New screw ups

[Bruce Schultz]

Just when I thought I'd covered the full spectrum of goofs, I did 2 things that burned film during a shoot Friday. First, with the dark slide out after exposing a sheet, I opened the lens in preparation for focusing the next shot.
A few holders later, I pulled the dark slide out of the wrong side and burned the sheet I had just shot.

[CXC]

I've solved the second of your two new problems. After a comedy-of-errors sequence of screw-ups trying to do a macro shot where there was insufficient room, I finally pulled out the REAR dark slide and voila! I had forgotten to load the film holder! So if you make ENOUGH mistakes, they cancel each other out!

[John Layton]

This is an old screwup that I'll never forget: It was years ago, during a large format shoot of a group of business execs, who weren't in the most cooperative mood as it was right in the middle of a swank cocktail reception - setting up to make the shoot as painless an experience as possible, finally getting the execs assembled, taking a frame - after which against my direction most of them fled back to the party - then removing the cassette without first replacing the darkslide! My immediate reaction was to shield the film under my armpit, as if I could save it - and when the three execs who actually remained on the scene saw me doing this, they approached me, and one of them asked "well, do you think the picture will come out OK?"

My present day screwups tend more towards the posts above, or just plain forgetting to turn the darkslide around before replacing it. A very painful screwup happened last summer, after returning from an assignment in Ethiopia - two tanks of 35mm Tri-x, ten reels total, were almost ready to go - but I had needed to substitute a fresh reel for a defective one for the final roll in one of the tanks. I'd carefully put the loose roll in its tank and replaced the lid before turning on the lights to look for a good reel - but had neglected to put the lid on the other tank! Amazingly, only two out of the five rolls in the opened tank were unsalvagable - but these were irreplaceable photos taken inside a sultans tent, and in his surrounding compound, near the Somalia border. Ouch!!

[Craig Wactor]

Once I had some sheets of tri-x developing in the jobo, on a motorized base. I walked into the other room, and about half an hour after that, remembered the film was still churning away in the developer. To my surprize, the film looked great! It was super contrasty, but just happened to be a very evenly lit portrait and it gave the model a glowing, porcelain-like look to her skin. I have used the same method several times (on purpose) since.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Oh ya? Beat this one. After coming back to Canada after many many years in Japan I built my own darkroom. It took about 6 months before I could actually do any photography. Once completed, I went out one frozen morning to a local frozen lake and exposed 10 sheets of 8x10. Came home all excited, as these were my first ever exposures in Canada. Got the holder in the darkroom, turned out the lights, removed the film...removed the film...no film! All holders were white tab out so I assumed that I had loaded them up before leaving Japan as I always did. Later that day my wife asked me, "so, did you get anything?" Oh well, it was good to get out there and practice!

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

Still waiting for someone to come up with one I haven't done yet.

[ronald moravec]

How about can`t get the darkslide back in couse the film did not sear properly?

[ronald moravec]

How about can`t get the darkslide back in couse the film did not seat properly?

[eric mac]

We are having unseasonably warm temps (mid 30's) here in Chicago, so I thought I'd go out and shoot. Of course with a brisk wind it was still cold. I started to rush and lost about 4 out of 12 shots to screw ups. Where do I start- bumped the aperture setting with my glove, didn't close the lens before pulling the darkslide, misread the aperture scale, almost pulling the back darkslide, and after replacing the darkslide, trying to figure out why the film is on the outside of the holder. To top it off, I tried a new method of developing (drum) with an untested lens and my shots are either overdeveloped or overexposed. I did find out that the inside of my camera is dusty as all the dust is now immortalised on the film due to static.

A crappy day in the field is still better than a good day in the office.

Eric

[Jim Rhoades]

Yeah, I've done most of those too. My last big one was six rolls of 120. I load them in, screw on the top and pour in the developer. About two minutes later I do another 30 second agitation. This time one handed. The cross threaded top came flying off, film and chemicals shooting out all over the well-lit darkroom. Of course they were the most important rolls in a year. My grandma always said to use two hands.

[Michael Graves]

I think my biggest screwup was having my wife get home early while I was photographing a model in the nude. It could have been worse though. At least SHE had some clothes on.

[Terence Spross]

John - here is something I'll bet you havn't done:

In the thread "Faces of demonstrators caught on film" I mentioned in my second response how a tag I've worn about my neck that simply says "Freelance photographer" rather than a credential or a press ID tag has been ok for my needs and it is honest, it doesn't claim anything that is not true. (I don't use it often as mostly I do technical work and occationally outdoor landscapes.) But one place I got in with it was a building where there was a flat roof with a good view of a rally. I talked to a secretaary , who in turn talked to a custodian who let me set of my LF camera on the roof overlooking where the rally was to be. My camera had a remote shutter release and a remote shutter cock. Also an internal baffle that splits the view exposure to 1/2 of the sheet or 2x5" is remotely triggered to flip to allow exposure of the other half of the 4x5 film. A separate remote system on my tripod tilted the camera a few degrees such that the other half of the sheet would get the same view as the first. [ I never figured out how to change film holders remotely :-) ]
Then I went into the street and used my 35mm and when the time was right I would remotely take two photos with the LF camera.

My screwups were:
I had placed not very good adhesive tape labels on the two identical looking walkie talkies that would be used to trip the shutter and tilt the camera. The labels came off in my pocket and, sure enough, I guessed wrong and tilted the camera first instead of tripping the shutter. So I dropped the baffle remotely and only got one shot.

The second screwup: I forgot to ask about getting back into the building! First they wouldn't let me in. Then they locked the building and left. I figured I would pick up the camera the next morning. It rained!
Fortunatly, I had placed the camera under a roof overhang (to act as a sunshade) and this protected the shutter. Unfortunatly the film end of the camera was drenched and damaged the bellows and ruined the remote baffle system. Water seeped in and somehow even though the camera was tilted down slightly, trickled down the film leaving a mark through the center of the color shot when processed.

[Salty]

<....while I was photographing a model in the nude.> Were you nude, or the model or both? I can see how one or more of the scenerios might get the wife angry..... just kidding, couldn't resist.
I'm sure just about every one has made some kind of film handling blunder whether they want to admit it or not. It's been a while since I can remember doing something like that, but tomorrow's another day.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

A few holders later, I pulled the dark slide out of the wrong side and burned the sheet I had just shot.

Wait until you do this with a 12x20 film holder.....you can really feel like an ULI (Ultra Large Idiot!)

[Alan Davenport]

I'm still new enough to LF, that I haven't managed to cover the entire range of possible screw-ups. But I'm gaining on ya.........

[Terence Spross]

How about learning the hard way that flourescent lights can flash or flicker with a nearby lightning strike while loading film in a processing tank? It wasn't a bright flash, just enough to cast fog shadows onto the film, (i.e. not consistant fog).