Photographic bloopers

[wlewisiii]

Best one recently was a using a roll of Tri-X I'd been saving for a forgotten number of years in the fridge. Popped it in my F4 and went out shooting.

Came home dunked & scanned and discovered I'd shot it already... In about 2010 😱 Every shot was a double exposure. I'd obviously left the leader out to develop it but never did for some reason. Salvaged 1 image.

 

[Muggins]

As someone with an awful lot of cameras I've lost track of the number of times I've forgotten that, just becuase it's in focus in the viewfinder, if it's not an SLR, it won't be in focus on the film plane. Ich bin ein muppet.

 

[Papercut]

My recent bloopers have both been related to bulk rolling as I had let my photography lapse for a couple of years was simply out of practice.

1. I rolled a whole 100' tin of Tri-X (so about 19 rolls) backwards on the spindles, which means, of course, that they won't load in the camera at all. So, I had to go into the darkroom and, one by one, take the film off the spindles, re-tape it on the spindles going the right way, and then wind it back on the spindles manually (i.e., trying not to touch the film except along the edges), etc. What a pain!

2. Sadly, despite successfully re-winding all 19 rolls, the train wreck with that tin of film didn't end there. In my frustration at re-winding all those rolls I neglected to tape them sufficiently well to the spindles, so ... almost every roll of that tin would detach from the spindle when I reached the end of the roll, necessitating taking the whole camera back into the darkroom to unload the exposed film. This meant that I had to carry two bodies every time I went out shooting as otherwise my day would be over when I reached the end of the first roll. What a pain!

Thankfully all this self-inflicted pain is in the rear window now as that tin of film is FINALLY done. And I really only lost one roll to serpentine stress marks from unloading the film from the M6 too sloppily. Lesson(s) learned, I hope.

 

[Rayt]

I was walking around doing street photography when I saw some HS kids fooling around so I went up to take a few shots with I think was a 21mm or 24mm Elmarit Asph so I was pretty close. They started pointing at me and waving their arms laughing. I thought they were just interacting so continued to shoot. What great shots I am getting so I thought. Turned out they were just laughing at me and the cap in front of the lens.

 

[wlewisiii]

I was walking around doing street photography when I saw some HS kids fooling around so I went up to take a few shots with I think was a 21mm or 24mm Elmarit Asph so I was pretty close. They started pointing at me and waving their arms laughing. I thought they were just interacting so continued to shoot. What great shots I am getting so I thought. Turned out they were just laughing at me and the cap in front of the lens.

Been there, done that, got the blank film to prove it 🤦‍♂️

 

[css9450]

I've driven or walked long distances a few times only to find there was no film in the camera. It wasn't always a total loss; things were different in those days when you could get Kodachrome at the corner store. The modern equivalent would be leaving the SD card at home or at the motel.

Years ago, a friend went on a trip for a week or a long weekend chasing tornadoes through Texas, Oklahoma, etc. and was rewarded with several thrilling tornado sightings, spectacular displays of lightning and dramatic storm light. Being blazing hot August weather, he kept his film in a cooler packed with ice. Imagine his surprise on the last day finding the ice had mostly melted and the film was floating in a cooler filled with sickly yellow-greenish water. Sure, he'd kept the film in a plastic bag, but the bag didn't stay sealed and worst of all he didn't keep the film in its plastic canisters! I am sure it would have been fine if it was in its canisters.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Back in 1976, a bunch of us late teens took a cross country road trip from Cincinnati to San Francisco. Had about a dozen rolls of Kodachrome. My first time seeing the Rocky Mountains, we hiked and climbed to above the tree line, me snapping pics with my Canon TX. Got back down the mountain having captured 36 images. When I got the film back from processing, all 36 images were on the first frame. In my excitement I had mis-loaded the film and it had not advanced past the first frame. Live and learn.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Retro-Grouch]

The photographer I apprenticed upset drove off with his Hasselblad on the roof of his car. He said he saw it come off on the interstate but never found any evidence of it.

He also dropped his shoulder bag while climbing a smokestack at a power plant. He had a 4x5 Linhof Technika and set of lenses in the case. We estimated it fell about 20 stories. Nothing salvageable in the case.

Ouch. Just ouch...