Your Worst Nightmare in Photography

dgray said:
Yes, he was (by just a few months), but don't we customarily still attach the title "President" even after the term is finished?

Yes, I guess we do, along with do so for former Governors and Senators etc. It "bugs" me because it becomes an informal form of title and emolument, which are not permitted under the Constitution. Just the lawyer in me I guess!
 
I've got one.

I was going to new york for a christmas vacation departing from the ontario airport ( california, not canada ) And normally they would hand inspect my film ( this story is much like shutterflower's ) but not only did they run it throught he xray machine TWICE, they proceded to open each and every box, unwrap each roll of 120 and basically ruin ALL of my film. ( there was a good 40 rolls or more, a mix of neopan ( 100/400/1600) and Fuji slide film.), and they were rather rough with a bag containing my Mamiya RZ ( thank god that thing was a tank) and my Eos 3 bodies. however, In efforts to hope for the best i continued to shoot each roll on the trip hoping that i would get some of the shots ( this was before i had a digital camera ) . upon the continuation of our trip, we decided to go into the empire state building. and LO AND BEHOLD, yet another metal detector and yet another xray machine. so now. for the third time, my film has been run through an xray machine, because the people are just too damn lazy to take a quick look and realize that its JUST FILM!!!.


i still tried to develop the rolls, and did a lot of pulling in the processing. i was able to salvage some of the shots. but at least 75% or more of all those rolls were lost causes.

i was not a happy camper.
 
Man.. I hope you at least cursed them loudly with foulest language you could come up with.
 
i wanted to.. ohhhh boy did i want to. but there are 2 very distinct reasons why i didnt.

number one. - i was with my family.
number two. - i am of middle eastern descent (though i dont look it 100%) and that would've caused a wholeeee big ruckus.
 
The camera strap gets caught on my foot as I bring it down from sitting most gentlemanly.. the camera comes crashing down from the table to the hard earth with a *thud.*

With that.. the camera breaks out of its mount without the depression of the little button and I look in disbelief.

//

This fear came about after it happened to my father and his digital Canon. "Luckily" it was a camera I gave to him during my transitional phase.

He wasn't to broken up.. he just held it its two pieces up and said "Is it broken?" and I said "Probably."

I must admit.. there might have been a bit of friendly, uncontrolled laughing thrown in there.
 
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I was 20 days into a mountain climb in the Japanese alps at about 3,000m. This was a section of the Alps that was two days walk from anywhere someone could claim was somewhere or at least showed a paved road. It was at the end of the day and I was on a scree slope. I slipped, fell backward, and arrested my fall with my left hand. Unfortunately, I was holding my Mamiya 6 in that hand. Broke the lens hood, smashed the filter ring, and bent the retractable lens mount - could not retract the lens and the camera would not fire.

It was my only camera I had on that trip. It was a gloomy night in the tent that evening. It has been the only time in my life I have broken a camera.

Thank goodness I use UV filters on my lens.

I did work in a camera store when I was young. A gentleman had just had a tumble on a bicycle and wanted to know if we could fix his camera - a Pentax k-1000. He put the body on the counter, and then the lens. Unfortunately, the bayonet mount was still attached to the lens.
 
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