Ever miss a shot because it no longer exists?

Derek Lofgreen · May 6, 2010

I was going into day job yesterday and they were doing some landscaping to the office building. They took out two trees and some shrubs to make way for who knows what. Luckily I had just taken a shot that I wanted to for a while a few weeks ago of those trees and shrubs that are now history. I thought "wow, good thing I didn't wait any longer to get that shot". You can see the image and some comments on my blog.

I was just wondering does anyone else have a story of "oh, I can come back later/tomorrow and get that shot." and then it's just plain gone? I've learned my lesson, if I see a shot take it or you may not ever get another chance.

D.

Kevin Caulfield · May 6, 2010

There are a couple of places here in Victoria on the Great Ocean Road where that happens all the time. One cliff/rock feature called "London Bridge" collapsed some years ago, when two unfortunate people were across the wrong side of the bridge at the time (they were rescued). A very popular attraction called "The Twelve Apostles" which are basically rock pillars in the ocean, changes all the time when the rocks basically wash away. This happened several years ago to one of the more photogenic tear-drop shaped rocks. Thankfully I have many shots taken before that.

brian steinberger · May 6, 2010

Absolutely, this happens to me alot with my rustic architecture and industrial photography. You drive by and old structure frequently and say to yourself 'I'm gonna photograph that someday' then before you know it it's no longer there or it's an apartment complex. Its amazing how long things can be one way, then suddenly they're gone.

williamtheis · May 6, 2010

all the time. I am just so angry that in the County of Sonoma (CA), they decided that having stumps next to the road was far more scenic than the beautiful trees that overlapped and caressed each other from across the road... the road is not being widened.. just the trees must have been in the way of seeing yet another vineyard. I am sad...

Jeff Kubach · May 6, 2010

I just missed one the other day. There was an very old barn that was torn down just recently. I kept putting it off, so it was my fault.

Jeff

nick mulder · May 6, 2010

There are some amazing (yes, unfortunately due to a war) derelict buildings in Monrovia, Liberia - 4x5 color and 8x10 black and white please - return trip fell through earlier this year...

I'd be a right asshole to moan about progress in the absence of my camera in this particular case

arigram · May 6, 2010

Many.
Usually old shops and buildings that are closed, demolished, changed or modernized not long after I started procrastinating on shooting them.
Or usual characters you see on the street almost every day that somehow disappear.

steven_e007 · May 6, 2010

There was a disused black smith shop about 10 miles from my house. For many many years there was a huge pile of rusting horse shoes that had been piled up against a tree. The tree had sort of grown into then, making a weird rusty/organic sculpture about 10 feet high...
It was difficult to park and the weather was never right and the sun was always in the wrong place...

Then some travellers spotted it...lots of free scrap metal...

Bateleur · May 6, 2010

After years of good intentions and often resting in its shade I photographed the "Mukorob" (Finger of God) - a rock pinnacle produced by weathering - in Namibia, shortly before it collapsed on December, 4th 1988, just prior to Namibian independence. It fell as a result of an earth tremor, although an old Nama legend goes that the Rule of the "White Man" will come to an end if this Rock falls.

R gould · May 6, 2010

I have missed lots of great photos, either the light was wrong,in too much of a hurry,Missed a great shot the other day of some Jersey cows,misty field,just a hint of something in the sky,and, unusually, they still had horns, Difficult to park so thought I'D come back in an hour, came back, still nice light,mist, hint of something in the sky but no Jersey cows, Now if I see a photo I stop and take it, and then if things improve but the shot is gone at least I have something,Richard

removed account4 · May 6, 2010

falling down triple decker with a remnant/carpet store on the first floor,
sitting next to a 1950s high peak gable roofed ice cream stand pizza parlor called " excellent pizza "
the was demo'd fast and unfortunately for me i wasn't able to photograph it.
a bank was built on half the site ( excellent pizza ) and the other half is 4 or 6 7foot high
mounds of dirt and debris and a 7 year old for sale sign.

maybe i'll photograph the out of business / boarded up 7-11 next door, before it is demo'd
recessions can go either way for buildings, they can be left to rot until someone has $$ to fix them up
or they can be removed and some sort of hole or cheaply constructed building can be put in its place

Fotoguy20d · May 6, 2010

Derek Lofgreen said:
I was just wondering does anyone else have a story of "oh, I can come back later/tomorrow and get that shot." and then it's just plain gone? I've learned my lesson, if I see a shot take it or you may not ever get another chance.
D.

In May 2001, I did the 5 Boro Bike Ride (for those unfamiliar, 40 miles of NYC streets, highways and bridges are closed to cars but open to tens of thousands of cyclists - crazy, but fun). It was the first time I did that ride and the first time I'd been to the part of Queens nearest Manhattan. There was a great view across the East River and Manhattan with the WTC towering over the cityscape. Didn't have a camera with me but decided I would do the ride the following year with a camera to get that shot (I could, I suppose, have driven there but I never did that either).

Dan

Steve Roberts · May 6, 2010

I do this far too often, but equally well let's not forget the times when we DO get it right. I have a good record of many Cornish mine buildings and sites that are either gone or have been "improved" as well as things such as Plymouth City Centre's Drake Circus before and during the redevelopment several years ago. It seems very easy to forget how things used to be (or perhaps that's a function of my age!) and a look at a few photos of "how it was" helps to jog some memories. They needn't even be photographic masterpieces - most of the battle is "getting around to it" in the first place.

Steve

jovo · May 6, 2010

I commute to work so early in the morning that I'm often in a scenic paradise that evaporates as the sun rises, the mist vanishes, and the subtle softness of early light changes to boring brilliance. Alas, I NEVER get to stop because of the time pressure I'm under to get where I'm going. I am soooooo looking forward to retirement in a few years to finally get a chance to stop and shoot in the moment, and not have to pass by in a hurry.

railwayman3 · May 6, 2010

I wish I had a time machine to go back for a week's photography in the
1960's.....I was too young then to be interested in photography, but wish now that I had good colour pictures of (amongst other things) the steam railway locomotives and other industrial subjects which were vanishing in that decade.

bsdunek · May 6, 2010

Too many to list here. One was in New Hampshire in 2003. We were on our honeymoon and thought we'd check out the 'Old Man of the Mountain'. Before we got there we heard is slid off the mountain. Bummer! Can't even trust mountains to be there.

GuyBoden · May 6, 2010

I'm glad that it's not just me then! I've missed several! Recently there was a block of flats marked for demolition and all the flats had been vacated and bordered up expect for one on the ground floor which was still occupied. It had washing hanging up outside, kids toys and bikes everywhere, ornaments, etc. I kept on going past it on my way to work and i was always either in a hurry or didn't have my camera or the light was wrong. I recently went to take the shot in the right light and when i go there they had moved out and it was all boarded up

Another thing I keep doing, slightly off topic, is I'll drive past a place and think "Ohh, that'll make a great shot" and I'll think about it for a week or two until I can get back there with camera in hand time to shoot and it'll be nothing like the amazing vista my mind had built up over the previous weeks of thinking about it.

alapin · May 6, 2010

I must have passed it a hundred times and said get a picture. When I went it was to late. A big red dump truck fill with dirt and all kinds of plants. What a plant pot.

A mobile home setting on a lot with two huge smoke stacks on top. Really the angle at which it was setting cover up the plant behind it. Looked great, this one I wish I had my camera. Since that day I carry my Olympus XA with me.

Thingy · May 6, 2010

When I last visited the US during in August 1982, shortly after the Falklands War, armed with my trusty Olympus OM20, I tried (for the second time in 8 years) to go up the Empire State Building, but yet again it was closed. I ended up going on a tour of the Twin Towers at an unearthly hour of the morning (for a tourist!) and having breakfast aloft (I was terrified of heights in those days so avoided being in close proximity to the windows). I regret not taking any interior photographs or of New York's cityscape from above.

I also served, briefly, aboard HMS Chrysanthemum moored in London and when we were relocated to the shiny new (shore) base, HMS President, we were expecting our old ship to be taken to Chatham for conversion to a museum.... however instead she has been left to rot at Chatham. I regret not photographing her interior. Her classrooms (where I learned seamanship & navigational theory) were like classrooms in 1920s English schools!

Moopheus · May 6, 2010

I can think of a few things that disappeared before I got to photograph them, and I wanted to, I just waited too long (one that is really annoying is a painted wall sign that appeared when one building was torn down, and then was covered up again by the new construction). On the other hand, I've got plenty of photos of things that are gone (and some of things that I am surprised are still standing!). Obviously, over enough time, most things eventually will be gone, but I have shot scenes because I knew they were doomed in the short term.

removed-user-1 · May 6, 2010

I live in Charlotte, NC, a city famous for tearing down historic buildings. Lately it's even started tearing down recent constructions (like our "new" coliseum, torn down a mere 20 years after it was built). I miss shots for this reason all the time.

photomc · May 6, 2010

Yes, and even if not torn down..many buildings lose their character when they are 'saved' by the well meaning. Of course these days fires/flood/storms are always a risk to take away a future photograph.

Sirius Glass · May 6, 2010

Derek Lofgreen said:
I was going into day job yesterday and they were doing some landscaping to the office building. They took out two trees and some shrubs to make way for who knows what. Luckily I had just taken a shot that I wanted to for a while a few weeks ago of those trees and shrubs that are now history. I thought "wow, good thing I didn't wait any longer to get that shot". You can see the image and some comments on my blog.

I was just wondering does anyone else have a story of "oh, I can come back later/tomorrow and get that shot." and then it's just plain gone? I've learned my lesson, if I see a shot take it or you may not ever get another chance.

D.

Just scan your negative and put the trees back in with Photo$hop. That is what the digi-snappers call photography!

Bateleur · May 7, 2010

railwayman3 said:
I wish I had a time machine to go back for a week's photography in the
1960's.....I was too young then to be interested in photography, but wish now that I had good colour pictures of (amongst other things) the steam railway locomotives and other industrial subjects which were vanishing in that decade.

I too often wish for such a time machine. Back to the sixties and beyond with a camera around my neck and lots of film available.

sly · May 7, 2010

Last spring I took a 4x5 photo of a flowering plum leaning over a gate. There was a defect in the middle of the film (I won't buy Rollei anymore, though I have quite a bit of it left. About 1/3 has same defect.)

Took a long drive to go back this spring to reshoot when trees were in bloom.Winter wind storms had taken their toll, gate was down and half disassembled, tree had lost branches and looked quite scruffy. Very sad.

Ever miss a shot because it no longer exists?

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