Risk Taking and LF Photography Experiences

[Frank Petronio]

Just looking for a few short tales of your riskiest adventures with large format photography...

Slipping off the edge of the Grand Canyon, getting shot at, and that sort of thing. Mixing up the Dektol with your Scotch in the darkroom doesn't count.

[Walter Calahan]

I was photographing a SuperFund site in Lousianna for an annual report on 4x5.

Was under the darkcloth, white on the outside and black on the inside, framing and focusing when the groundglass went dark.

I raised my head to see a sheriffs deputy staring at me. He was wide as he was tall, with a BIG gun belt.

He said, "Boy, don't you know this is Klan country?"

Without saying anything, I flipped the darkcloth around so it was black on the outside and white on the inside. I made sure I turned just enough white back out to frame the black.

I said, "Now I'm a nun."

The deputy smiled and walked away.

[MIke Sherck]

A group of us were photographing at Turkey Run State Park in west-central Indiana in March, a couple of years ago. The weather was changable: rain and snow during the day, below freezing at night. Half a dozen of us were trying to navigate stone stairs mid-morning, after it had warmed up well over freezing. The steps were covered with an inch of ice, now melting with a stream of water coating them, but we wisely decided that they were too dangerous to navigate.

But we still wanted to get to the bottom, so noticing a goat path at the edge of the cliff the steps traversed, we decided to use that instead. I still have no idea how we got half a dozen photographers and all their equipment down the path without injury or damage; we must have been blessed that day. When I go back there and stand at the bottom looking up, I still can't believe we were dumb enough to try that. It would have been foolish in dry weather, let alone ice covered and wet.

mjs

[Kirk Gittings]

I have been.....

shot at in a barrio in South Albuquerque while shooting architecture,

run off at gun point by locals from the Upper Morada in Abiquiu (by Georgia O'Keefe's house) while working on my NEA documentary,

eluded security police for three days shooting secure superfund sites at Los Alamos National Labratoories while on assignment for Forbes Magazine,

fallen asleep at the wheel and drove off a cliff on a Colorado mountain pass after an all night architectural shoot in Denver,

set fire to the carpeting with hot lights in the historic Kimo Theater in Albuquerque,

I may be missing a few. There have been so many.

Oh yeah. I hauled my VC and other things into the Havasupi reservation at the Grand Canyon, but the thought of hauling it all out seemed like too much so I rented a burro, the most stubborn ill tempered beast I ever met. Every chance he got he would ram my hard case into a rock or tree, finally dislodging it and my tripod. I watched the case tumble down a steep hill. The camera was ok, but when I got back to the top the burro had decided to go home with my clothes etc. I let him go and hiked out.

[C. D. Keth]

I went with my roommate, an RIT photo major (I'm a film major) to interview someone at a pretty sketchy homeless shelter in a pretty bad neighborhood in Rochester. I made the mistake of not asking where we were going first. It's called The House of Mercy and murders are pretty routine. We did the interview in the office, with only the subject and the police officer who is always on duty at the shelter in the room. We left and the next day read that about 10 minutes after we left, someone busted into the door in the office and shot a guy, who was sitting where I was sitting with the camera not ten minutes before, three times in the face.

[j.e.simmons]

I was shooting with my 8x10 in the Guana River Preserve here in Florida a couple of years ago. I spotted a fallen tree out in a prairie clearing the looked promising. As I lined up a shot, I realized it would benefit greatly from the axis lighting edge effect - sort of like Weston's shots of Charis on the dunes. That meant I had to wait a while for the sun to rise more.

As I waited, feet slowly sinking into the muck, I heard a rustling in the bushes. Out popped a wild boar. I decided to let him know I was there while he could still choose flight over fight. I grabbed my dark cloth, waved it over my head, and gave my best impression of an Arkansas Razorback fan cheering on Darren McFadden.

The hog ran, splashing his way across the prairie and into the marsh.

But my most risky adventures seem to involve police.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking pictures."

"Of what?"

"The marsh, trees, grass."

"Like hell you are. What are you really doing?

So far, I've succeeded in convincing them that rich folks actually buy such photographs, prompting them to say they should get out their digital cameras and take some photos of their own.
juan

[Scott Davis]

while hiking in the Pinnacles National Monument, I spied a succulent growing from a cleft in the rocks below me, and a gnarled dried tree branch around it. To take the shot, I had to balance the tripod and the camera on a rather precipitous edge of another boulder, and then point the camera DOWNWARD with a nose-heavy lens on it, then take the several-second exposure hoping that the camera would not tip over into the sixty-foot ravine below me, taking me with it as I tried to stop it plunging forward. I got the shot, and walked away. Oh, and I was also ill at the time with walking bronchitis. Fun.

Then there was the time I wanted to get a weston-esque surf shot of the waves crashing into the headlands in San Francisco. So, I dragged my Agfa/Ansco 4x5 and the JTL equivalent of a Bogen 3021 tripod along with me onto this three-foot wide ridge of dirt at the top of the cliffs at Lands End. One mis-step or even a really good gust of wind and I'd not be writing here now.

More recently, but less risky in some ways, was going hiking with a backpack full of LF gear on Black's Point next to Mono Lake, solo. I was being very careful in my search for the volcanic uplift crevices, so I didn't fall in any of them, but it would have been possible to do so, get stuck forty feet down, and not have anyone realize you were there for a couple of days.

[Pat Kearns]

I was in the Needles area of the Canyonlands and saw a reflection of a butte in small pond near the roadside late in the y. I stopped the Tahoe and the best view for the shot was from on top of the roof. There was a thunderstorm approaching fast and I was able to get one shot off of the butte and reflection before the wind kicked up the ripples on the water surface. The only thing around taller than the human lightning rod on top of the Tahoe was the butte. I was able to get down and back into the vehicle before the lightning flash.

[bdeacon]

Over Labor Day weekend I went to Sprague Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park to photograph the sunrise. After walking a short way up the lakeside trail a bull elk spotted me and quickly walked directly towards me. Right behind me jutting out into the water was a gnarled, downed tree with lots of branches sticking up and out on the sides. With the 4x5 camera pack on I walked out on the slippery and skinny log about 20 feet from the shoreline and stood there for a half-hour watching a spectacular sunrise as the elk waited patiently for me to come back so he could gore me with his huge rack. Thankfully he eventually lost interest.

[paulr]

Walking around with a big camera in the kinds of neighborhoods where I live seems pretty risky, but so far in over 10 years nothing's happened. All this good luck leads to a lack of good stories.

[walter23]

Just looking for a few short tales of your riskiest adventures with large format photography...

I have this friend who is notorious for trying to use brute force on things before thinking about them. I helped him move once and his style was to push harder if something didn't fit, often to my detriment as I was often on the downstairs side of a heavy object and the reason for it not fitting was often because I was wedged between it and something. I still have back pain from that move. This is all preamble though.

I brought over my 4x5 folder (Shen Hao) to his house because I had been using it during the day, and against my better judgement set it up to let him look at stuff in his house on the ground glass. Sure enough, his hand immediately found its way to the spring back and yanked hard without thinking. He actually used enough force to tilt the tripod head back (which was locked down but not that tight). GG and back are fine though - nicely made camera I guess :)

Definitely the most risky thing I've done with it.

I'm not not into taking stupid risks with myself for photography, though in Arches NP last Feb I did climb up into some amazing spots surrounded by steep drops. Not really a risk though if you stay aware. I would never clamber along steep slickrock next to a cliff, as I saw some fool doing in taking a photo of delicate arch at sunset from the shady/silhouette side.

[Robert Hall]

Yes, I have a great shot of the back side of Delicate Arch. It is a good 300 fee straight down.

Freaks me out to see tourists getting so close to the edge.

I think my favorite times of peril were at Grand Canyon on the north rim.

I pulled my head out of the bag a couple of times to the shrieks of ladies walking by seeing me on the edge.

My favorite instance was a lady sitting down reading a book next to me across the path. I said, "Hi", to which she replied she was reading the Bible and praying for me that I wouldn't fall off.

I told her thanks and while that wasn't my plan, I appreciated the extra help from above.

She was not amused.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Many years ago I was photographing some buildings in Jenin, the northern part of the West Bank. I was in a pretty busy part of town, across from a cafe and not far from a central intersection.

I was doing my thing under the dark-cloth, when I suddenly notice that the crowd of boys and men which normally gathered around anybody with a huge wooden camera was nowhere in sight (normally there was a kid or two peering into my lens when I was under the cloth), and the noises around me had suddenly changed from normal traffic noises to angry yelling. I poked my head out and found myself wedged between Israeli soldiers and settlers, who had just launched several tear gas canisters and were shooting so-called rubber bullets over my head, and and a large number of masked Palestinians heaving rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Needless to say, I grabbed my camera and crawled across the street to a nearby cafe, where my friends were waiting. Oddly, nobody even seemed to notice me.

[John Brady]

I like to get into some of the remote areas here in South West Florida. One day I was in An area called Fakahatchee Strand hiking on one of the old tram trails. I was trying to go about 4 miles in to a spot I had read about. I made it about 3 ½ mi in when I came up on about a 12ft gator. I banged my tripod on the trail trying to get him to move out of the way, but he was not budging. It was a narrow trail with waist deep swamp on both sides of him and so not feeling brave enough to hike in the water with him starring at me I turned around and headed back. I had almost made it back to my truck when out of the swamp walks a 350 lb black bear. He was only about 25 ft in front of me. I stood there trying to size up my options, I knew nothing about bears in Florida. He stood up on his back legs trying to figure out what that smell was (me) and then he realized I was standing right in front of him. I am not sure who was more freaked out, me or the bear. He bolted back into the swamp. He sounded like a freight train crashing through the branches and water. I started breathing again and walk more quickly back to my truck. I read up on florida black bears on the internet when I got home and found out no one has ever been killed by one, apparently they are quite docile so it really wasn’t that dangerous but at the time it sure felt like it.
Anytime I tell one of my friends the story, they always ask if I got the shot, they just don’t get large format.
_______________________________
http://www.timeandlight.com

[Arne Croell]

I can think of 2-3 lucky times:

I wanted to do some closeups in the beech forests here in southwest Germany. It was a hilly side above vineyards, about 15min walk from the next houses. I got there really early. While I was waiting for the wind to die down, I heard a rustling of leaves, not very loud, off to the right, and I thought that it was the wind, so I continued to wait. When I looked after more rustling, it was not the wind but a sounder of boars (12-15 animals, unfortunately including piglets), trotting towards me. They were about 20 meters away. Apparently they had not seen me yet as I was not moving, and I was downwind of them. So the question was, do I move to get their attention or do I stand still? After a few seconds I decided to move and raised my walking stick (I should have used the tripod with camera) above me. They immediately stopped, checked me for several seconds (felt like a minute) and then fortunately decided to gallop off in another direction. About 30 minutes later on my way down I met a local hunter and he asked if I had seen any traces of boar activity....

The other time was in Mt. Lassen National Park, on the "Cinder Cone". The weather was fine, I had made my way up and was busy taking pictures of the surrounding surreal landscape when I heard a rumbling behind me. I turned around, and there was just a cloud moving in, but after the next rumble it was no question that it was a small thunderstorm, and I was on the highest spot within many miles. I grabbed the tripod and camera and ran down. When I was about 2/3rd down, it already started to hail. 20min later it was all gone and the sun was shining again.

There was also the time in White Sands NM when I was really glad I had my GPS to get back to the car (only 15 min away) when a sandstorm started.

[John Bowen]

Back in May, Richard Ritter took Bruce Barlow and me to one of his "secret" photography destinations. I drove and we arrived mid-morning at a gorge. Richard never mentioned that we MIGHT need repelling ropes in order to insure our safety. While Richard is physically fit, he would have one hell of a time getting either Bruce or me out of this gorge if either of us was injured. (Bruce and I are both 6'6" and of the XXL size frame, Bruce with a bad hip and me with a bum knee) The gorge was beautiful but had much more water flowing through it than Richard had anticipated. We photographed for a few hours then were VERY releaved when all 3 of us were once again safely in my truck on our way to lunch. Would I go again......YES, but I would make sure that someone LARGE was along on the trip just in case someone twisted an ankle or took a serious fall. Needless to say this was one of the most heart racing places I have ever photographed before.

[David_Senesac]

Too often for my own good haha. I've been doing mountain landscapes including considerable backpacking each year for over two dozen years and in the early days with 35mm used a Benbo Trekker tripod that regularly put me in sketchy positions. When I stepped up to 6x7 and later 4x5 I didn't miss a step in getting dangerous. The view camera person I often do road trips and backpacks with has climbed up most of the Yosemite big walls so I there is often someone around to share the exposures. On my website homepage, http://www.davidsenesac.com are some field stories. Select the following field that includes some rather detailed information on a tricky traverse we did this August across a notorious Sierra summer snowfield where a slip could have resulted in a slide down into a lake with only icebergs to grab: Shadow & Minaret Creek Headwaters Backpack August 2006. The image near the top of my home page of my Gitzo G-1348 against some pink dogwood leaves was taken this fall in Yosemite. The tripod has two legs atop a large 4 foot diameter douglass fir log with the back leg braced against a tiny tilted shelf on the near large boulder. Below the tripod was about 5 feet of air. I had to be very careful moving methodically dealing with setting up the camera and shoving in and out the film holders just like when climbing. This winter I'll be doing some snow camping with my view camera in the backcountry during storms so am stepping it up. ...David

[QT Luong]

http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np-image.katm0095.html
The bear looks small in the picture because all I had after I backed away was a wide-angle lens on the 35mm camera.

[Ron McElroy]

While I live in Memphis, I often shoot in Eastern Arkansas because I can be in a very rural setting quickly. A few years ago I was working on a series of grain dryer images. In many small towns you can get very close to them, but for this one shot I wanted I needed to walkdown the train tracks about a half mile. A lot of dust was blowing about from the dryers so the shot didn't work the way I expected. I packed my gear and walked back to the car. When I got there several workers from the dryer and the local law were waiting for me. After about an hour of talk about what I was doing I finally got to leave. It turned out the grain dryer had been sued by someone over the dust and everybody thought I was part of that process. What help me out of the mess was a small photo book I always carry so I can show folks what kind of pictures I make with the "old timey" camera. My father-in-law was a rice farmer and I had a couple of shots of him cutting rice. The good ole boy network came thru again.

In another small used to be town there was a burned cotton gin. All sorts of twisted sheetmetal. I immediately stopped and started to work doing some abstract shots. I was there about 15 minutes when a couple of old coots came out of a store, drove slowly over in their pickup and told me I'd better leave or the firechief would have me arrested. I kept shooting and a few minutes later a red pickup pulls and out comes the firechief. After first convincing him that I had not crossed over the caution tape, I again got my small portfolio out and showed some pictures. That and my weimarner sitting in the front seat of the car totally defused this situation.

[Jim collum]

http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np-image.katm0095.html
The bear looks small in the picture because all I had after I backed away was a wide-angle lens on the 35mm camera.

you win

great pic!

[naturephoto1]

http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np-image.katm0095.html
The bear looks small in the picture because all I had after I backed away was a wide-angle lens on the 35mm camera.

Just wondering did the bear show much talent or aptitude to be a LF photographer??? :eek: :D

Rich

[Frank Petronio]

QT: How did your gear do after the bear encounter?

My scariest large format photo moments: Blowing a Speedotron pack. Always. Using 72 Polaroids to perfect one studio shot (I was young). Shooting in the city and having a gang kid pretend to reach for a gun but really just joshing at my racist fears. Almost stepping on a snake. Getting thrown out of the abandoned Tennessee State Penn (awesome place) by gay biker dudes. Having six horny cops come to bust an outdoor shoot with a really pretty (nude) model.

I've gotten lots of dirty looks and threatening glares from my Leica, XA, and Rollei work but that doesn't count...

Absolute scariest: As an assistant I had to take a Kodak van with $20K worth of gear in it home before an early morning shoot. Then we went out for a family dinner with it and I accidently locked my year-old daughter inside. You try explaining why the window was broken to the corporate muckymucks the next day...

[Scott Davis]

On one level, I wish I could say that I had had a camera with me to document the day, but the scariest thing I think I've been through was September 11th. At 9:38 AM, I was running my farecard through the turnstile at the Pentagon metro station on my way in to work, the exact moment the plane hit the building. Given the location of my office, it's understandable why I didn't have camera gear with me. That entire experience was so surreal, it took me two entire years to come to grips with it, and have my PTSD moment. I still get a little jumpy when I hear low-flying aircraft.

[Graeme Hird]

I once defended digital print-making on APUG. Does that count? :)

[Struan Gray]

I have twice crushed my thumb with my Sinar pan-tilt head. The second time it drew blood.

I also had my arms gnawed off by midges this summer. They grew back eventually.

Oh, and there was that time with the Selkie, but she backed off fast when she heard I was a physicist.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Not an LF story, but once I was photographing a mute swan with a new brood of cygnets from a good safe distance on the other side of a pond, but when I picked up my tripod to mount my 35mm camera on it and a long white lens, mama swan no doubt thought it was some predatory monster bird and started swimming toward me and hissing. I slowly folded up the tripod and backed away without further incident.

[poco]

Last year I was walking along the edge of a canal in winter when a slopeing patch of snow turned out to be ice and I felt myself sliding the three feet toward the edge. Going over would only have involved a 12 foot drop into water, but then, how the heck do you get back out? Plus I had a backpack full of lenses and my camera/tripod on my shoulder which I obviously didn't want to lose. So I knew I was screwed as soon I started to slide and that my only hope was to hit the deck immediately and hope the surface area of a spread eagled body would stop the slide. And that worked, kinda ...except for the hideous snapping sound I heard as I forced my feet out from under me. Turns out I broke a leg and snapped a ligament in my ankle while going down. Hobbling back 1/2 mile to the truck and then driving a shift for 25 minutes was no treat. And the ligament still bothers me.

As far as pissed off critters go, I was attacked by a deer once when I was set up for a night shot on a deer run. I'd heard them snorting and stamping their front feet for about 15 minutes before one of them suddenly came out of the black at me. Luckily it hit one leg of the tripod before getting at me and that scared it off. I thought it was funny at the time, but then heard such attacks, though rare, can be pretty dangerous.

[Steve Cohen]

Not a LF experience but glad I didn't have heavy/bulky LF eqpt....backside of Camelback mnt in tame Poconos, PA....early spring hike along protected hiking trail....devine weather..not a care in the world. Rustling in woods lured me off trail to investigate, maybe Bambi?...to my suprise it was a mom bear and cub, mom showing me all her pearly whites :D (a full set!) about 1 foot away....I bolted with my lite 35mm and pack in tow....never got the shot but the image of those bear teeth remains neuronally imprinted.

[Ben Chase]

Ok - well it was with my Mamiya RZ 67 gear, not LF..but close enough.

I was heading toward Jasper up the Icefields Parkway when I noticed a solitary Bighorn sheep just casually walking along the road. I parked my truck past him, about a hundred feet or two, what I had "thought" was a safe distance. For those of you who've been up this road, you probably know the spot that most people see the sheep, going up that long hill....

Anyway, I had set up my tripod in the hopes of getting a 6x7 image of this Bighorn in front of me. As soon as the sheep heard the mirror slap down, he popped his head up (you'll see this in the picture below), and started walking toward me. The shutter clicked a fraction of a second after he had lifted his head.

The big guy started to pick up his pace and I realized that I had quickly worn out my welcome. By the time I had thrown everything into the truck, I was "seconds" away from having a nice sheep horn dent in my door.

Ben

[Marco]

While taking one of our images (this one: http://www.cristinamian.com/gallery_working/image_file/Gh1.jpg ), there were at the far end of the shed a group of people that were stealing copper, they were very busy going in and out of the industrial structure we were in.

We had to wait for them to finish their "work" before taking our shot, since the location of their "activity" was in the frame.
While we were ready to go one of them noticed us (it was impossible not to notice 2 guys with the Green Monster 8x10"!!) and came close to our camera, and asked us who we were and if we had taken pictures of them.
I tried to stay calm and explain that we were not interested in what they were doing but only in taking a picture, and I tried to assure him that nobody was in our image except me.
He commented something about the fact that there were nothing interesting to photograph in a place like that but in some ways he believed me and went away without any consequences...after this episode it took me some time to convince Cristina to go and photograph in those abandoned industrial places again :rolleyes: ...



Ciao
Marco

[Leonard Metcalf]

I was taking a photograph on the edge of a billabong in Kakadu, head totally ensconced under my dark cloth, when my partner yelled out "CROCODILE LEN", she was observing from a high point over the water, and could see this huge one heading towards me... I made a hasty retreat away from the waters edge... Not to return for that missed shot.

[Doug Howk]

Florida should be called the reptile state. My worst experience with reptiles was at Guana State Park south of Jacksonville. Hiked about 3 miles & very cautiously approached a tree next to swamp - was fearful of gators. Set up my 4X5 looking at view of tree roots & water. Decided against the view when my wife called on cellphone. We talked for a few minutes with me commenting on how beautiful the scene was & the sound of locusts, etc.. After the call, I picked up my camera still on tripod to get a better angle. Took one step to my right (holding camera/tripod in front of me), when I was attacked by an Eastern Diamondback (they're larger than the Western, I understand). He landed just short of my foot. Apparently, the tripod made him misjudge the distance to me. The "sound of the locusts" had really been him warning me not to approach.

[Mark Straughen]

Wasn't shooting LF at the time, but I was out shooting along the coast, large cliffs above me going about 100 metres up. I had packed up and was heading back to the car, about 15min walk, when suddenly I heard breaking glass. Which was strange, because noone was in sight, and the only houses were above me on the clifftops. Then seconds later more breaking glass, but this time I saw it break, on rocks only a few steps away from where I was standing ! I look up to see what looks like kids at the top of the cliffs, holding glass bottles. After hurling a few expletives at them, I raced back to the car to try to find them, with no luck.

[Brian K]

I've had close encounters with bears and moose but I'm usually prepared for animals, I carry bear spray and keep it handy when I feel that I am at increased risk. I check for animal tracks, scat and other signs so I feel relatively safe eventhough I break the standard rules of not hiking alone and not hiking during twilight or pre dawn. What makes me a bit more concerned are the things that are unexpected like earlier this year, while setting up my tripod in Utah, a bullet whizzed by me. I wear a bright red jacket when I work in the field, but bullets can go an awfully long way. If you work in the American west you tend to notice that the majority of road signs are full of bullet holes.

The other big risk I take is driving many miles, a typical trip for me usually involves 12,500 miles driven in six weeks. Poor weather, hazardous road conditions and distracted drivers are a serious danger.

[jnantz]

i spend some time photographing the quincy quarry for the state of massachusetts.
i lugged a view camera and speed graphic to the rim and recorded everything from artifacts, to grout lines, to the walls of the quarry. at one point we had to walk across the wall of grout that you can see from the highway ( rt 93/128) the blocks of stone were kind of wobbly, and i kept thinking 300-350 feet straight down is a long way to fall.

[stompyq]

I once defended digital print-making on APUG. Does that count? :)

I am still sweating after reading that!!:D

[Adamphotoman]

I was asked to shoot some LF arial photos 4x5 Chrome for 6ftx12ft Ciba-Ilfachrome Display.
First I took a Sinar 4x5 off the Alpina Standard and attached a black plexiglass nose cone to a Sinar lens board. I glued and screwed a piece of plumbing pipe to access the oversized thread mounts and then I Mounted an Apo Symmar to a threaded lens Cap sewer pipe threaded lens board. I then built a frame to hand hold this Point and Shoot system which included an Optical finder ripped out of an old Kodak instamatic.
I used large Rubber O rings to set the Camera at Infinity.
Then we booked a Cesna from a parachute Club. I was driving an older Jimmy and I actually had to boost the airplane with the SUV. When we got up to elevation I roped up and half crawled out onto the wing of the airplane -1 elbow on the wing the other on the foot step to get into the plane . My knees were inside and i thought I was tied in. The Plexiglass was to get rid of a bellows and at near stall spead we still were near 100 miles an hour. When I finnished the shots In out In Out then I crawled back in and the ROPE Just let go and Fell off. OPPS!!! But I got My Shots.
Gtant Kernan

[Robert Oliver]

I took too long on a hike in yosemite. Finished a couple of hours later than i told my wife and showed up late for dinner. She was ready to skin me alive.

That was almost scarier than the bear that chased me that same day near bridalveil creek. No pics of the bear though.

[cyrus]

I once went shopping for LF equipment. My wallet still hasn't recovered.

[jonsmith]

I was about to set up to take a photo of trees in a park, and as usual in a park there were people milling around. However, these particular people looked put out at my presence. Finally one came over and told me that they all lived there, and didn't want me taking pictures of them. I said I didn't care about them, and in fact they wouldn't even be recognizable, but he didn't buy it.

Their take on it was that I should get to know them first, then I could come and take pictures. I considered coming back with donuts, but decided not to.

I probably could have continued and just taken my picture, but didn't like the "vibes". I may go back some other time, or I may walk through with a hand-held camera.

[Ralph Barker]

The trick, Jon, is to set up the coffee and donuts well behind the camera. That way the people congregate out of the view of your lens. The trees are always ready to pose, never complain, and don't even expect compensation or prints for their time. ;)

[Dave Aharonian]

In January 2003, I decided to do some shooting on a frozen river in the Columbia Valley of BC. I ended up wiping out on the ice and fracturing the neck of my femur. It was -25 celcius and soon to be getting dark. I had to drag myself along the river and up a hill to the road. The worst part is, I didn't get the shot! I stick to the coast now where there's no ice.

[Daniel Geiger]

Yesterday, I saw a nice backlit sycamore tree in fall colors in a canyon with a windy two lane road (Topanga Canyon road in northern Los Angeles). Folks zip through there with their souped up hondas etc. The best place for the shot the tree is after a bend on a 1x1 m patch, just enough not to get creamed, the curve going away from me, with the upside, if someone whipes out, centrifugal forces will carry the debris away from me, but the downside is that I'm in a blind spot.

A number of folks pass with no further excitement. Then a souped up honda passes, custom mufflers, spoilers, decals and all, and suddenly comes to a screatching halt, about 5-10 meters from where I stand. Guys yells something about "take my picture!" and some other unprintable utternaces. From my perspective, I imagine the next car plowing right in, debris flying all over the place. Fortunately, they guy took off again rather quickly, but by then my adrenaline/cortisol was dumped.

What is most surprising is, that the guy within a spit second realized I was taking a picture. Explain THAT!