[shuttertalk]

Ever lay in wait for 12 hours to catch some birds nesting? Set out at 3am and Trekked halfway through a forest to catch the sunrise? Done se super elaborate setup in the studio to capture
something a client wanted?

What was going through your mind at the time? Did you think the result was worth it?

For me I've stood on a bridge over the freeway in the middle of winter to catch some car light trails. The resulting images were pretty good, and I don't regret freezing my bottom off.

[Wedding Shooter]

I wanted to shoot some birds at a water hole at first light up in the Northern Territory - Got up from my Hotel at around 4am and drove to the place. Found I had miscalculated the time and was there too early.

So - decided to have a quick nap in the car only to wake up and discover the dawn past

Still got some ok shots - thread with the shots from some ago is here:

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/showth...p?tid=7830

[NT73]

Not a great deal. I got up before my wife a few times in Fuerteventura, to get the morning soft light.
Thats pretty hard after a nights drinking.

[matthew]

I suppose the most I've done for a photo would be a twenty-four hour round-trip on a greyhound bus in order to spend sixteen hours wandering in New York, which principally resulted in a photo of a random stranger crossing Fifth Avenue at six-thirty in the morning.

What was going through your mind at the time? Did you think the result was worth it?

Well, given the early hour and the lack of sleep, not particularly much… I think it was something about scale focusing and not getting hit by oncoming traffic.

[Toad]

I guess that I must have done lots of strange things, but they don't seem that much effort to me. Other people tell me that I do weird things to get pictures though.

[EnglishBob]

Lugged 20+ pounds of gear 6 miles and up 2000' to shoot a waterfall from a different angle, the picture sucked, light had changed by the time I had gotten there.

And my first paid shoot, laying on the ground shooting a 100+lb Pit Bull with a bad attitude chase a ball thrown for it for action shots.... It did not like the camera pointed at it.

[Zig]

These are great!
Things like rolling around on the floor getting a macro shot of flowers with a wideangle lens in a public place, oddly do not faze me at all: I feel I'm hidden behind a blanket that says "photographer" and it renders me invisible to social mores.
I once got catastrophically lost on Mount Snowdon, setting off too late on a February afternoon with the Pentax 67: I thought I was approaching the snowy summit when it was getting dark and then was convinced I was safely retracing my path back down. It got darker, colder and more icy...and I was still walking but oddly no nearer the car; I was wet through as the snow started to mix with sleet; eventually I saw some lights that turned out to be an outward bound hut and stumbled in. It was quite a riot really, as by then I wasn't making sense, so it took a few hours to sort me out. They became quite shocked, as did I, when they showed me on their map that somehow I'd blindly reached the summit and walked over the other side to my ascent, missing the gargantuan drops...an afternoon photographic jaunt turning into a 16 mile hyperthermic mountain hike.
Thus, the most I've done to get a shot is to purposely leave wisdom out of my bag, I guess.

[shuttertalk]

Ha ha, most of these have got me in stitches... thanks for sharing and keep them coming!

[EnglishBob]

Been lost on Snowdon after dark myself Zig, and to prove I didn't learn from it, got lost on Ben Nevis the following year.

[shuttertalk]

Wow, saw this video about NatGeo photographer Mattias Klum and his encounter with a lioness in the wild.

http://youtu.be/NQ0rkkbmgXQ

[shuttertalk]

By the way, check out this table of hazards encountered by a poll of 45 NatGeo photographers:

   

Source: http://www.petapixel.com/2011/12/01/the-...tographer/

Also some vignettes and experiences from photographers here:

http://thephotosociety.org/reality-check/vignettes/

[Korry]

Ever lay in wait for 12 hours to catch some birds nesting? Set out at 3am and Trekked halfway through a forest to catch the sunrise? Done se super elaborate setup in the studio to capture
something a client wanted?

What was going through your mind at the time? Did you think the result was worth it?

I just love this thread

Laying on the street while people walking by are trying not to step on me, just to take a shoot of a stray cat, or running from a pissed off animal..well, that's something happening very often to me.

One of the most extreme scenarios (few years ago, when I was just getting to know my new camera) - it was a middle of the winter, the temperatures were really, really low, it was snowing (but I do love snow, so that doesn't matter). Anyhow, I drove two hours through the snow to catch some fireworks shots. As I didn't know the exact time of the fireworks and I needed to find the right spot, I was there something like 2-3 hours early. By the time fireworks started, I couldn't feel my fingers or arms, or legs, or anything. If was soooo freezing. I still don't know why I decided to take those shots without tripod, but I learned that wasn't the smartest idea, especially when you're frozen.

At that point my thoughts were all jumpy and ecstatic, like - OMG! OMG! fireworks! finally! :facepalm:
My thoughts, once I was warm again, watching photos were - oh..

And results were..well, everything but good. If nothing else, I learned something from that - you just can't shoot fireworks from hand, especially when you don't feel your hands.

Best thing I was able to get was this:


I am planning to redo that shooting next year to get some better photos, and hopefully, I won't repeat the same mistakes.

[BrandyMaeD]

Ever lay in wait for 12 hours to catch some birds nesting? Set out at 3am and Trekked halfway through a forest to catch the sunrise? Done se super elaborate setup in the studio to capture
something a client wanted?

What was going through your mind at the time? Did you think the result was worth it?

I just love this thread

Laying on the street while people walking by are trying not to step on me, just to take a shoot of a stray cat, or running from a pissed off animal..well, that's something happening very often to me.

One of the most extreme scenarios (few years ago, when I was just getting to know my new camera) - it was a middle of the winter, the temperatures were really, really low, it was snowing (but I do love snow, so that doesn't matter). Anyhow, I drove two hours through the snow to catch some fireworks shots. As I didn't know the exact time of the fireworks and I needed to find the right spot, I was there something like 2-3 hours early. By the time fireworks started, I couldn't feel my fingers or arms, or legs, or anything. If was soooo freezing. I still don't know why I decided to take those shots without tripod, but I learned that wasn't the smartest idea, especially when you're frozen.

At that point my thoughts were all jumpy and ecstatic, like - OMG! OMG! fireworks! finally! :facepalm:
My thoughts, once I was warm again, watching photos were - oh..

And results were..well, everything but good. If nothing else, I learned something from that - you just can't shoot fireworks from hand, especially when you don't feel your hands.

Best thing I was able to get was this:


I am planning to redo that shooting next year to get some better photos, and hopefully, I won't repeat the same mistakes.

That's a BEAUTIFUL photograph! Stunning shot. Love the colors and the story behind it is funny!

While I didn't stand out in the freezing temps, or should I say I haven't yet, I did get in trouble once by museum security. My local art museum, The Kimball in Dallas, allows photos of the permanent exhibit if you turn your flash off. I followed the rules, but came upon a painting that was on loan from another museum. Temptation got the best of me, and I thought I could just snap real quick and get a pick of one of my FAV Van Gogh's. Low and behold secutity was on me in a blink of an eye.... I did get the shot though, but I also got an earful and was almost tackled.

[kNox]

Actually, I'm only just doing this as a hobby, but I once spent a good couple of hours in a night just driving around town trying to scout tall locations from where to shoot. It was on that "blue moon" night and I wanted a photo from a tall building so that I could capture the whole city. No go though, people aren't that happy letting you in (mostly office) buildings at night.

[EnglishBob]

Actually, I'm only just doing this as a hobby, but I once spent a good couple of hours in a night just driving around town trying to scout tall locations from where to shoot. It was on that "blue moon" night and I wanted a photo from a tall building so that I could capture the whole city. No go though, people aren't that happy letting you in (mostly office) buildings at night.

Have a friend that gets access to the roofs of many of our cities tall buildings and he takes some fantastic shots from up there, helps that he's a senior police officer though LOL.

[kNox]

Yeah that would help me too! I actually tried to talk my way into an old tower that was used at some point as an elevator testing facility, it's about 20 stories high and you can see a huge part of the entire city from there. No luck anywhere, though.

[Korry]

I am sooooo glad I'm not the only one with the (someone would say crazy) attempts to get to the forbidden roofs

Have to brag a bit - I actually made my way up to the roof once. Pure luck and crazy me. Being silly little blonde and 'really really sad' helped

[jinko]

Not much, I guess walking several miles in thick snow with heavy snowfall in the middle of the night would be the ultimate. But the results were also very nice so it was worth it.

[Photopro]

During my Polaroid days, I went downtown early, early one morning for a reason I don't remember. I do remember seeing many of our towns more permanent outdoor residents around where I was shooting. Some were sleeping, some were not. I didn't think much of it since I generally feel pretty safe in this Universe. I was done and very pleased with my shots and on my way back to my car when I passed an elderly woman with a handful of shopping bags, I said and waved a friendly hello and just as I was thinking "Hey, wait a minute -there are no stores open at this hour", I heard growling and yelling behind me getting closer by the moment and turned just before I was attacked by said woman. She was on fire, obviously disturbed and meaning me harm. I am NOT a fast runner so luckily I was quite close to my car and made it there and inside unscathed but thats the most awful thing that (almost) happened to me in the service of getting the good shots!!