Confession time - your most embarrassing or humiliating photographic moment

[marcr1230]

Ok - on a lighter note today, what's your most embarrassing or humiliating photographic moment?

I've taken many photos with the lens cap on, failed to properly attach the leader to the spool. I've made my share of darkroom mistakes. I've never lost a camera in the ocean or on a mountain.

Share your story!

 

[Compaq]

In my limited time as a film photographer, I suppose my most embarrassing moment was when I was 100 % sure my MG-developer said 1+4 instead of 1+9. All my prints turned black, and I had no idea why. The cellar was super cold, and the water was only around 15 *C. I never understood what happened, so I diluted, on the gefuhl, until I got "acceptable" prints. The prints were only for fun anyway.

A lot of good paper was wasted that day!

 

[Monochrom]

Once i shoot great pics but the film lead was out of the roll...thathappened using my long gone m6...i even made that same mistake twice or thrice...horrible...🙂

Another not so humiliating but scary moment was when i had to save my skin...at the end of the run i alsmot dyed again by heart failure 😀

 

[jimcon11]

A couple embarrassing moments

1. Taking a (what I thought was) candid picture of a guy on the street and having him turn and say "you know your lens cap is on?"

2. My first (and only) time getting a girl to 'model' for me, we were alone in the woods and I ended up being ..noticeably.. attracted to her for much of the time.

Also, twice now I've taken the bottom off my M to change film without rewinding first, ruining the last several shots on the roll. Not embarrassing but humiliating on a personal level.

No great stories for me... I'm not too adventuresome so I don't run into embarrassing situations often.

 

[sepiareverb]

2. My first (and only) time getting a girl to 'model' for me, we were alone in the woods and I ended up being ..noticeably.. attracted to her for much of the time.

Well, the bar has been set pretty high with this one.

 

[Peter_Jones]

Running several films through with the rewind switch set to rewind 🙄😱

 

[Gumby]

Mine has been played and re-played time again... the most embarassing is when a great photographic subject is seen but there is no camera and/or film to record it.

 

[Fraser]

A couple embarrassing moments

1. Taking a (what I thought was) candid picture of a guy on the street and having him turn and say "you know your lens cap is on?"

2. My first (and only) time getting a girl to 'model' for me, we were alone in the woods and I ended up being ..noticeably.. attracted to her for much of the time.

I don't think anyone is going to beat number 2 probably best to close the thread😀😀😀

 

[Spanik]

Shooting the marriage of my nefew without a film in the camera. Did the same at the wedding anniversary of my brother. At least then I had the excuse it wasn't my camera but one I got put in my hands.

 

[OurManInTangier]

No pictures to back my story up...for good reason.

I was covering a visit by Princess Ann back when we were still shooting film at work. I got notice that she'd arrived early and was running to her arrival location whilst changing films in my two F5 bodies when I came across a crowd of people and had to start squeezing my way through, still changing film, whilst saying "excuse me," "coming through, " etc etc before suddenly the crowd parted and I found myself barging my way into a small opening to be confronted, momentarily, by a rather startled Princess before feeling a vice like grip around my wrist and collar, my feet leave the ground and the undercover police protection officers throw me from the venue...no pictures, no excuses....just a pissed off princess and a pissed off and embarrassed photographer.

I've photographed her a couple of times subsequently and can't help a tinge of fear that she'll recognise me and have me 'hoiked' out again...she has a reputation as being a little spikey with regard to the Press...perhaps I didn't help😱😀

[Apologies to anyone who has already read this in another thread. I posted it in completely the wrong thread!😱 Does this count as another embarrassing story?)

 

[bsdunek]

Years ago - was doing a wedding, and I went to get some shots of the bride dressing. When I left the room noticed my dark slide was still in place (Mamiya Press). Went back in in a few minutes and made the excuse we still had lots of time. This time I removed the dark slide, and I have never forgotten since.

 

[noisycheese]

My first (and only) time getting a girl to 'model' for me, we were alone in the woods and I ended up being ..noticeably.. attracted to her for much of the time.

Nothing to be embarrassed about - that was simply a natural reaction to being in close proximity to a beautiful woman who happened to be naked.

It's also one of the main reasons why I never photograph beautiful women who happen to be naked (that, and the wife, uh, "complains"). 😀

 

[willie_901]

Great story Simon.

Not many people can say they accidentally pissed-off an authentic Princess.

 

[jordanstarr]

I got drunk at a dive bar on Ave A in the Lower East Side in New York City with my M2, M6 and 4 Leica lenses and a blank cheque and about half my "selects" negatives from my "music under new york" series in a bag....left it there under my stool at the front of the bar....started walking home about 8 blocks...got a $2 falafel pita and was sitting there thinking about taking a picture, then reached for my camera and realized what happened.

I sprinted back. Have you ever seen a lion chasing a gazelle? 'Cause that's what I looked like, but drunker and puffing like blue heron in heat. I even shoved my way past the bouncer on the way in. It was packed full of people. I looked at the stool I was sitting at....over $8,000 worth of gear...GONE!

...just kidding...it was still there. But that was the worst. I've done a couple of the little mistakes that have ruined film before -just a couple of times. But I've never done anything like this. I don't ever bring my gear to a bar anymore if I have the intension of getting drunk.

...I'm glad I got that off my chest. ha!

 

[grapejohnson]

Shooting the marriage of my nefew without a film in the camera. Did the same at the wedding anniversary of my brother. At least then I had the excuse it wasn't my camera but one I got put in my hands.

I did the same exact thing for my cousin's wedding. Got drunk the night before and took a few "shots" of nothing, then thought I loaded film drunk the night before. By the time I passed exposure 39 the next day, my heart sank.

I'll never live it down. On that side of my family, during any event where I have a camera they always ask if I have any film in it now.

 

[helvetica]

... By the time I passed exposure 39 the next day, my heart sank....

When my F3 was new to me, I was amazed at how smooth the advance action was. After a day of shooting priceless family pictures (aren't they all?) I was looking for a good shot to finish the roll on #36... then 37... 38... 39...40... On the bright side, that roll of film rewound in a big hurry!

It is mistakes like this that make one want to drop film for digital without second thought - of course if one where to loose an un-backed-up harddrive full of thousands of pictures - that would make you wish for binders full of negatives!

 

[Mojo]

Happened when I first used RF's:

1. Forgot to remove lens cap
2. Did not ensure hand held neck strap is not in front of lens


Forgot to enable flash and use polarizer to minimize reflection

 

[kdemas]

My personal fav was when using my Nikon DSLR for an important portrait session. About halfway through I thought the viewfinder was looking a little blurry.

Yeah, I had the focus set to "manual" when I was using the AF button. About 100 shots toast.

 

[Adso]

My most humiliating photographic moments are almost exclusively related to the developing process: confusing developer and fixer, cell phone ringing in the darkroom while putting the film in the spiral, fixing just with water, almost crying after fighting during 30 minutes in complete darkness with a film stucked in an spiral... Several invaluable rolls ruined forever in the finish straight! 🙁

 

[bwcolor]

On my first paid gig, after upgrading from the Honeywell Press strobe to a new Ascorlite, I actually thought that the guide number was accurate. Learned to always test equipment after that one.

Backed into the cake at an event... Leica 90mm APO Asph.. first.