get our bags. I put on my jacket to go outside to the car and OH WHAT IS THIS IT'S MY MEMORY CARDS right in my jacket pocket. Right where I put them so I would know where they were. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My wife laughs and laughs.. she's obviously irritated, but she's kind enough to not kick me while I'm already down.
Moral of the story is to know what equipment you have, and know where it is. Have a place for everything, and everything in its place.
Cliffs: Went to a shoot and left my memory cards at home. Missed half the shoot. But actually they were in my pocket all along.
for business stuff
