Poll :" I wish I had taken pics of..."

[mariaramil]

What photographic regrets do you have?
Anything you would advice others on?

[russellsnr]

Easy question, "Wish I had taken up photography earlier in life"
Russ

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Maria,

Glad you got this sorted.

Hope we get some votes now

[FrankMi]

Hi Maria. Too often I have seen what looked like a great shot but didn't feel I could take the time/effort/whatever to capture the moment. In a number of cases I have really regretted that decision as I never again got the opportunity. I now think more about what I might lose than what I might gain when this situation occurs.

[arith]

Other; a road rage incident when I was walking close by. Chap hiding in a hedge , I have since guessed what he was doing. A suitcase under a viaduct that was later discovered to contain a body.

Non of it nice stuff and maybe I would have even more nightmares if I did take the photo's, but I now wished I did.

I was too frightened of the consequences at the time but in the case of the case; I didn't know it was bad, it was just in an inconvenient place.

[Carl in Louisiana]

I too wished I had started at a much younger age.

[tbob]

A spring morning in May 1979. I was walking in about 400 square miles of virgin grassland (a military artillery and bomb range: I had permission to be there but only in certain spots due to safety concerns; basically avoiding things that might go boom). I cleared the top of a low ridge and the land gently sloped off to the Saskatchewan River valley then back up again. The view was about forty miles to the western horizon and the interplay of light and shadow from the cumulus clouds, rain, plowed fields, pasture lands and towns was amazing. I must have sat there for an hour just watching. I can never go there again and if I could it would be a letdown I am sure. But if I only had a picture.

[marstar]

As for me, I wish I had taken more pictures of my old neighborhoods and houses were I lived.
There has been so much change over the years, and its hard to remember the little details...

It never seemed that important at the time, but I definitely recommend everyone to just go around their house and neighborhood and create an album... my greatest regret.

[Momo]

Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon in Paige, AZ. I was there twice and made reservations twice for the tour... and cancelled twice due to scheduling conflicts. I will be back... count on it!

[mariaramil]

Hi Maria,

Glad you got this sorted.

Hope we get some votes now

Thanks Dave;
It's such early days and ... already fascinating to read what people say... (A bit like 'carpe diem'="seize the moment", isn't it?)

[rpcrowe]

I wish that digital photography had been around all my photographic life. Then I would have a wonderful collection of photos to look back upon.

As an exmple, when I was a combat cameraman during the Vietnam Conflict, I was carrying so much motion picture gear that I really couldn't carry a 35mm camera to shoot images for myself. I fact, I would often carry less food so that I could carry more film. The Minox camera system was too expensive for me so I tried a little 16mm Minolta still camera but, the results were so pitifully bad, I quite carrying it after the first time. A tiny shirt pocket P&S digital camera would have provided me with many personal memories.

Because I moved so frequently in the Navy and since my family situation varied so greatly over a number of years; I didn't do a good job keeping the hard copy images that I did have. A storage service like smugmug.com would have provided me with a safe place to store my memorable images despite my volatile personal situations.

More recently, I was scheduled to stay 3-days at an RV Park outside the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Preserve in New Mexico. It was in December and frigid cold but, the migratory wildfowl were there in great numbers. I missed the morning take off on the first day because I was in the wrong location. I thought, "what the heck, I have two more mornings to shoot". However, when I returned to my motorhome, my wife greeted me with the bad news that our heater was no longer working. It was too cold to stay there without heat. We packed up and left for a RV repair business several hundred miles further on our trip. No wildfowl pictures for Richard on that trip.

On the same trip, I had arranged to stay a few nights in Vicksburg, Mississippi which held special interest to me since my great-great grandfather had fought in the Vicksburg Campaign during the Civil War and I knew specific areas in which he and his unit had fought bravely. However, when we arrived in Vicksburg it had begun to snow and there were reports of a unusual (for that part of Mississippi) blizzard approaching. We packed up and left to escape the blizzard. No Vicksburg pictures on that trip...

I guess that I could recount many, many instances like the above over my many years in photogaphy. But, I do have a significant number of images which I have accumulated during my digital photography days. Smugmug and several computer hard drives keep them safe for me.

One thing that I have learned... If I see something interesting on the first leg of a round trip, I photograph it THEN. I do not wait for the second leg of the round trip. Plans often change and it is too easy to miss the opportunity on the return trip. My wife's personality is that she is willing to go on trips but, on the return trip she is so anxious to get home that she will not want to stop anywhere we don't absolutely have to stop. I on the other hand like traveling for the sake of travel and will always be willing to stop and smell the roses.

I really think that this part of our personalities has been inherited through our genes... Judy's ancestors arrived from England with the second group of Puritans to arrive in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her family never ventured more than a hundred mles from where they got off the boat until her father was in the U.S. Army in World War Two. My Irish and Scots Irish (Ulster Irish) ancestors arrived in Virginia around 1634 and they continually pushed South and West into new lands, settling in North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas. My desire and love of travel was one reason I joined the Navy and stayed in for a 32-year career. Boy, could I have a collection of pctures if digital had been available!

[mariaramil]

One thing that I have learned... If I see something interesting on the first leg of a round trip, I photograph it THEN.

Very interesting comment Colin (and a rather long wish list)... I guess 'seize the moment' applies in your case too.
Thanks for sharing

[Harpo]

Before I got hooked and serious about photography, I took motorcycle trips through Yellowstone, Colorado high peaks, Going to the Sun Road- Glacier Nat'l park, Grand Tetons, Acadia Nat'l Park, Columbia River Gorge, Hoover Dam, Big Trees (Northern Cal), Death Valley, and lived for 10 years in the Foothills of the Sierra Nevadas with regular trips to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite (Hiked to the top of half dome twice), and San Francisco.

A little P&S is all I had. Now it makes me SICK of all the wasted opportunities! On the other hand, it gives me an excuse for going back on more motorcycle trips but this time make them photographic journeys as well!

[Maritimer1]

Photographic regets:

I've missed two photos in the past five years that I really regret not getting (no camera!) One was of an old truck that had pulled up in front of a seaside restaurant near Chester, N.S. What made it lovely were the 6 or more labrador retrievers that were sticking out the windows, filling the seats, etc etc. It was marvelous! The other scene took place in the parking lot of our local mall. An elderly man, in vintage farmer-goes-to-town apparel, was walking across the lot with his son, dressed similarly and likely in his late 50s. It was one of the most touching scenes I had ever seen as the son had Down's Syndrome and the father had him by the hand as they walked along. I can't really describe it; it was one of those moments you had to witness to get the full impact.

Advice:

Don't wait to take family photos. My mom passed away unexpectedly last month. I do not have one decent photo of the two of us together. Not one. Thankfully, I have some I love of her and my daughter that I took a couple of years ago, but I should have taken more of her with my son and with me. I don't have any shots of my husband, kids and I either! As a result, I am trying to convince my friends and co-workers to let me do some family shots for them, and I will try to get my lot to sit for a picture, too.

[mariaramil]

Photographic regets:


Don't wait to take family photos. My mom passed away unexpectedly last month. I do not have one decent photo of the two of us together. .

Thanks for sharing this and sorry for your loss, Myra.
I was lucky to get into SLR photography and take some nice B/W portraits of my mother before she passed away. Unfortunately, like you, I didn't think of having pics of both of us together at the time...really a shame.... Maybe others will take note....

[Scott Stephen]

You all are making me want to shoot everything more. Very sorry about your mom, Maria.

[mariaramil]

You all are making me want to shoot everything more. Very sorry about your mom, Maria.

Cheers Scott;
I forgot to mention this was almost 20 years ago and probably triggered my OTT obsession with portraits (many of my friends don't share my level of enthusiasm, needing lots of negotiation if/when they agree to pose for me)
I understand other people are passionate about other themes, though... Life would be boring if we all liked the same.