Blunders and Stupidity

Okay let's ALL fess up. . . . . We all know Mr B dropped a great white out of his pick-up truck. Me? I left a 3021 tripod with a 3047 head by the side of a road on Sunday. Upon returning (5 minutes later) GONE! Oh yeah and I also lost a 77mm Canon lens cap to the tune of $9 Let's hear your story.

I left a 70-200mm 2.8, a X-drive II and my jacket on an empty chair outside in a very crowded location, full of unknown people for 30 minutes... All laying just fine where I left it when I returned =D No it was not intentionally, and I do realize how lucky I must have been =D

Two weeks ago I tried taking pictures of my boss's dog by a tree. Well it got to looking like it was going to rain. I got so caught up with loading my stuff that I almost forgot the puppy and drove off. Luckily the little guy was still there.

Hey, if it you don't get caught then its just between you and god. And they can't issue a material witness warrant for god.

- Digital Prophet -

Oh man not a puppy. . . . . that's brutal.

I once worked on a photo shoot with a couple of boisterous dogs. As I was working through various shots and switching through different lens choices, I set my gear bag down so that it would be close and I could reach equipment quickly. I continued working with one of the dogs, getting great shots when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the other dog was relieving himself all over my gear bag. Needless to say I am a bit more careful where I place my stuff these days.

I went on an MX shoot with one of the forum members last winter. Parking sucked and it was muddy and nasty. We talked with each other while in our trucks (window rolled down) before parking.

Packed everything up I needed (10D and 100-400) and off I went. Left everything else in the truck and set the alarm). Came back to the truck about an hour or so later to pick up the 70-200 and found the window (still) rolled down.

My heart sank deep into the mud.

But, all was intact as I had left it. Whew! I have never dropped a camera or a lens in my life. Oh. I take that back. I dropped a P&S digital while at the coast. Didn't hurt it at all. I have never dropped any important/expensive cameras or lenses.

Last year at the Portland ChampCar race one of the photogs dropped his setup in the hot pits. It was not pretty. We all mourned his loss. But, it was (only) a film camera so he took that as a sign from the Photo Gods that it was time to convert to digital.

I am sure he is now reborn. I should see him again in about 6 weeks.

I have never dropped anything important before either. Although last weekend I was walking towards the car, with 10D around neck, my 50mm lens in one hand, and a coke-bottle in the other. Suddenly I felt the item in my left hand slip, and fall down on the tarmac. For a split-second while I was trying to find out if it was the lens or the bottle which was on it's way to bite tarmac, my hart stopped I think

I was once changing lenses, from the 50 to the 100-200. I had the 100-200 mounted and as I began to twist it on I felt my grip on the 50 slip. As it plummeted towards the pavement, I stuck my foot out and caught it on top of my foot. Well the catch only lasted a second, then it rolled off onto the pavement. Picked it up and blew it off, no damage. The 3 second rule came into play there I am sure.

Two part story.

Part One: On Saturday, when on a 4 week trip, I go to a movie and left my nearly new Canon A40 in the car and forget to lock the door. Get back; camera and other things are gone, never to be recovered.

Sunday morning wake up and NEED a camera for that day and the rest of the trip. Purchase a DRebel and love it; vow never to leave it in my car again. We wake up in a motel in Joplin, Missouri, go to breakfast, then drive to Tulsa, OK (108) miles and go to Starbucks for coffee. Go to get the camera; it is not in the car. I had left it in the restaurant in Joplin. I curse and call; a waitress had picked it up. As I am cursing my stupidity and the fact that we need to drive 108 back, my wife says, "You should be praising God. We have a camera to go pick up." Amazing how calm one can get when VERY THANKFUL.

gsm x2

Back when I first got my P&S ($500 was a LOT of money back then) we went to Waimea on a big day to watch the surfers. We set up the blanket and whatnot on the beach and were hanging around. A big set came through and I got some great shots, though it breaks waaay outside. I stuffed the camera into my cargo pocket on my shorts and totally forgot that the big set would eventually reach the beach.

Have you ever seen the wave in the Ocean Spray commercials? That's the Waimea shorebreak. This wave came up the rather steep beach, and I busied myself scooping up the blanket. The wave hit my legs and soaked me up to the waist. Then I remembered the camera and freaked right out.

I wouldn't turn on, system error. Sent it back to the dealer, and they said it's not covered on the warranty and would be $200 to fix. I told them to send it back to me because I planned to fight the warranty issue. When it came back, it worked fine and I never had a problem with it. Happy Ending...

Oh I recall another one.. Just after buying my 10D and the 50mm prime, we had a lunar-eclipse (November last year if I recall correctly).. Guess it's big enough of a blunder to admit in here that I tried shooting the moon with a 50mm =D But.. there's more to it actually..

This was in the middle of the night. I took the camera, a tripod and drove off to the top of a mountain here, as I thought I could really get a good night-shot of the place where I live while at it. Up there, I placed the camera on the tripod, and took some shots. It was blowing a bit that night actually.. During one of those long exposures, I turned away from the camera to block the wind with my back as I lighted a cigarette. Upon turning back again, I saw the tripod falling forwards, headed for a sure death of camera/lens, as it would've felt off the mountain-cliff, and probably rolled 200-300 metres down on the rocky surface. In a miracoulos way, I manged to throw myself forwards, and get my hands on the tripod before it fell off. WOW! Talk about matrix-reflexes =D And to top it off, this was before I had fixed insurance for the equipment. If this was to happen again I would probably let it fall, and trow all my lenses and equipment (and probably car) after it, collect a nice insurance-check, and order a MK-II =D

Wow! I didn't have anything that spectacular happen during the eclipse, but I tried to take a series of exposures with my tripod-mounted Elan and a 70-210 tele. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I ended up leaving the shutter open for a fairly long time - long enough to drink a beer (maybe "beer happened").

Needless to say, my shot was ruined and the lab didn't even try to develop it.

Haha, my RS-80N (or whatever it's named) arrived today, so now I can do bulb-exposures while having to hands free for both beer and cigarettes. This device surely can put more fun into photography =D

Not as bad as some of the others but I had left my 10D on the dining room table as well as my camera bag with all the stuff I have for the 10D (a few lenses, 550EX flash and so on ...) and went out for awhile. Got home a few hours later and noticed no camera or bag? Being over 50, I assumed I forgot I had left it in my computer room so didn't think twice about it.

A while later went to use the computer and didn't see the bag or camera ... PANIC! I had one of those sick sinking feelings

I checked my van, the entire house ... all over ... NO CAMERA! My wife came home shortly after and I asked if she knew where it was. While I was out she had come home, done a little house work and put it on the floor of my closet (I never put it there).

Boy, did we have a serious talk ...

My income is really low and it's only recently everything miraculously came together for me to be able to afford a 300D.
Very strangely it is probably the least looked after camera i've ever owned.
Is there some reverse psychology going on here?!
Bizzare.Truly bizzare

I carry it around on the dirt bike with dodgey strap on the bag,use all kinds of different brand lenses on it without adapters which risks scratching the inside of the mount parts and i haven't even had to clean the sensor at all.
The worst it has got so far is being kicked across some tarmac-very minor scratches were the only result.
I REALLY should get around to insuring it one day.If someone stole my car with the camera in they would tripple their takings ,lol (and the car insur wouldn't cover that much value of contents)