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Heroique
20-Jun-2010, 13:45
Yesterday after shooting, I left behind my tripod. My beautiful & beloved Ries J-600 tripod.

And its J-250 head. :(

I was alone, parked next to a mountain road. As I prepared to leave, I stood the tripod on the passenger side of my car – “blocking” it from my view as I finished packing items on the driver’s side. Out of sight, out of mind. About 20 miles down the twisting-turning gravel road, something just didn’t feel right. I looked on the back seats where I normally keep the tripod, and – well, perhaps “DREAD” describes the moment best.

But no tragic finale here. When I returned, there it was! :) Standing proud and tall. (And yes, I did embrace it & apologize.) Good thing it’s a lonely mountain road. It stood all-alone for 90 minutes or so. I think I’ll put a name/address/phone/email label on it.

What did you leave behind? Or drop along the way? Any tips for absent-minded people like me?

lenser
20-Jun-2010, 14:06
Hasselblad A12 back loaded with exposed wedding film at a church 450 miles away from home base. Got it back, but the pastor up there was far less than "Christian" in trying to get it returned. He didn't even want to trouble himself to walk across the hall from his office into the sanctuary to look for it (I told him exactly where I had left it) and then said it wasn't worth his time to package and mail it even after I asked him to add what ever he felt his time was worth to the cost of postage. I hope his attitude received a big adjustment at the gates of the hereafter.

Heroique
20-Jun-2010, 14:14
(Nice story, Lenser. And I think St. Peter took note.)

Well, here’s the poll that didn’t “take.” I don’t think I can use “edit” to try adding the poll again – but this is what the options looked like. I bet option #3 would have attracted the most votes. Oh well, your stories & lessons should still be fun to read. And sharing them just might ease the pain!

“What did you lose, drop or leave behind?”

1) Camera (yes, we want to hear more about this one)
2) Lens
3) Lens caps/lens wraps
4) Lens shade
5) Filters/filter accessories
6) Shutter release cable
7) Light meter
8) Loupe
9) Tripod/tripod leg(s)/tripod head
10) Film holder/film (maybe this one would hurt the most)
11) Darkcloth
12) Unrelated items (wallet, keys, hat, jacket, compass, etc.)
13) “Heck, I’ve walked away & forgotten about my whole set-up!”
14) “The only thing I’ve ever left behind are footprints.”
15) Other (please share!)

:rolleyes:

Eric James
20-Jun-2010, 15:29
I left a Contax T3 and a Canon G10 on the shore of Lake Tahoe. I was shooting the full moon rise (-1 day) with my 4x5 and once the sun was down I forgot that I had taken the T3/G10 to the shore. I also lost a great shot at the same location because I arrived too late to manage an interesting composition.

Gudmundur Ingolfsson
20-Jun-2010, 15:51
I have to tell a funny story. Some ten years ago I was working in a small museum and I was quite warm with my winter jacked on , so I decided to hang it in a small cabinet I had seen around. When I opened that cabinet I found a hook for my jacked but also an 8x10" holder in a brand new condition but with the black side of the dark slides turned outwards so I decided it would have exposed sheets in it. I told the museum director I would take care of this holder ( I thought I had won a nice 8x10 holder). Then I took it to my studio and processed the sheets that I could feel as TMAX from the corner markings. The sheets were so easy to recognize as photographs taken by a well known foreign colleague some ten years earlier for a magazine essay. He sure was surprised to get his holder and sheets (processed) so long after he had lost them.

Heroique
20-Jun-2010, 16:05
Eric – did you go back and search in the dark?

Gudmundur – What a lucky find, and a generous return. I once found a small level near a waterfall, but since it wasn’t “engraved,” I figured I could keep it – I still have it.

(BTW, I really hope there’s someone out there who will, eventually, tell us about option #13…)

Doremus Scudder
20-Jun-2010, 16:45
Oh God...

Over the years I've had a number of mishaps. Most turned out well, however.

The worst was leaving my tripod and lovely Gitzo ball head on the side of the road after shooting dunes in Death Valley. I didn't even notice till the next day when I was clear out at the Racetrack and finally noticed I was missing a tripod. Fortunately, I had a backup with me.

You would think that that would have been the end of my tripod woes, but, no, I managed to leave it behind again. This time on the Oregon Coast. I parked, "suited up" with pack and photo vest and headed off down the coast. About a mile or so into the hike, I noticed a nice scene that demanded a photograph. Lo and behold, my tripod was not with me. I have no idea how I managed to walk so far without noticing that my hands were empty (the visit to the brewery the night before couldn't possibly have had an effect on my awareness that morning...). So, I turned around, walked back to the car and found the tripod sitting there next to the passenger door. Another couple of miles and I was back to my shot, but the light had changed.... no luck.

Another time, I was driving down the coast highway. Some jerk pulled up on my tail, honking and flashing his lights. Yes, I drive slower than normal traffic when looking for likely photo opportunities, but this guy was really being annoying. I sped up a bit, but he persisted. Finally, I pulled over to let him pass, but he pulled in behind me. I expected a tongue lashing for driving so slowly, but instead got my photo pack back (with camera and lenses intact), which I had left sitting on top of my car when I hopped in and took off. Boy was I thankful and boy did I feel stupid...

That's embarrassing enough for now, so I'll leave it there.

Best,

Doremus Scudder

Steve Feldman
20-Jun-2010, 16:47
Annoying story:

Packed my gear up for a night shoot of a bridge. Got to the location and parked in the dark. Pulled the tripod out of the trunk and one of the legs fell off. Crap! Found the leg on the ground in the dark. Found set screw under lots of junk in the trunk. Took 20 minutes to find. Found the screw driver I keep in the camera bag. Crap! You can't screw in a slotted screw with a phillips head driver. Started the screw with my fingernail. Went to take the photo anyway. Knew I couldn't completely extend the pod, so left it low. Set up the shot. Took out the meter. Crap! Can't see the meter in the dark. Didn't have a flashlight. So . . . I metered it anyway. Walked a block to the nearest lamp post, checked the meter reading, walked back to my camera setup. Exposure was for 2 minutes but forgot my watch. Counted off 2 minutes in my head, made 1 exposure, carried it all back to the car and went home. Next day developed the film and made a print. Came out pretty good.

Nowadays I always check the pod before I take it with me. And have 2 kinds of screwdriver and a flashlight in the camera bag. Oh, and a watch too.

A lesson well learned.

~Steve

Preston
20-Jun-2010, 16:50
Hmm? Let's see...

1. Fogot my spotmeter once.
2. Dropped a lens cap in a cravasse once. Bye, bye!
3. forgot to grab some additional quickloads and ran short, once.
4. Forgot my watch to time long exposures.
5. On more than one dawn shoot, I think I left my brain on the pillow, considering the comedy of errors that subsequently ensued!

I did find a Lee compendium shade caught on a willow branch, over on the East Side of the Sierra. I searchd around for a possible owner, but couldn't find him or her. I still have it.

John Jarosz
20-Jun-2010, 16:57
Left the case for my Leitz loupe in a rental car.

Hiking in a canyon with the 8x20, I got to my destination. It was quite cool and I was sweaty from carrying all the stuff, so I removed my vest and hat and placed it on a rock. Took the shots (which were OK) packed up and left without the vest & hat. Didn't realize it til I got home, they were gone - I couldn't take the time to go back the next day. Fortunately they weren't "official" camera equip.

lenser
20-Jun-2010, 17:16
Found, not lost.

My first wife and I were camping in Aspen Glenn campground in Rocky Mountain National Park in the early seventies. We took a short hike into the forest and stumbled on a tripod with RB67 and lens attached just sitting in the middle of a clearing. No sign of anyone nearby, so I took a very close look at the set-up as RB's were quite new to me at the time. Then with great envy for whomever owned it, kept on our hike. It was gone when we came back a short time later, so I hope the rightful owner was the one who took it away.

BetterSense
20-Jun-2010, 17:32
Just earlier today I left my Canonet QL17GIII sitting by the change machine at the car wash. I went back immediately and luckily it was still sitting there. The sad thing is I made a mental note to myself not to forget it.

Rick A
20-Jun-2010, 17:53
Worst I've ever done was leave a really nice pair of gloves on the roof of my car then drive away. I have found a really nice Citizen chronograph in the Gunnison River when fly fishing (20 years ago and still holds perfect time) and a Winchester model 70 300 mag with Nikon scope leaning against a tree beside a parking area. Would love to have owned that, but turned it over to the state police to try to return it to its rightful owner. I dont know if they found its owner, but I never saw it again (kinda hoped noone claimed it so it would come home to me)

BrianShaw
20-Jun-2010, 19:10
I dropped a flash down a mine shaft once.

But lost anything?... not that I know of.

matthew blais
20-Jun-2010, 19:21
Lost a few minor items over the years...

Went into the field several times and forgot a loupe and ended up screwing off the lens from a Pentax Spot meter V...works pretty good

Brian Ellis
20-Jun-2010, 19:24
If it can be left behind or lost I've left it or lost it. But the one closest to yours was in my 35mm days when I left a Nikdon F4 and lens sitting on a log on a beach in Maine. A couple hours later I realized my camera bag was feeling a lot lighter than usual. I retraced all my stops, ended up back at the beach, and there was my camera and lens right where I left them. Maine people are the greatest.

Heroique
20-Jun-2010, 19:30
Oh yeah – I’ve also forgotten string. Actually, heavy twine. Great for gently pulling branches from your view in thick forests. Or, into your view…

Once, I pulled-back and tied-down a Yellow Poplar branch. When I left, I didn’t just forget the string, I forgot to un-tie the branch! And I wasn’t able to return to this high-mountain spot for a year. I worried about that poor branch the whole time. I had nightmares about this. Really, I did. (What I really “left behind” wasn’t the string, it was peace of mind.)

I finally returned, found it still tied, and quickly released it from its year-long bondage. And I apologized. Over and over. The branch seemed quite forgiving. It had grown several inches longer, looked very healthy, and swung right back into place. That’s the last time I’ll forget string!

sultanofcognac
20-Jun-2010, 22:24
I was given a Nikon Astroscope night vision lens to review from a company called Electrophysics. After playing with in my yard I though I'd shoot in the vineyards under the full moon. "Better yet!", I thought, "I'll take a 4x5 shot of it on the Nikon in the vineyards". I knew they'd love that.

So I of course took the dogs, the VERY expensive lens on the Nikon and my 4x5 kit out into the vineyards and began to play in the light of the full moon (how romantic). The pointer-lab mix dog chased a few rabbits and we were all having a great time until a family of wild boar sauntered into our 'arena'. (this is true!)

In the ensuing confusion one dog knocked the 4x5 tripod but I caught it <whew> before anything bad happened. I hung the Nikon and the $3500 lens onto a vine pole and put the 4x5 kit away into its case(s).

The dogs were still barking and jumping around a safe distance from the boar. I grabbed them and the 4x5 and hustled home, just glad neither of the dogs were attacked. . . leaving the Nikon and lens hanging in the vineyards. I had a glass or two of pastis to calm the dogs down :rolleyes: and got busy with some other work before going to bed.

Around 11 am one of the viticulturists came to our gate with the camera (and lens) - knowing that I'm the only photographer in the region - and surely the only one daft enough to leave a camera in the vineyards! I had to tell him that I was testing the weather seals - actually, my French wasn't very good at the time, I may have said I was testing my underwear seals or something! :D

Vaughn
20-Jun-2010, 23:15
Along the lines of #13, I took a photograph or two from a high perspective of some lions and a mission in Arizona. The results are here: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showpost.php?p=564575&postcount=2

There were a few people about. After the above shot, I put the 5x7 camera over my shoulder and walked down to the mission, checking out the backside, looking for AA's tripod holes, and eventually wound up in front and set up the camera. After getting the shot frames and focused, I reached into my pack to grab my meter and -- no meter, no camera pack! At first I thought someone snuck up on me while I was under the darkcloth and stole it. (very possible!) Finally realized that I had left it up by the lions about 45 minutes earlier. I grabbed the camera, rushed up there and fortunately it was right where I had left it, undistrurbed.

Once, I realized I had left all of my 8x10 film holders at home after driving 300 miles of a 400 mile trip to Yosemite. I watched (and said goodby to) the lens cap for my Digital Spot meter roll and bounce its way down a rocky face at Pinnacles National Monument.

And if cable releases could land on the ground and start to sprout, my name would be Johnny Cable Release.

Vaughn

jnantz
21-Jun-2010, 03:05
sekonic light meter ....
but it was left behind in the studio
when i was shooting on location ..

evan clarke
21-Jun-2010, 04:37
Yesterday after shooting, I left behind my tripod. My beautiful & beloved Ries J-600 tripod.

And its J-250 head. :(

I was alone, parked next to a mountain road. As I prepared to leave, I stood the tripod on the passenger side of my car – “blocking” it from my view as I finished packing items on the driver’s side. Out of sight, out of mind. About 20 miles down the twisting-turning gravel road, something just didn’t feel right. I looked on the back seats where I normally keep the tripod, and – well, perhaps “DREAD” describes the moment best.

But no tragic finale here. When I returned, there it was! :) Standing proud and tall. (And yes, I did embrace it & apologize.) Good thing it’s a lonely mountain road. It stood all-alone for 90 minutes or so. I think I’ll put a name/address/phone/email label on it.

What did you leave behind? Or drop along the way? Any tips for absent-minded people like me?

The problem in the 21st century is that if you put your name/address/phone on things, they will come and rob you...EC

evan clarke
21-Jun-2010, 04:42
Even worse, I have left some things but can't remember anymore what they were..EC

Colleen K
21-Jun-2010, 06:28
I tend to drop rather than forget.
Dropped the tripod down a small ravine(fortunately easily recovered)
Dropped the loupe which bounced off the edge of the bluff I was standing on(I heard it clinking all the way down)
At different times dropped a film holder and a cable release in a stream I was standing in(the film holder and film were fine, the cable release never worked right after that)
Dropped the lightmeter and broke the eyepiece off
(Hm, sounds like you should never lend me equipment)
I'm thinking of attaching bungee cords to everything and hooking them on me.
Colleen

darr
21-Jun-2010, 08:48
Just last week on a commercial portrait shoot, I forgot the backup battery for my Sekonic. Wouldn't you know it, the battery was so weak I could not get the meter to operate properly! I winged-it and learned not to forget my checklist ever again!

Robert Hughes
21-Jun-2010, 09:10
When I was a college student touring through Poland with my class, I left my dad's Leica III camera in a restaurant. About 45 minutes later I realized my mistake and panicked! Asking my teacher, tour guide and bus driver to TURN AROUND :eek: (and put the other 30 people in my tour at inconvenience) and let me go get it. They did turn the bus around, I went into the restaurant, and the people sitting at the table I had previously vacated held my camera - in hand - and getting ready to leave. They very graciously handed over my precious Leica and all was well. Whew!

I suppose I made up for it a few years later when I acted as bodyguard for a Greyhound bus driver one night, traveling between Brokenbone Iowa and GawdknowsWhere, Illinois. A drug-crazed passenger was freaking out, and I kept him away from the driver until we got someplace the police could take over.

Stephen Willard
21-Jun-2010, 10:33
How humorous the stories of forgotten beloved gear. I myself have a long list of gear left behind, but all was recovered.

I no longer leave gear behind because I now execute a "Camp Check" anytime I stop and shed gear. My "Camp Checks" are a formal process that occurs after all packs have been hung on myself and my llamas. We circle the area formally scouring the immediate vicinity for things that did not get packed up. On occasions I do forget to do a Camp Check, but I always seem to remember a few feet down the trail and quickly return to complete the process. Camp Checking is so automatic for me now that if I do not do it, then something does not feel right. It is kind of like forgetting to put on your seat belt and it just does not feel right as you drive down the road which is why I will quickly return to do my Camp Checks when I forget to do it.

Camp Checking has saved me from tons of left behind gear. It is hardwired into my brain and has become essential to my well being as sleeping.

David Karp
21-Jun-2010, 11:00
I'm with Vaughn on the cable releases. I went through a few years where I lost one just about every time I went out to make photos! My disposables to make a shot were film, paper, chemicals, cable releases. Now I lose them less frequently.

I "lost" the bag bellows for my Walker Titan. After a trip to Yosemite I could not find it anywhere. I was convinced that I left it up there sitting on a rock or something, and very unhappy with myself because I knew I would not likely buy another one. Then, last week I was looking through the Cabelas bag that I use to store and carry my equipment when it is not in my backpack. I noticed a zipper to a pocket I did not remember ever using, which is not like me. I try to use every pouch for something! I opened it up, and what did I find? A bag bellows for a Walker Titan! :o

I have gone on a day driving trip only to find that I left the tripod at home. Went on vacation once and left my film and holders at home. Why am I telling you this? :-)

evan clarke
21-Jun-2010, 11:55
I'm with Vaughn on the cable releases. I went through a few years where I lost one just about every time I went out to make photos! My disposables to make a shot were film, paper, chemicals, cable releases. Now I lose them less frequently.

I "lost" the bag bellows for my Walker Titan. After a trip to Yosemite I could not find it anywhere. I was convinced that I left it up there sitting on a rock or something, and very unhappy with myself because I knew I would not likely buy another one. Then, last week I was looking through the Cabelas bag that I use to store and carry my equipment when it is not in my backpack. I noticed a zipper to a pocket I did not remember ever using, which is not like me. I try to use every pouch for something! I opened it up, and what did I find? A bag bellows for a Walker Titan! :o

I have gone on a day driving trip only to find that I left the tripod at home. Went on vacation once and left my film and holders at home. Why am I telling you this? :-)

I've "misplaced" many things in the stupid little hidden pockets of camera bags. I guess I must fit into the cable release category, too. Years ago I decided I needed some spare releases and was at Calumet in Chicago so I bought 4 inexpensive Hama ones. I put them somewhere good at home and couldn't find them again. Next trip to Calumet, I bought 10 of them, planning never to be without one, don't know where they are either. Since then I have made a couple large buys of Ebony releases and there are 4 of them in the same dimension as all the others. This has been going on for 8 or 9 years now and I'm pretty aggravated that I haven't stumbled onto some of them. I have a witness to all the purchases too so I'm not imagining it..EC

Scott Davis
21-Jun-2010, 12:08
Once I was fording a side channel of the Potomac River, Lightware case full of Hasselblad gear in tow. In my other hand, for no intelligent reason whatever, were four rolls of Tmax 120. I slipped on a rock that was rounder than I had expected, and went down hard. The Lightware case kept the gear just fine. Amazingly enough, I managed to get home and soup the film before any permanent damage was done. But it taught me a lesson.

Eric Leppanen
21-Jun-2010, 12:11
I had a terrible time with those infernal 8x10 film holders when I first migrated from my pristine 4x5 Quickload/Readyload world to 8x10.

Because I shoot several film stocks, I had to carry my 8x10 film holders in separate film holder bags (each bag containing 4-6 holders loaded with the same film stock), rather than carrying several different boxes of Quickloads/Readyloads in my camera pack. This departed from my well entrenched habits and resulted in no end of mishaps.

After working hard to get a series of 8x10 shots on a rugged hilltop in a howling wind (a futile endeavor in hindsight), I somehow managed to abandon the film holders containing my hard earned shots on the side of the road. I had temporarily leaned the bag containing the holders against the side of the car while loading my camera equipment into the trunk, somehow completely forgot about it, and just drove off. I didn't realize my mistake until I had driven 200+ miles, and I wasn't about to retrace another 400+ miles just to retrieve them.

A similar incident occurred near the end of a sleep-deprived shooting day around Moab. After getting up at 4:00AM to shoot the sunrise at Mesa Arch, I ended the day shooting the sunset at Balancing Rock at Arches NP. Once again, I left the damn 8x10 film holder bag leaning against the rear bumper, started backing the car out of the parking lot, felt the car make a short hop and heard a long sickening crunch. I got out and discovered that I had run over my film holder bag (containing 7 holders) with the rear wheel. Amazingly several of the holders were still usable (no noticeable alignment issues or light leaks). Those Fidelity film holders are tougher suckers than might meet the eye.

LaurentB
21-Jun-2010, 13:25
My "best" mistake might be when I threw my 24mm to stop the fall of EOS3 + 300mm on the tripod... I just changed lenses and forgot that the balance is not exactly the same between these two lenses. I got the 24 back after crawling under the wreck I was photographing, almost intact (slight mark on the filter ring)...

Apart from tjis one, could be the holder (4x5) I dropped in the sea... I got it back after a fe seconds of immersion, unloaded as soon as I got back "home" and rinsed in plain water. The shot was not damaged (even though it's not my best) !

Heroique
21-Jun-2010, 14:00
These entertaining stories help numb the sting of my LF forgetfulness & clumsiness. :p

I shared the following “lost-and-later-found” adventure in another thread, but it deserves a home here, too…

One evening at cliff edge, I fumbled my Sekonic L-308s light meter, watched it plummet 200-300 feet, then bounce between granite boulders like a pinball. I gave it up for lost. Next day, I hiked down on a search-and-rescue mission, and to my delight, found it resting on top an 18%-gray rock under sunny-16 light, with a glint off its lumisphere that seemed to say, “No need to worry, I’m enjoying a 15-ev sun bath.” Still works fine, but there’s a battle-scar on its bottom corner.

If only all my lost items shared this happy fate!

mrladewig
21-Jun-2010, 16:22
5) Lens Filters/Accessories

Left a 58mm Cokin P adapter ring in the Grand Canyon after the wind blew it out of my hand and over the cliff. Only had that one ring for several lenses and that was day one of the 10 day trip. I now have spares of several common sizes to keep in the car on trips just in case.

Eric James
21-Jun-2010, 16:40
I took a trip to YOS a few years back and upon my late arrival I set up my tent and headed to The Meadows to photograph the Yosemite Falls and Lost Arrow by moonlight. Around 2AM I called it a day and walked back to my tent. When I awoke the next morning I discovered that the quick-release clamp to my tripod had unscrewed itself and fallen to the trail, somewhere between the Meadows and the backpacker's camp near Curry Village (roughly a three-mile stretch). Prior to heading to the high country I decided to mail home what remained of my tripod together with my tent and a few other items; I figured if I couldn't support my camera with a tripod I might as well go fast and light. It was a Saturday and I made it to the post office in the Village just before closing, then headed toward Happy Isles along the same trail I had walked the night before. Near Housekeeping Camp I happened to look to the trail and a black metal object caught my eye - it was the clamp to my tripod head showing from beneath a leaf; a step or two further I found the bolt sleeve, and then the spring. My tripod was complete except that the leg set and most of the ballhead was on its way back to Seattle.

eddie
21-Jun-2010, 17:31
june 4th 2010 i left my wallet with $300, all my cards and id at a site i was shooting at in Namur Belgium.

all gone.....

Blumine
21-Jun-2010, 18:14
Never lost anything while shooting, my worst disaster was dropping a filter case in a river and watching it float away.
Forgetting things to take with me, plenty. Recently for a early morning start, forgot my spot meter. Weekend before that, in my zombie like early morning state thought I grabbed my darkcloth, instead I grabbed the bag containing my Harrison Tent. Managed to somewhat use the tent as a dark cloth. I think the biggest problem I have is that I forget my brain, especially in the early morning.

Blumine

Lachlan 717
21-Jun-2010, 19:19
5) Lens Filters/Accessories

Left a 58mm Cokin P adapter ring in the Grand Canyon after the wind blew it out of my hand and over the cliff. Only had that one ring for several lenses and that was day one of the 10 day trip. I now have spares of several common sizes to keep in the car on trips just in case.

I carry Blu-Tac with me: fits any of my filters to any of my lens.

W K Longcor
21-Jun-2010, 19:43
Left behind -- at the studio -- the name of the client I was to work for that day. It was a VERY large corporation -- lots & lots of people. I was more than an hour from the studio and no body at the office to call for the info.

Me to the receptionist --" Hi, I'm the photographer - here for the photo shoot."

Receptionist to me --" WHO are you here to see?"

Me -- " Uhhhhhhhhhhh? Richard?"

Receptionist -- "Well, that narrows it down to about 40 possibles. Want to try again?"

We finally did figure it out -- but , did I fell dumb!

David Karp
21-Jun-2010, 21:45
june 4th 2010 i left my wallet with $300, all my cards and id at a site i was shooting at in Namur Belgium.

all gone.....

Not a LF story, but Eddie's post reminded me of this. I used to SCUBA dive a lot. My dad and I went to Catalina Island one Saturday to dive in the reserve off of Avalon. We changed our mind and dove a bit deeper than expected during the dive, and I recalculated our time based on our new depth.

When I pulled the dive tables out of my pocket, I must have inadvertently pulled my wallet out too. (For beach dives like that I used to put my ID, a credit card and a $20 bill in a nylon wallet in a ziploc bag stuffed in my BC pocket.) Did not realize that I lost it until we surfaced. So, dive 2 was a search for the wallet. No luck. Took the boat home and when I checked my messages there was a call from the sheriff's department in Avalon. Another diver found my wallet underwater and turned it in to the sheriff! The sheriff just mailed it to my home, and I had it all back in a few days.

Sorry you did not have better luck Eddie.

Joe Smigiel
22-Jun-2010, 05:01
Set a Polaroid 545 against a tripod leg while shooting in tall grass one day and forgot to repack it. Fortunately it was there the next day when I went searching for it. I also managed to lose a newly purchased lens shade for a Mamiya 6 50mm lens the first time out.

Pretty lame. I need to get out more so I can lose more bigger and exciting stuff.

Kevin M Bourque
22-Jun-2010, 05:46
I dropped two very nice 82mm filters from the deck of this bridge: http://www.cooperriverbridge.org/

They were just small enough to roll under the railing. I heard them go "tink" on the rocks below.

goamules
22-Jun-2010, 07:49
Back in the 80s I was diving off Lanai, Hawaii. I had a new waterproof case for a cheap camera. On this dive we suddenly encountered two huge manta rays. They circled us for about 10 minutes as I snapped pictures of this rare encounter. I safely hooked the camera on my dive vest. Guess what was missing as I climbed up the dive ladder?

David Karp
22-Jun-2010, 08:34
Ouch. I bet the images from that dive are burned into your memory though.

Raymond Bleesz
22-Jun-2010, 13:20
All in Colorado other than Turkey's

All my mishaps have occured in Colorado & all occured in my earlier years--on a road trip down Rabbit Ears Pass into the "Boat", I put my Leica G111 on top of the station wagon--down we went for several miles around corners, etc--on the down side, I asked the driver to slow down & pull over to the side, gently--The Leica, which my parents purchased in Germany in 1955, which I still use, was sitting atop the station wagon enjoying the Aspens & Steamboat's picturesque valley.

In 1976, I stopped at the Dairy Queen in Idaho Springs & had a cone--I left my Tumi bag with a Nikon F2 system on the table--I had driven a few blocks down into historic Idaho Springs, realizing my mistake, did an immediate illegal U turn & raced to the Dairy Queen---my bag was sitting on the table, with other cone lickers.

In 1978, perched atop my Victorian 3 story building in Georgetown, Colo, I had my F3 & 300 sitting on my Tiltall tripod---Georgetown winds are known in the state--but I was negligent on getting the right spread on my tripod--Over the edge onto the young aspen trees I had planted down on ground level--The F3 was toast, the tripod & 300 survived.

And the latest occured in Istanbul, Turkey 2 years ago--I left my 77mm lens cover on a mosque floor as I was on my belly "getting the right angle". My tour group of 5 & guide were most sympathetic with my loss---we tracked down the "photo market area in Istanbul", & I was able to purchase a new Nikon lens cover at a stiff price. The following day, our group was driving in the vicinity of the mosque by chance, & the tour guide & I went to the site while the others waited--the Turkish guide, speaking the native language to the mosque attendees, asked if they had found a lens cap the day prior--Hoppla!!! I gave the attendees a few American dollars (If you have an interest in this Turkish Photo Guide, ask--Outstanding).

All these mishaps had made me extra carefull with my 4x5 Acra Swiss stuff--I consider myself lucky for all these years.

Raymond--in the Vail Valley

Peter Gomena
22-Jun-2010, 13:25
Rollei tripod quick-release left on a rock on a beach some years back. I can almost picture the spot where I left it. By time I realized I had left it, the tide had been in and out several times . . .

Peter Gomena

pyro
22-Jun-2010, 13:43
Not forgotten, but close...

I was out on a rocky ledge above a cliff in Canyonlands NP, preparing to screw on a big, expensive B+W circular polarizer on my lens, when I dropped it. The thing fell on its edge and began rolling, slowly at first then gathering speed as it did so, towards the edge of the cliff. I started to run after it, but, realizing I might go over the edge along with the filter, I stopped dead in my tracks. I watched my poor filter roll the last four or five feet towards the edge of the cliff and fall to its death below.

Ash
22-Jun-2010, 14:17
Forgotten to:
Take the lens cap off my SWC
Take additional rolls of colour film
Remove the dark slide
Close the shutter after composition
Take Light Meter to a shoot

I don't think I've left anything behind though. If I have, I still can't remember!


Once when I was about 7 years old I left my jacket by the side of the road. It was still there hours later when my parents realised my mistake.

Sevo
22-Jun-2010, 14:33
Do assistants and make-up artists count? I seem to have left behind more crew members than objects...

Roger Thoms
22-Jun-2010, 14:43
OK, I forgot my Harrison tent out at my house in Flagstaff. Knew I was forgetting something when I left. At least I forgot it in a safe place.

Roger

Jim Galli
22-Jun-2010, 15:19
You guys are all in better shape than me if you can remember what you forgot.

hmvmanuk
22-Jun-2010, 16:04
In 35mm days I left a Nikkor 28mm on an outdoor model railway I'd been photographing. I didn't miss the lens until a couple of days later and luckily it was summer time and it hadn't rained so I got it back in perfect condition. I've only been doing LF since the beginning of this year and the only loss so far has been a pair of reading glasses unknowingly dropped at Hardcastle Crags, Yorkshire. The problem was I needed those glasses to see the screen of my camera!

Gavin

Pete Roody
22-Jun-2010, 16:22
june 4th 2010 i left my wallet with $300, all my cards and id at a site i was shooting at in Namur Belgium.

all gone.....

wow! bummer!

i haven't lost anything but i just found a suter lens with a full set of stops in my car. imagine the odds!

eddie
22-Jun-2010, 18:30
wow! bummer!

i haven't lost anything but i just found a suter lens with a full set of stops in my car. imagine the odds!

THATS MINE! HEY!

Photojeep
22-Jun-2010, 20:20
Years ago I lost my Hasselblad Polaroid back. Had to go buy a new one for a shoot. About two days later I got a call from a client asking if I knew what this flat silver and black thing was. It had been found in the boss' office and he said it wasn't his. Someone remembered a photographer had been there using the office as a background for some headshots. The marketing guy remembered it was me and gave me a call.

Gem Singer
22-Jun-2010, 21:30
Took the 5x7 camera outfit out for a nice morning of outdoor photography.

Found a great scene to shoot.

Set the camera up for the shot, started to insert a 5x7 film holder, and discovered that I still had the 4x5 reducing back on the camera.

I had forgotten to install the 5x7 back and left it at home.

evan clarke
23-Jun-2010, 05:30
I keep buying the same things, I have 2 or 3 copies of a couple different filters, 2 or 3 copies of step up rings. It's like a recurring memory, somewhere I have thought I should order something, do, forget I bought it, remember again I need to order one..... and on and on.....

Bill Burk
23-Jun-2010, 07:39
I never lost anything I left lying around except cable releases, and...

One weekend when I was living in the mountains I went out for a stroll and struck up a conversation with some car campers at the public campsite. I can't remember the Linhof model but it only weighed a couple pounds, had stabilizing struts and built-in fluid pan head. I'd made a Gore-Tex bag for it - perfect for backpacking.

Walked up to the McIntyre Grove (less than a mile from my cabin), and realized tripod was missing. Retraced my steps, talked to the campers again. Tripod nowhere in sight and they insisted they didn't see it. I swear those low-lifes saw it when I walked away and tucked it in their trunk. They were the only humans I saw that day and Bigfoot wouldn't have been the least interested (though he is known to frequent the area).

Repeat same situation last year at Boy Scout Camp Pico Blanco. Walked a half mile down Little Sur to check-in with my boy at arts and crafts. On the way back one of the counselors asked me if I was missing something. I didn't even know the Gitzo was gone and someone had already turned it in to the office.

Jerry Bodine
23-Jun-2010, 10:44
Back in the 70's, my more active time, my two buddies and I packed the station wagon before dawn for a long weekend in the Cascade mountains with 4x5's. We drove for about two hours, over a mountain pass and into eastern Washington, before stopping for a quick breakfast at our usual restaurant. After getting out of the car, we were stunned to see one of our ice axes still lying unrestrained on the car top. Had it fallen off, it could have been very costly, if not fatal, for anyone behind us. Nothing needed to be said, except "GULP." Lesson learned: That has never been repeated.

dentkimterry
26-Jun-2010, 13:20
Lost 2 things. Gitzo 1325 CF tripod with Arca Swiss head. Left it at a boat landing after a morning sunrise shoot. Went back 3 hours later...............GONE!

100mm macro lens. Put it under a tablecloth to prop up a wedding still life I was doing. Never knew I didn't have it until the bride called me the next day. They found it when cleaning up!

Terry

77seriesiii
27-Jun-2010, 03:47
Wife and I were are just starting our voyage in collodion and I have an old '77 Series III LandRover...match made in heaven as far as packing stuff into it and turning the back into a portable dark box. Anyway, we pack everything up, using a checklist (discovered that as a good idea from the first trip), we troddled out to our 'spot'. Pull out the cameras, set up the dark box, wife is focusing the first two shots. Have the water laid out, developer, fix...everything is just so. I went looking for the..."hey where's the glass?" and I got "I TOLD you to bring it!" she says w/ laughter. A string of profanity later, shifting stuff around, I run back to the house to grab the glass. Sitting on top of the glass were two plate holders for both of the cameras. So, two more things added to the the packing list, who would've thought?

./e

Michael Nagl
30-Jun-2010, 06:23
Only yesterday when I opened the trunk of my car I saw I had left the big Gitzo at home... and I mounted my 8 kilo 8x10 Linhof on a 1 kilo Feisol plastic travel-tripod you would consider too flimsy even for a DSLR... and I suffered... and it all went out well.

rguinter
2-Jul-2010, 10:04
Back in the 70's, my more active time, my two buddies and I packed the station wagon before dawn for a long weekend in the Cascade mountains with 4x5's. We drove for about two hours, over a mountain pass and into eastern Washington, before stopping for a quick breakfast at our usual restaurant. After getting out of the car, we were stunned to see one of our ice axes still lying unrestrained on the car top. Had it fallen off, it could have been very costly, if not fatal, for anyone behind us. Nothing needed to be said, except "GULP." Lesson learned: That has never been repeated.

I think we all have to learn that "not to put things on top of the car" lesson. I too have to learn (and re-learn) the lesson from time to time. Even though I know the bio-physical reason it happens well enough.

My recent re-learning was with an expensive medication from the pharmacy. Yes I did the unthinkable and put the bag on top of the car after leaving the pharmacy while I fumbled with keys and other items to open the door. After all, I wouldn't want to put it on the ground would I? Then of course, left it on top and drove off.

Remembered it a few minutes later but that was enough. Bag fell off and was flattened in the middle of the street when I came back around to retrieve it.

So a lesson re-learned yet again.

The problem here in physiological terms is in how our working memory functions. Working memory is what we use "second-to-second" in order to keep important pieces of information in consciousness for processing. But working memory is extremely volatile and things stored there are quickly erased to make room for other things... like starting the car, putting on seat-belts, chatting with passengers, etc. And once that item on top of the car is out of our vision, it falls out of working memory, and who knows when it will pop back in again. Usually much later when the error is finally recognized.

So blame it on evolution that produced such a volatile working memory. I find the brain architecture is a wondrous piece of circuitry. Wondrous in the sense that I often wonder how it is that the hodge-podge of conflicting circuits work very well at all (overall). Bob (who is a human factors engineer by training) G.

tlitody
2-Jul-2010, 15:29
I frequently leave my good eye behind when I go out to make images :eek:

goamules
3-Jul-2010, 14:02
Last weekend I loaded film holders, picked a protar and verito lens, loaded my 5x7 2D and all the items into it's case. I remembered all the usually forgotten items; the loupe, the darkcloth, the light meter. All went in the case. Then I moved to packing the car for our camping trip in the high country, thinking of the spruce and fir and relief from 110 degree tucson. Got the family and dogs in the truck, then about a half hour down the road it dawned on me what I forgot: the case with everything in it. By the front door so I wouldn't forget it.

rguinter
3-Jul-2010, 18:34
Last weekend I loaded film holders, picked a protar and verito lens, loaded my 5x7 2D and all the items into it's case. I remembered all the usually forgotten items; the loupe, the darkcloth, the light meter. All went in the case. Then I moved to packing the car for our camping trip in the high country, thinking of the spruce and fir and relief from 110 degree tucson. Got the family and dogs in the truck, then about a half hour down the road it dawned on me what I forgot: the case with everything in it. By the front door so I wouldn't forget it.

I can certainly relate.

Because my working memory is getting even shorter and more volatile with age, I often put things in strategic places (like next to the front door) so I won't forget them when I go out.

But I find my ingenious strategy is frequently compromised by others in the house who see these things as "out-of-place" and in need of being returned to their rightful locations in the house....... Bob (the aging human factors engineer) G.

bbjorkum
4-Jul-2010, 07:01
Forgot my Hasselblad with three lenses and lightmeter on the tube in Stockholm. Never seen it since ...

Gudmundur Ingolfsson
4-Jul-2010, 11:11
There is this story about an architectural photographer from New York that went on an assignment in Florida shooting 8x10". He asked his assistant which was not coming along on the trip to clean out the holders and load them before he went. So after shooting for three days he came back wanting to have the films processed he realized that the holders had been cleaned OK but never loaded. After having heard that story I took up the policy of always loading my own holders and if in doubt I take the holder back into the darkroom to double check and find out about if it is loaded with the film I want to use.

Brian Ellis
4-Jul-2010, 15:49
Forgot my Hasselblad with three lenses and lightmeter on the tube in Stockholm. Never seen it since ...

That hurts just reading about it.

Brian Ellis
4-Jul-2010, 15:56
There is this story about an architectural photographer from New York that went on an assignment in Florida shooting 8x10". He asked his assistant which was not coming along on the trip to clean out the holders and load them before he went. So after shooting for three days he came back wanting to have the films processed he realized that the holders had been cleaned OK but never loaded. After having heard that story I took up the policy of always loading my own holders and if in doubt I take the holder back into the darkroom to double check and find out about if it is loaded with the film I want to use.

Some years ago I was on a photography trip in Maine (lived in Florida at the time) using mostly Readyloads. When I returned home and started processing I discovered that I had some of the nicest totally clear sheets of film you've ever seen. The Readyload holder was malfunctioning and wasn't gripping the film. So the film was coming up with the interior envelope and was never exposed. Fortunately I made some photographs using holders so the trip wasn't a complete loss, just a 90% loss.

bbjorkum
5-Jul-2010, 16:43
That hurts just reading about it.

It still hurts ... Badly ....

neil poulsen
5-Jul-2010, 20:40
I've been lucky I think. I have a place for just about everything in my pack. If something's missing, it's pretty apparent.

None the less, the normal bellows for my camera is probably still in Maine, 3000 miles away.

More recently, I left my Pentax Spotmeter V on the ground on private property. I was photographing a hot air balloon from what I thought was the authorized retrieval point. It wasn't, and I was asked to leave. As a result, it was a bit risky when I returned to retrieve the meter. But, there was NO WAY that I was going to leave that meter behind. Let's say that I was fleet of foot.

msk2193
5-Jul-2010, 20:48
Took the 5x7 camera outfit out for a nice morning of outdoor photography.

Found a great scene to shoot.

Set the camera up for the shot, started to insert a 5x7 film holder, and discovered that I still had the 4x5 reducing back on the camera.

I had forgotten to install the 5x7 back and left it at home.



But I have yet to forget my passenger after a nice morning of shooting and brunch :D

Kirk Keyes
6-Jul-2010, 22:36
I was at Delicate Arch about 20 years ago and I had a Peak 8x loupe on a string around my neck. The string came loose, and it started a long slide down into the bowl below the arch. Next time I go there, I think I'll hike to below the arch and see what other good photo gear is sitting down there.

Robert Hughes
7-Jul-2010, 11:58
My daughter and I were sitting outside an antique shop the other day. She looked down between a couple stones and found a plastic sack full of old silver goblets, maybe 6 or 8 of them. We had no idea what their story was, so she took them into the shop and handed the sack over to the lady behind the counter, saying, "are these yours?"

al olson
7-Jul-2010, 16:42
A couple of days ago I decided to take the little trailer and camp up along the Animas River to explore several of the side gulches, about a three hour drive.

My mind was on what I needed to buy at the grocery store to provision up. I loaded the case with the Linhof and lenses, the case with my film holders, the bag with all my filter wallets, the shoulder bag for the Bronica and lenses.

As I was an hour into the drive I realized that I forgot the topo gazetteer that I intended to use to check out some trails that I am not familiar with. Oh well, if a trail doesn't work out I can always turn around.

The next morning the light was wonderful. So was the sky with patches of cumulus clouds. Two hours and 3.1 miles later I had reached the top of the trail above the treeline and amongst the Alpine meadow. Indian Paintbrush and Columbine were just beginning to bloom.

I am ready to photograph some closeups of the flowers. I reach in back of the SUV for my tripod. No tripod. What the ...? I know I mentally moved it from the trunk of my other car. It is supposed to be there. But there is a monopod. Oh well, I will just put some closeup filters on the Bronica and use the monopod.

I look into my filter bag. Checking each and every filter wallet I discover that there is one missing. This is the one with the yellow, light red, red, dark red, and infrared filters as well as the step up ring from 67mm to 72mm that I need to use the closeup filter. Darn.

After taking some flower closeups with the Bronica and 50mm lens (not as close as I would like) I go down to another trail that takes me up to the remains of the Kitty Mack mine, situated on a very steep slope also above the treeline. This is where I wanted to use the Rollei infrared, but no filter.

Aha, I will use the TMAX and I have a polarizer to emphasize the clouds. There won't be a Wood Effect, but evergreens don't lighten much anyway, except sometimes for the new growth. Hmmm, with a little side lighting I should get a nice halo effect that would be similar to the infrared.

So there I am with 4x5 on a monopod checking the ground glass. This is not steady enough for composing so I clip on the viewfinder. In essence I am photographing landscapes with a hand held 4x5. That is the way it was for the rest of the day. Slow shutter shots of turbulent water are ruled out. What the heck, fifty years ago I was shooting 4x5 hand held without benefit of a monopod.

Later that day I decided to adjust my plans and head on home. Maybe in another trip I can get it right. I did expose a lot of film so maybe good things will come of it.

DanK
29-Jul-2010, 16:27
My worst 'forgetful' moment...

A few years back, I traveled to Nicaragua for documentary....

It wasn't long after 9/11, so I spent the majority of my time prior to the trip packing film in anticipation of multiple hand inspections, etc....shooting 35 and MF at the time...

Had every bit of gear, cameras, meter, film, everything....so I thought...

Flew into Managua, hand inspections all the way....next day - chicken bus ride north to the Jalapa valley, near the Honduran border - I was staying with a local family while there for three weeks....

While settling in I rechecked my gear - had everything, except a Spanish-English Dictionary....and I didn't speak Spanish....and of course, the family didn't speak an ounce of English....

I had two copies at home - a large one, and a small pocket size - forgot them both...

Made for a very long trip....

Thanks,
Dan

Brian Ellis
29-Jul-2010, 18:33
Why am I contributing more to this thread than anyone else?

A few years ago I carefully packed all my gear - meter, holders, lenses, dark cloth, rain cover, tripod, filters, and lens cleaner, put the pack in the car and drove off to a photo site about 30 miles from home. When I arrived and started to set up I noticed one very important thing I had left out - the camera.

This one isn't large format but a few years ago I was driving home (then in Tampa) from a visit with my daughter in D.C. Gas was getting low so I pulled into a 7-11 to fill up. It was a "pay first" place so I dutifully went inside, paid up, and drove off. Without getting any gas.

Steve_Renwick
29-Jul-2010, 18:52
I left a 300mm Nikon telephoto on a pedestrian bridge. It wasn't even mine; it was a rental. When I realized my error 10 minutes later, I ran back and it was gone.


I posted an ad on Craigslist and had it back the next day. There are still honest people out there.


I also took ten posed pictures of a group of colleagues without film in the camera. But that was 35mm so it doesn't count.

Brian Stein
30-Jul-2010, 05:36
My house is the most dangerous place for me to loose things. At present I have lost 6 rolls of 120 from last vacation, a couple of optical synch shoes, a folder of filters, and probably a bunch of other things I havent realised Ive lost yet.

J_Tardiff
30-Jul-2010, 05:47
The number of loupes I have lost is beginning to approach the number of mismatched socks in my son's drawer.

A couple of good ones, too.

Soon I will just learn to use the cheapest ones available and buy 5 of them...

Scott Walker
30-Jul-2010, 10:07
Last summer on our annual treck to the Gulf Islands I removed the memory card from my wifes DSLR to clear it to a disc and give her a fresh empty card. On day 3 or 4 and likely 100+ clicks of the shutter later she handed me the camera to get a pic of her and her mom I noticed that the little window that tells you how many exposures you have left was blank which reminded me that her memory card was still pluged into my computer at the office.
.....there is no good way to explain that one :o

Bill_1856
30-Jul-2010, 11:10
.....there is no good way to explain that one :o

A box of chocolates and some flowers is a start. You may not hear much about it now, but remember THEY never forget, (and it will eventually be brought to your attention)!:D

Stephen Willard
31-Jul-2010, 12:58
A box of chocolates and some flowers is a start. You may not hear much about it now, but remember THEY never forget, (and it will eventually be brought to your attention)!:D

Well said Bill. However, in the past two years my wife has forgotten my birthday:D . I have not said anything yet, but I do intend to use my last two birthdays as my "Get Out of Jail" cards as the occasion warrants.:p

tbirke
1-Aug-2010, 02:13
I just lost my dark cloth, and have no idea how this could happen. It was handsewn and cost my quite some work...

Rayt
1-Aug-2010, 04:41
Leaving things behind is the story of my life. I left my Leica M6 with a 35mm Summicron in the airport limo in San Francisco and then ran half a block to retrieve it. I never took up skydiving for this reason.

Andre Noble
1-Aug-2010, 12:16
Two Pocket Wizards ($600)

Sekonic L-358 Light Meter

God, I pray that's the last - ever!

Ivan J. Eberle
3-Aug-2010, 21:33
Four years ago, late September, I was about 25 miles outside of Pinedale, WY, probably 6 or 7 miles up a two-track in the Nat'l Forest. Topped a ridge to see the Wind River Range looking lovely in late afternoon light with quaking aspen turning golden in the foreground.

Forgot to set the parking brake or put my Xterra in gear, apparently. I'm twenty yards down the trail with my F5 and 17-35mm in hand when every other worldly item besides my camera and the clothes on my back I've got in the state passes me, going straight downhill. There's a 200 yard shot to the bottom, a nice and relatively smooth but also fairly steep sagebrush hillside, albeit one dotted with 4 foot boulders. I started to sprint after it but realized at the last second before jumping aboard the running boards I'd probably get crushed when it rolled... let it go, let it go...

I did. Truck took a slow left turn-- I know not how-- the rear wheels slewed around, and it starts side-hilling. Even dodged some small pines. Slowed to a stop. 100+ yards and it somehow threaded through all the boulders and brush without a scratch.
Thereafter dubbed the truck "Eubie" (Eubie just turned over 188K today, as a matter of fact. Two tracking it in Montana this week outside Glacier-Waterton.)

I'm much better about remembering to set the parking brake since!

JRFrench
4-Aug-2010, 16:20
Wow great story Ivan!

sly
22-Aug-2010, 22:57
Somewhere near Heather Campsite at the west end of Lake Cowichan is my lens cap. I was setting up for an early morning photo of the lake, with my camera bag open beside me. I heard a noise and turned away from the camera in time to see a crow flying away with my lens cap.

My favorite story of misplaced equipment happened to a friend who waded into a field of sunflowers before sunrise. Set up the tripod and the 35mm camera and started shooting. As the sun came up and the light got better the camera came off the tripod and shooting continued. When he ran out of film, he turned around for the tripod and realized he hadn't a clue where it was. Thrashed around for awhile (now it seemed much harder to move around in the closely packed giant flowers), but couldn't find it. Always wondered what the farmer thought when he came across it at harvest time.