What's the Worst that's Happened to you whilst taking a shot

[F11]

My eagerness got the better of me one afternoon when I decided to take a shot of an estuary slipway where there were some boats moored. Hey presto, next thing I knew I was flat on my back after slipping on some green moss. Worst of it was that I had a borrowed 70-200mm L series 2.8 lens which I had put in a battered old bag so I didn't look conspicious that landed on the deck next to me. Fortunately, Canon did a great job on the lens, but how I got home with the pain in the base of my spine I'll never know. Spent the next 2 days hardly being able to get up off the sofa.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by F11

What's the Worst that's Happened to you whilst taking a shot?

I was accused of being a paedophile

[ABERS]

I was accused of being a photographer!

[F11]

Love both your comments - Abers and chris-p - my elderly father who has taught me tons about photography says he feels he can go hardly anywhere on his own for fear of being accussed of a paedophile especially open spaces where kids might be. Bit sexist really but dad says its different for a female. I'm always taking shots of my grandsons in playgrounds and no-one has confronted me yet. Sign of the times isn't it.

[karenoliver]

I went to photograph an oil refninery and had my canon with me and 24-105 L lens! Anyway some bramble got wrapped around my ankles, sent me flying with camera flying ahead of me! Grazed my hands, wrists and legs and began bleeding. My camera was fine but lens had a small scratch in corner of glass which thankfully does not seem to affect the shots I make with it. Got an infection in my hand which turned out be cellulitus. Ended up with a balloon for a hand, and infection heading upwards to my elbow! I was in hospital for 1 week on intravenous antibiotics and drips. I entered the photo of the refinery for this years photographer of the year competition but left out the accident details!
Karen

[karenoliver]

Photography can be dangerous Fll. Hope your back gets better soon!

Karen

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by karenoliver

I went to photograph an oil refninery and had my canon with me and 24-105 L lens! Anyway some bramble got wrapped around my ankles, sent me flying with camera flying ahead of me! Grazed my hands, wrists and legs and began bleeding. My camera was fine but lens had a small scratch in corner of glass which thankfully does not seem to affect the shots I make with it. Got an infection in my hand which turned out be cellulitus. Ended up with a balloon for a hand, and infection heading upwards to my elbow! I was in hospital for 1 week on intravenous antibiotics and drips. I entered the photo of the refinery for this years photographer of the year competition but left out the accident details!
Karen

If you walk in the woods as often as I do, then you get use to brambles catching your feet, so don't take big steps, which allows you to regain your balance quickly.

I went out with my Nikon 400mm F2.8 lens, which weighs 6kg plus my tripod, which also has the same weight, so had about 20kg total weight on my back including other lenses and my Pro Trecker AW II bag. In my hand was the Nikon D3 with the 105mm F2.8 VR macro with 1.4 converter. I was walking by the side of the pond photographing Frogs, when I moved sideways back towards the path and caught my foot on the edging board, lost my balance and fell into a hollybush that slops down into the forrest. I ended up on my back with my head facing down the slope, and like a turtle on his back with feet in the air, I couldn't get up due to all the weight on my back. I had to release the backpack before I could scramble back onto the path. Have you ever tried to get out of shoulder straps whilst lying on your back? I was grateful nobody was around as I felt a right fool.

[Matthew Forrest]

Well two things for me 1st thing for me was when I was taking some winter shots at the start of the year and I seen this spot that looked perfect under a tree and the view was great,everything was covered in snow so i wandered over to this spot started setting up my tripod ect,and I heard a cracking sound and ended up in a shallow pond(couldve been worse!)Thing is I was more interested in making sure my gear was ok!lol.Then just last week I spotted a couple of golfers taking shot from the tee I asked if they would mind me taking a few shots,so I turned on the camera started snapping away then realised i had no cf card inside(bummer!)I felt rather silly.

[Stormsong]

Back in the good ole days of 35mm film . . . I was a relatively inexperienced reporter/photographer for a local newspaper in the early 1990s and managed to blag press tickets to a Formula One race. I had shot about 11 x 36-exposure rolls of film of the race and decided to walk around the track to take spectator shots. My wanderings took me over to the Ayrton Senna supporters' corner. He won the race not long after and the crowd with their thousands of Brazilian flags went mental. Senna stopped a whisker away from me and revved the F1's engine for the fans, with smoke billowing from the car. Someone managed to hand him a Brazilian flag and I was shooting away merrily with him filling the frame - Senna had momentarily lifted the visor of his helmet to acknowledge his fans - thinking I had bagged the photo of the year! When I checked to see how many frames I had shot, I saw it was over 38. On the 35mm cameras, that was a sign that a) either the film had not been wound on properly in the first instance or b) that there was no film in the camera. My heart sank when I opened my camera bag and saw my last unused roll of film. But the real sad part of this is that Senna was killed in an F1 crash the following year and the sport lost a true legend.

[F11]

Didn't think my initial thread would open up so many revelations. I hope you are OK Karen, makes my incident seem a bit trivial in comparison. Stormsong your's is such a sad tale and I can image how your heart sank. Such a tragic story. There is also a lesson to be leart about being careful with the winter shots with the ice - something you wouldn't really think about. Glad you managed to managed to get your backpack off Oldboy or you may never have been found...