best photo you never took

[froyd]

One day they'll invent something to print photographs in my head (without resorting to oil paint!) but for now I just have to live with the regrets for the shots I never took.

My most recent "shot that got away" is still very clear in my head. It's a tightly framed shot of a barber window with a small gap of breathing room between the frame edge and the glass pane. The image is captured from the sidewalk side of the window, looking into the shop, which is 2 ft above street level. Behind the pane of glass, slightly to the right of center stands the proprietor: white barber jacket, black mustache, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes looking above and past me to the street scene. Behind him a customer in the barber chair is gesticulating to a colleague of the main subject. At f5.6 on a 28mm lens focused at 6 ft, the background action is soft but still distinct. The strong window light spot light the main subject against the soft grey of the background. The camera is loaded with XP2.

...unfortunately, I stopped at the scene for one heart beat too many, and when I finally grabbed the camera (which was hanging on my neck) the barber turned on his heels and the shot evaporated in his wake. Should have been a "snap", but ended up a "poof".

Of course, if I ever managed to take the shot the result would probably not match those in my head. Anyway, what's your fishing story?

 

[Teuthida]

I was in lower Manhattan on 9/11. Without my camera.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Anything with either of my grandfathers in it before they passed away.

Phil Forrest

 

[Teuthida]

Anything with either of my grandfathers in it before they passed away.

Phil Forrest

Perfect answer. I really wish I had taken more pictures of various loved ones before they died.

The lesson learned: do it now. With film.

 

[jippiejee]

It was the one night out in Pokhara, Nepal, that I didn't bring my camera. A small restaurant right on the sidewalk. Heavy monsoon rains started to pour down, currents of water were lit by the street lamps. The most beautiful scene I ever saw, when three girls each with an umbrella paused right in the light a couple of feet away from my table. An absolutely perfect frame. And a photograph never taken.

 

[umcelinho]

all my life, prior to starting photographing for good. as a moment collector, i miss not having so many moments captured...

 

[thegf]

i was walking in downtown Vancouver, BC this summer. a guy wearing a pink kids bike helmet rode a scooter past me. it would have been perfect.

(yes its not as sentimental or epic as others, but still frustrating.)

 

[---f]

The birth of my 2nd son. The damn anesthesiologist was scared I was going to pass out that he threatened to have me removed from the birthing room if I didn't sit down.

He was an ass, I even told him I'd seen this all before with my first kid and I wasn't nervous or scared. Still he needed to appease his own fears. First kid was a c-section too and I have great shot of him being pulled out of the c-section hole!!!! Seriously.

 

[redisburning]

1960s motorcycle in perfect light at the grocery store. rusty and weathered and bathed in warm Texas evening light. I even thought about taking my camera that day.

 

[umcelinho]

on a less philosophical degree, a few weeks ago i was at the beach and while walking along the shallow water on the sand i spotted a gray plastic doll head. it was extremely spooky and i didn't even have my iphone to take a snap of that. never going anywhere without any camera again.

another photo i regret not havving taken was when i was out in madrid at night shooting my first roll (superia 1600) with the M6 i had just bought (and it was my first rangefinder). i spotted this bar, almost at closing time, with a few people inside, all staring at a tv, even the bartenders. i got somewhat close and started fiddling with focus and speed/aperture, when one of the bartenders spotted me, made a "piss off" gesture and everybody at the bar looked outside... it was quite frustrating!

 

[froyd]

another photo i regret not havving taken was when i was out in madrid at night shooting my first roll (superia 1600) with the M6 i had just bought (and it was my first rangefinder). i spotted this bar, almost at closing time, with a few people inside, all staring at a tv, even the bartenders. i got somewhat close and started fiddling with focus and speed/aperture, when one of the bartenders spotted me, made a "piss off" gesture and everybody at the bar looked outside... it was quite frustrating!

Yep, been there. AS you say, it's very frustrating because your own limitations slap you in the face! Bet after that, you never went anywhere without setting your camera for the most like exposure you are likely to encounter and maybe even zone focus for the distance range most likely to be used.

 

[maddoc]

The ones I started thinking about setting "correct exposure" or "focus" ... :bang:

 

[x-ray]

I was doing a shoot for a bank ad with a model in a canoe on a calm lake with a light fog on the water. I was setting my Technika 4x5 up when I heard a flock of geese nearby. I looked up just in time to see the geese emerge from the fog in formation as they flew directly over the model at about ten feet over his head. I had the lens in my hand and missed the shot.

 

[TXForester]

I was doing a prescribed burn to site prep an area to plant pines. In the middle of the area being burned was a short rocked road and old, oil drilling pad. It was night and from my position, I could see two other foresters, a pickup, the bulldozer and a large oak on the road/pad. They were silhouetted by a wall of flame behind them, and there were spots between them an myself that hadn't finished burning, and I didn't have camera. :bang:

 

[alan davus]

I did a 13 day hike in New Zealand last summer in a remote, rarely visited area with few or no tracks. Just following up valleys, crossing little alpine passes at their head, camping out by tarns and so on. One of the best walks I've ever done in nearly 40 years of hiking. At the very beginning of the trip, whilst crossing 6 Mile Creek, I flooded my Leica M6 and as a consequence, didn't bring back one photo.

 

[thegf]

i have another twenty shots i never took: a roll of kodachrome sitting in my freezer.

 

[Spleenrippa]

The birth of my 2nd son. The damn anesthesiologist was scared I was going to pass out that he threatened to have me removed from the birthing room if I didn't sit down.

He was an ass, I even told him I'd seen this all before with my first kid and I wasn't nervous or scared. Still he needed to appease his own fears. First kid was a c-section too and I have great shot of him being pulled out of the c-section hole!!!! Seriously.

Gross, dude

 

[zauhar]

One night a guy was running toward me pushing a baby carriage at breakneck speed. In the carriage was a small dog with its legs braced against the front, posed like a hood ornament, barking frantically.

Reading this over, all I can say is, you had to be there.

Randy

 

[ulrich.von.lich]

pictures of every pretty parisian girl of course

 

[jsrockit]

I don't sweat the photos I don't get...there are plenty more to make. However, memories and family... that's another story. I'm sure I'll regret not having the photos later.