It happened to me! What Disasters or Near-misses have you had while Shooting?

[Drew Bedo]

I'll go first.

In the early 2Ks the Houston Came3rqa Show was still a viable but shrinking venue for photo gear . . .and a great three day experience. On separate occasions I picked up, first a sweet Zone VI. A jewel compared to my all grey B&J clujnker. At another show I picked up a lightweight carbon tripod with a magnesium ball head.

This was a nice kit; convenient and light weight and all of it worked well together. A few years later we went to Galveston for a day of long walks on the beach, picking up shellsd and so on. Set up the Zone VI for an interesting composition of ripples, shell and a bit of weed .b . .something like that. Angled the camera steeply down for an overhead view with my head deeply into the focusing hood, settled on just the right framing and tightened down on the bullhead to freeze everything.

There was a snap or pop and I scrambled to hold on to the camera and a big 90mm Nikkor while everything else fell away from my grasping other hand!

Got it all stabilized; camera and lens stowed in the bag, and evaluated the event. Tripod seemed OK, but the ball head had come apart in four large pieces and a few bits. Turns out the single shaft that holds the two clamshell halves around the base and ball had broken deep inside the assembly. Had I not been actually cradling the camera bed in my left hand when it failed, the whole thing would have planted the lens right into the sand and shells.

[Deyoung]

About 10 years ago, I was in the Great Smoky Mountains national park. I had spotted a couple of black bears sleeping in a tree and stopped to get a few shots. (At a respectful distance of course)
I was using a gripped Nikon D300 with a Nikon 500mm f/4 lens all supported on a older aluminum Gitzo wtih Kirk gimbal head.

When I set up, I have made it a custom to triple check that I have everything mounted correctly and then give the camera alone a bit of a shake. Nothing aggressive, but just a nudge to make sure its stable and alright to let go of for a moment.

Before that day, I had never had an issue, this day however, after checking that all the connections looked good, i gave the camera the shake. Instead of being alright, the camera and lens just fell right into my hands. no loud snap, no bang, just dropped right over. I was stunned.

Apparently, the brass screw holding the gimbal to the tripod was severely worn and was at its limit and had chosen that moment to fail. To this day I shutter (pun intended) to think what would have happened had I not done the little gear shake before letting go.

[faberryman]

In the 1970s, I was shooting a concert from the balcony. I had my Pentax SP500 on a tripod and attached a cable release. I turned around and the cable release caught on my jacket. I managed to rip the shutter release and its collar right off the top plate. I replaced the Pentax with an Olympus OM-1. I still use it, so I guess things worked out well in the end, although it sure felt like a disaster at the time.

[Joe O'Hara]

I've never had an especially close call with my equipment, but there are a couple of pictures of mine that give me a bit of vertigo when I recall where I stood to make them. A slip, or a loose rock, could have led to a non-survivable fall.

I don't push things that hard any more.

[Vaughn]

I have been photographing in the wilds for 40 years plus. I probably have forgotten more near-misses than the ones I can remember.

The 8x10 on the tripod started to fall into Cascade Creek at the western end of Yosemite Valley. To catch it, I had to drop the Pentax Digital Spot in the creek, but I was able to quickly snatch the meter out of the water before it floated away. Took the battery out and since I had stopped here on my way out of the Valley, I figured it was a sign that it was time to continue home. Forgot about the meter for a week, put the batteries back in and it works 100%.

[Tin Can]

Have been stalked by the wild human while shooting a new D750 downtown Chicago

They even followed me on the EL to my stop, then the 3 blocks to my home

I got away

[Richard Wasserman]

There was the time I had my 4x5 Norma and new 110mm Super Symmar XL set up on a walking path in a large park, when a guy on a bicycle came around the bend going much too fast and plowed into the camera. It of course was knocked over and directly landed on the lens, which did not survive. My insurance paid for a replacement. I guess maybe this incident does not quite count as a disaster because a few months later, on a whim I put the damaged lens on ebay with a complete and accurate description, including the loose and rattling very scratched glass. It sold for a few hundred dollars and I wound up making a nice profit on the whole affair.

[Vaughn]

The shutter was probably worth the cost to someone.

I tend not to get stalked by wild humans...although at 66 I might not be as an opposing figure as I once was (6'4", 220 lbs of what use to be all muscle...and yes, probably between the ears, too). Now 6'3", 250 pounds and where did that muscle go?! Lol!

I remember crossing a very small creek in NZ while photographing out with the 4x5 -- my foot dropped into a cylinderical hole just big enough for my size 12, and about 2 feet deep. I could have easily snapped a leg bone or two. The number of falls I have taken with a 45 pound pack of 8x10 while holding the Ries has convinced me to stay away from carbon fiber until I am too old to take those falls anymore.

[Greg]

In the 1970s: Was a student at RIT and with another student was in the city of Rochester shooting street scenes in the evening before dark. Police car pulled up to us and the Policeman asked us what we were doing. I told him that we were students at RIT and just doing street photography. He said OK, now please give me rolls of film that each of you had in your cameras, then jestured by putting his hand on the shotgun that was next to him. Told him OK, took the film out of our cameras, and gave the rolls to him. He said thank you and we should leave the area now... which we did.

In the 1980s: I had just climbed up a class 4 trail on a rocky outcrop. Went to change my lens and took the 135mm lens off my camera and set it down. While I was mounting the other lens on my camera, watched my 135mm lens first slowly roll, then bounce off the rock and fall down the rocky face.

In the 1990s: Was in the middle of a stream in Massachusetts. Had mounted my Rollei SL-66 on the tripod using the Rollei quick release. Turned around to get a roll of film out of my shoulder camera equipment case. Heard a splash and the Rollei was in the water. Called up Bob and sent the wet equipment to him or possibly a co-worker. To pay for the repair I had to sell the Rollei.

Around 2010: Was photographing with my 11x14 in Collinsville, Conn. Was only slightly windy when a quick gust of wind arose and the camera morphed into a kite/sailboat. Fortunately caught the camera before it hit the ground.

Over the years have always photographed streams from bridges over them. Have watched a handful of small items from lenshoods to filters to small notebooks fall into the stream below... never learned. Add to the above watch a 50mm Hass lens roll off a countertop, lens board and lens on an 8x10 B&J Commercial View camera fall into my hands, and one time after returning home from rock climbing in a local area discovered that I did not have my Nikon with me. Hiked in later that evening with a friend and flashlights in hand but didn't find the camera. That night it poured. Early the next morning hiked back in to the start of the climb and right off found the camera. It was inside a velcro closed CameraCare dark blue case and perfectly dry.

[neil poulsen]

Here's a recent "disaster" for me. (It's a bit long winded.)

I've been "perfecting" my development process for 8x10 lately. For example, I had purchased a one inch wide, plastic tank for my developer a couple of years ago to reduce the quantity chemistry used. In the meantime, I've been wanting to get a photo of the oldest house (Greek revival) in our community built in the 1850's by the our first pioneer. It's on private property, so I needed to get permission, etc.

I dip and dunk, and I'm aware of surge marks caused by traditional stainless steel hangers. So, I used a Calumet plastic hanger purchased at a swap meet in the 90's. After processing, there were no surge marks on the film. But, there are two guides at the top to keep the film flat. Apparently, excess developer collected on these guides and ran down the negative as it was periodically lifted out of the tank. Sure enough, there were two vertical lines on the negative that corresponded to these guides.

After getting the needed permissions, etc., I took a second photo of our A.T. Smith house. I had fixed the problem with the guides by replacing then with a fishing line apparatus to keep the film flat at the top of the hanger. I expectantly processed the negative.

Good news, my updated negative carrier worked just great, and there were no revealing, vertical lines on the negative. HOWEVER, my development tank, which had worked fine on other occasions, leaked over an inch of chemistry. The top one inch of my negative was absolutely clear.

Post more permissions, I recently took a third photo of this historic house. I sure hope that it comes out.

SECOND DISASTER:

A little less pedantic, here's one that happened to a friend. He was participating in an LF workshop at the Grand Canyon and was using one of those older Bogen 3047 heads made before the hexagonal safety catch was installed on later models.

Sure enough, his camera came off, and as it descended into the canyon, he heard . . .

Ker-clunk . . ker-klunk . . . . . . ker-klunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . ker-klunk . .

the fading sounds becoming more and more distant in time.

[Helcio J Tagliolatto]

The internet helps our memory!

https://books.google.com.br/books?id=r9C54oBQRLgC&pg=PP466&dq=the+tripod+tipover&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjqg7vV4aPsAhX6HbkGHZqrDvQQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20tripod%20tipover&f=false

[LabRat]

Learned a bit about dog sensory systems while shooting when a jogger and dog were rounding a bend where I was shooting, where the jogger cut in tight to avoid tripod, but dog ran straight into the leg of my Tiltall... Rig went over about 45°, but I caught it... Jogger looked horrified, but I smiled... I guess some dogs have a blind spot between their eyes...

Was nervous when a very full coated golden retriver (who seeming loved to dive into muddy water), dove into several pools along another trail, saw me and came running up to me at full bore looking like he wanted to play with me... But he was saturated with mud and wetness, and only a matter of time he would shake himself off... Luckily, owner called him back before reaching me...

Steve K

[Drew Bedo]

A truly talented community: Seems that nobody here has fallen off the North Rim of The Grand Canyon while tking a selfie with a cell phone.

[BrianShaw]

“Ker-clunk . . ker-klunk . . . . . . ker-klunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . ker-klunk . .

the fading sounds becoming more and more distant in time.“

I heard that! Early in my career I was researching underground mining and photographing worksites as documentation. While about 3800 feet below surface in the Homestake gold mine of Lead South Dakota... was climbing a long ladder in a narrow vertical raise (shaft-like tunnel) and my 35mm gear snagged on something and the flash made that noise as it plummeted into the deep abyss. It’s final flash was both dramatic and quite sad.

[Jody_S]

I've fallen through ice twice while photographing, both times in swamps fortunately with no current to speak of. 1st time in the 90s with a Canon & 500mm lens, 2nd time 7 or 8 years ago with my 8x10 rig. 1st time went in over my head, complete with camera and lens. 2nd time up to my waist, camera kit stayed on the ice. 1st time required a hike and a boat ride to get somewhere warm, 2nd time a 45m walk around the swamp to get back to my car. I consider myself lucky to have made it out of both intact, I don't care about the gear. I don't walk on creaky ice anymore.

Scariest moment was still being stopped by military police in the lower 9th ward of New Orleans, a couple of years after hurricane Katrina. Those guys don't mess around. In the end they called me a dumbass and told me to go back to Canada, but it was a tense 20 minutes with my hands on the hood of their car.

[Ulophot]

One night in the '80s, I was photographing a photo column illustration in my kitchen with a portable strobe on a small light stand and my Nikon FM2n, on a tripod, attached via a 10' straight PC cord. At some distracted point, I moved the light, pulling the cord more than taught, and turned around to watch my camera and tripod fall to the floor. The lens was OK, but the shutter curtains were disconnected. Problem: I was leaving for Europe in two days, partly on photo assignment.

First thing the next morning, I took my broken friend to the local camera store, where the owner picked up the phone, explained my dilemma to a certain repairman he knew an hour-and-half away, and then told me I could take it there. Off I went to Mora Camera Service, expecting to pay for a new shutter and emergency charges, maybe $200 -- the cost of the camera. On my arrival, the owner, George M, Sr., took a look and disappeared into a back room. He reappeared within 15 minutes and said it was fixed. I was overjoyed and expressed my fervent thanks. "Wait till you see the bill," he said. I knew it was coming and had already prepared myself. He made out the invoice an handed it to me. I believe it was $30.

Thanking him again, I made a beeline for a nearby wine shop I had passed, bought a bottle of good Bordeaux, and returned to give it to him. You can guess where I took all my camera repairs after that.

[Helcio J Tagliolatto]

“Ker-clunk . . ker-klunk . . . . . . ker-klunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . ker-klunk . .

the fading sounds becoming more and more distant in time.“

....and the flash made that noise as it plummeted into the deep abyss. It’s final flash was both dramatic and quite sad.

High-class narrative. I could imagine the scene in detail!

[jmdavis]

Not while shooting, just living. Lived in the NW corner first floor of the Richelieu Apartments in Gulfport in 1969. We moved back to TN a few weeks before Camille. We moved so that I could start school.

before:
https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/about_us/meet_us/roger_pielke/camille/jpg/richelieu_before.jpg

After:
https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/about_us/meet_us/roger_pielke/camille/jpg/richelieu_after.jpg

[Drew Bedo]

A friend of mine told me a story of over-packing and attempting to physically carry a lot of gear down into a valley in the3 Big Bend park in Texas. Just prior to descending on a multi mile hike, he had set up his newly acquired 8x10 Deardorff. He said he had framed a dramatic composition that was so awesome (to him) on the GG that it captured his attention so hard that he just stood there while a gust of wind blew the rig backward hard enough to fracture the glass panel on his forehead.

Wait-w3ait . . .THATS not the story! So he didn't bring the 8x10 rig down the trail but did bring along all tyhis ot6her stuff; a massive DSLR outfit and video gear etc. Did some good imaging and started back. The hike back was a much longer and slower trip with many stops to rest. He said he thought he was going to have a stroke or heart attack.

So breaking the 'Dorff saved his life!

[eric black]

OK, I have two- one that is a little more funny than the other-
In New Hampshire after crawling up rocks to get a water fall pic about 15 years ago, turned to figure my way back down and watched in slow motion as my Arca Swiss and 75mm lens (left unattended for a second) teetered and dropped about 8-10 feet onto the somewhat rocky beach below. Camera landed on the backside, effectively demolishing the ground glass on day 1 of a 10 day trip. Lens was OK and camera got some wicked scars but the trip photography was kind of shot after that.

More recently, after about 5-6 beers, decided to try and cross a small stream to photograph an interesting tree on the other side by using a log that spanned the water. Didn't make it 1/2 way. Flopped off the log and landed on my back in the 6" deep water (kept the camera dry, but not me or my ego). My dog was sitting on the bank watching the whole thing and I'm positive she was thinking ...this idiot is the one in charge?

[BrianShaw]

Once I was standing in a graveyard on an early winter morning, brand new Hasselblad in my hand. The ground was covered with snow and unbeknownst to me the pavement covered with ice. I became aware of the ice when my feet lost grip and I ended up flat on my back... and a Hasselblad buried in my chest. Oh, how glad I was when I realized that the camera never hit the ground. Oh, how sad I was was I nursed a sore head, back, and bottom.

[EdC]

Here goes, in the same vein as what happened to Brian.......

Back in my 35mm days, I was up in the Rockies near an abandoned silver mine. I saw some possibilities around a small creek down a short embankment. I saw that there were some old wooden steps that conveniently led down to the creekside. 'Well, this is a lucky break!', I figured. So, I'm taking the steps down to the creek, planning my shots, while clutching a Nikon F2S in my hand. Being a little OCD about certain things, I did not have a camera strap. I didn't want to take a chance that the connecting rings on the end of the strap would scratch the finish. Of course, the steps weren't as sturdy as I thought. Of course, I fell to one side. Of course, I began to roll over (several times). While getting some vocabulary exercise as I fell, all that I could think about was finding some way to avoid damaging the camera. Somehow, I extended my arm over my head as I rolled over several times before I stopped. (Short of the creek, thankfully!) As I lay there, a bit on the sore side, I could at least say that the camera never touched the ground, or anything else. Couldn't say the same for me!

FWIW..........

[Bertha DeCool]

I freelanced several AMA road races (motorcycle) a year for American Road Racing Magazine in the '90s; didn't make a lot from it but I ride so I was in heaven.
I was working the Daytona 200, first and biggest race of the year but a pain because it required rental of a (roughly $10K) 600mm. Outside of a left-hand corner, sitting on a hay bale with my own 300mm next to me, a Japanese rider last name Mori lost the front-end under braking and the bike was sliding straight at me fast. Squeezed off two shots and rolled backwards before it whomped into the hay bale just next to where I'd been sitting. Where my 300mm WAS sitting.
One of the corner workers picked my lens off the front wheel, tossed it to me and said "Did you get the shot?" I said "I got two." The lens was fine.

[jnantz]

I was doing a research project on Coal Gasification and using the last remaining gas holder house ( and the remnants of the coal gas plant it belonged to ) as a microcosm for the pre 1870s industry in Boston and its surrounding cities/towns. I had gotten permission to document the building and its "feature system" .. eventually I wanted a birds eye view of the site, so I contacted the Buildings/Grounds department of the tallest building in the area. I got permission to photograph off of the roof, but the parapet was about 7feet tall and well, I'm not .. so I mimed with the employee who didn't understand a word I was saying and I didn't understand a word he said but he laughed and pointed to a ladder that was coat-hangered to an HVAC system. It was cold and I figured I was "safe" so I climbed up with my camera and lay down and began when the HVAC system kicked on and scared the ... well lets say, I made it down from 35 storys up intact, and nowadays I don't scale HVAC systems. Few years earlier I was accosted at IDK 2am at a local Somerville MA late night eatery where off duty cops, nightowl students cabbies and inebriated all co-mingle. I had been photographing the night life there for months and was a known element.. this guy "decker" who was on the ree-raw (you know 3 sheets to the wind and all that ) decided to grab the apparatus out of my hands and as top heavy as he was claimed he was gonna stick it someplace I'd rather not say. .. thankfully the cashier lady said I was her stepbrother and to leave me alone & give me back the camera, the guy was dallying with the black bottle and so confused and gave me back the camera (I miss that place, good times! ) ... lastly I bid on a job photographing from a helicopter years ago ( Steve Grimes was going to custom make me a sheet metal bellows sleeve if I got the job so the bellows wouldn't' be pushed in to obstruct the image projection from the downdraft ) and I would have been hanging out of a whirlybird (strapped in of course ) and probably would have dropped my film holders and grafmatic backs. THAT one never happen so I guess it was a near miss ;)

[Drew Bedo]

OK, and now a prank:

In the mid 1990s the Houston Camera Show was going strong. I belonged to the local club that sponsored/promoted the show and had a table. At the height of action on Sat afternoon, I spotted an acquaintance on the next isle talking to another guy, and slipped out of my space for a quick visit.

They were talking in the chaos and hubub of the crowd. My friend was holding a large Nikon telephoto. The lens was whatever the-lens-to-have was at the time; cutting edge, high-end and expensive. In the middle of saying something to the other guy, he turned to me and said something like, "hey guess how much I had to pay for this!", and held it out to me while turning to continue with the other guy.

I reached out my hand and as soon as I had barely touched it he LET IT GO. It hit the floor and came apart in three lartge pieces that rolled in different directions. I nearly soiled my pants! Still in shock, I looked up to find them both laughing hard. . . .at me. Seems they were doing this to everyone with this previously totally ruined junker.

[Vaughn]

We were setting up a rented 8x10 for a workshop demo (Friends of Photography years ago). I handed a fellow the camera back and as he but it on the camera, the part holding the GG fell off and shattering the GG, of course.

That moment of silence afterwards is always interesting to experience.

[Alan Gales]

My very first large format camera was a used Cambo SC 4x5 monorail that I found on eBay. All excited, I set the camera up in my living room to play around with and learn how it worked. I decided to swap the standard bellows to a bag bellows so I pressed the button and slid the slider switch on top of the front standard. Unfortunately, I slid it the wrong way. The lens and lens board fell off and I caught the lens right before it hit the floor.

From then on, I knew which way to slide the switch. ;)

[Robert Opheim]

I was working for an architect and shooting a fraternity building that the firm had designed. I mounted the camera on a quick release (an old Bogen one) and started to level the camera and find where the best shot of the front of the building was. The camera fell off of the tripod and broke and bent parts of the camera. Very fortunately the lens was not damaged. I ordered replacement parts for the camera. I went back later and photographed the building.

[Rick A]

A couple of years back,Karen and I were at Kinzua Bridge. It was a rainy blustery November day, the rain had let up so we hiked the trail to the small observation deck under the bridge, where I set up my B&J Press on a substantial tripod, and hung my back pack under the pod. I managed to get one exposure just before the wind ripped through and lifted the whole affair into the air. I caught it just before it sailed over the railing.

[John Layton]

Lots of these but I'll share three - One: as a student at U. of Rochester in the early '70's - instructing my friend in his big GTO to do a close drive-by as I photographed with my 20mm on my Nikon-F. Well, true to the "objects are closer than they appear" - the side of his car skimmed the nuckles on my right hand as he drove by - lucky for me that the rearview mirror didn't take me out! Two: While still in high school I'd been hired by a local newspaper to photograph sports...and while covering a Dartmouth hockey game - leaning out over the ice - the temperature was cool enough to thicken the lube in my Pentax Spotmatics screw-mount lens so that instead of focussing, the lens itself unscrewed right off of the camera on onto the ice...where - you guessed it - a couple of players momentarily went after it as if it were the puck! And three: After having photographed a group of business executives at their cocktail party using my 4x5 Crown Graphic, the execs eagerly left to get back to their reveries - with the exception of one gent who was curious about my camera. He must have made me nervous, because I then proceeded to pull the holder out of the camera without first having re-inserted the dark slide! When I noticed this I quickly, and very foolishly, placed the holder under my armpit - as if I could save the film! At any rate, the curious gent then asked me - "do you think it will be OK?" The most difficult thing was then getting the execs to assemble yet again for the re-take!

[ic-racer]

First day I mounted my 300mm lens on the front of my Century view. I composed a picture near a pond and as I tilted the camera forward, indeed the lens board popped out and the 300mm lens and Copal 3 went in the water. The Copal 3 releases 3 bubbles when submerged.

A race back to my workshop saved the lens and shutter. I had to completely disassemble both front and rear cells to remove all the moisture. That was a harder than opening the shutter, which did not need a complete disassembly. 15 years later the lens and shutter are still working flawlessly.

[ic-racer]

A few years ago I re-build a camera battery pack with new cells. For whatever reason, inside the casing, the original had a red wire on the - and a black wire on the +. I was so stupid not to check. I had the replacement pack professionally made and spot welded with the orientation of the cells exactly like the original. Of course they put a red lead on the + and a black lead on the -.
When I inserted the rebuilt battery pack, it instantly destroyed the camera body electronics :(

[Tin Can]

Be careful with RV wiring they also have strange customs, as I am discovering

[islomane]

In September 1986 I was in St. Anthony, Newfoundland, on my way to Labrador with my Deardorff 4x5 Special and Deardorff 8x10 cameras. I’d set up both the 4x5 and 8x10 when rain and blustery winds arrived unexpectedly. I rushed to put the equipment away, but a gust of wind caught the 8x10, causing it to fall to the ground. It was in pieces. Amazingly, the ground glass didn’t break. The focusing knob for the front extension absorbed most of the impact, breaking off, but I was able to put the rest of the camera back together after buying a set of small screwdrivers at a hardware store, and was able to continue using the camera while touring the Lower North Shore of Québec and Labrador, exposing dozens of color transparencies.

[John Layton]

Had just gotten a Mamiya 6 system (2 bodies/3 lenses) and in setting these up for the first time with my old crusty Norman P-2000 flash system on a location shoot - I quickly fried both cameras...not realizing that a simple, 10.00 sync voltage regulator would have saved the day. Live and learn!