Your most DANGEROUS photographic moment

Lopaka · Nov 16, 2008

Some years ago, there was a partial roof colapse in a shopping center near the studio. I was asked to take some photos.

There were workers inside shoring up the remaining roof to try to keep it up. I walked through the building while the engineer pointed out stress points he wanted photographed. Just as we finished and headed outside, the engineer heard a noise he didn't like, turned and yelled 'everybode out - NOW'. Just as the last worker ran out the door, the entire building colapsed in on itself into a heap of rubble. Fortunately, no one was hurt - but the thought of what could have been was scary enough.

About the photos? Sold lots of prints at premium prices.

Bob

AZLF · Nov 16, 2008

For one year of my military duty I was a photographer with the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi, Viet Nam (1969-70'). I came through without a scratch but there was one "milk run" I took to the next large Army base to the south of us that for me was the most frightening time of my tour of duty. Normally when in the field on an assignment I was with at least a company sized element of troops and usually the overall group was much larger. I was never on "point" during these times. A guy carrying a camera will not do much good if an ambush is sprung. I was there to document a military action. Not grab "the iconic shot" of the war. I did carry an M-16 but it was usually slung across my back to keep my hands free for my main job.
On this particular day we (the photo section) needed some supplies that were available at the next base and I was told to take a ride there to pick them up. The co of the unit thought he was giving me a "day off" and away I went with a driver and one other soldier in a 3/4 ton truck outside the wire of Cu Chi base camp down a two lane blacktop road south the 40 or so miles to the next base ( A large one who's name is eluding me at the moment. CRS strikes again). About 5 minutes into the trip I realize that we are NOT in a convoy. We are alone. To either side of the road are fields of rice and hedge rows at intervals dividing the fields. A few Vietnamese men could be seen here and there with their water buffalo's. I have never felt more exposed in my life. We all had weapons with us but if charlie decided he wanted us and our truck there was not a damned thing we could do about it. I was carrying my Yashica Mat 124 and snapped a few shots but the entire trip there and back I felt like I had a huge bull's eye on my back and forehead. It is not a feeling I want to repeat. Ever. I went on other "field assignments" during my tour but I never went on a "milk run" again. Too scary for my taste.

removed account4 · Nov 16, 2008

2 actually are almost the same level of danger ...
1 - i documented the last of the neighborhood gasholder in boston from the rooftop of a building down the street. it was cold, and windy and i was 25? storys up and
then there was the parapet ... the maintenance guy that escorted me to the roof didn't speak english, and i didn't speak his language, but he
pointed to the rickety ladder "coathangered" to the HVAC units and pointed up. i climbed to the top, and as i was photographing the gasholder (prone position )
the wind picked up and the heating system turned on, so the fans below me started to blow. i got the photographs and eventually climbed down the ladder ...

2. i documented a quarry outside of boston before it was filled with excavate from "the big dig" .. and to save 40 mins of hiking around the quarry to get
to various vantage point we needed to be at, we had to mule 2 4x5 cameras, tripod &C over the grout wall. 300+ feet straight down into the quarry on one side
and a hill / clif on the other. the stones were pretty wobbly.

bdial · Nov 16, 2008

Not my personal experience, but a military Motion Picture photographer I served with got a Distinguished Flying Cross for taking over the machine gunner's position in a helicopter during a combat rescue mission he was documenting during Vietnam.
(This was because the machine gunner was wounded during the event).

In comparison, my experiences from that time were pretty tame. As things worked out I was about one year too late, something I regretted at the time, but I'm older and wiser now.

pesphoto · Nov 16, 2008

well, this guy scared the cr#p outta me. Was walking thru the old neighborhood on SMith HIll when i turned a corner and there he was.
I managed two frames before I realized he could just step over that fence and rip my face off. Yes, he was as menacing as he appears in this picture.

Barry S · Nov 16, 2008

Speaking of dogs, I did a series on abandoned industrial buildings in Baltimore around the harbor and I stumbled on a pack of feral dogs in the ruins. They looked as mean as the dog above, only skinny and diseased. They started coming towards me and I got the hell out of there. A few days later I read in the paper that the police found a body had been dumped in that very spot. Maybe they thought I wanted their food?

Larry Bullis · Nov 16, 2008

Polybun said:
Helicopters are even worse.

Once when I hired a helicopter, waiting for the pilot I noticed that on the blackboard (the place is a school, too) someone had drawn an upside down helicopter. Caption: "WRONG"

Photo Engineer · Nov 16, 2008

At Cape Canaveral when a missile exploded -- or flew off course towards me. Being on the ground watching carpet bombing about 1/2 Km away. Flying upside down about 30 M above another plane. Hanging from straps, feet on skids of the UHN-1 (Huey), body almost horizontal taking pictures straight down. Ho Hum, typical day at work. BTDT, see my gallery.

PE

Larry Bullis · Nov 16, 2008

leicam5 said:
... And a lot of 'things' happened again, but then I was still young and adventurous and I did not care (imagine, I was still smoking these days)!
Philippe

So many close calls, I'm sure that most of them went unnoticed even by myself. Every once in a while it would occur to me that my job might be a little dangerous. It is absolutely amazing that I've survived.

It isn't just the obvious things. I stopped doing much silkscreen and photo-etched / plated / chemically-colored metal work when I saw myself out in the back yard burning the lead I'd plated on a copper sheet off with a torch to produce cuprous oxide, a wonderful red. I always did things like that with some wind blowing, but at that point I started inventorying the toxic materials I was using more or less daily; xylol, trichloroethane, various acids, heavy metal salts for plating, chemical pigments, on and on...

Sure was fun, though. And, when I stopped the daily exposure to really bad chemicals, I started shooting for magazines - endangering myself in other ways.

bobwysiwyg · Nov 16, 2008

Probably not 'dangerous' but also Vietnam related. I usually carried my Pentax 35mm when I could. The first night of the TET Offensive, well that was not on my mind. Towards dawn of the first night, several of us were released from the trenches to go get some chow. I thought I would sneak in the barracks and grab my camera before heading back out. As I walked from the barracks I happened to look out toward the horizon and saw the largest explosion, including shock wave, I had ever seen. At that point no sound as it was way out in the Long Bihn ammo dump. It seems the bad guys scored a direct hit on an ammo pad. The dump was a popular target throughout my stay. Just as I was going to bring the camera up to take a picture, I was suddenly on my back looking straight up at the sky. The shock wave had simply knocked me flat on my back. It was powerful enough to cave in the front of the barracks. The camera was OK though.

Phillip P. Dimor · Nov 16, 2008

I can't imagine being in a war, and I don't think I want to either. I do have to thank veterans for that..

Aside from getting lockjaw from rusty nails in an abandoned mill and walking around in unsafe abandoned structures, I play it pretty safe.
I'm more worried about people taking my camera or beating me up for stuff.

I skateboarded for years in downtown New Bedford, MA. There were a lot of homeless people, a lot of people who had it bad. I left them alone and they left me alone. Never had a problem and I was usually in some pretty rough places.
I had more problems with police officers. Actually, one of the scariest moments was a drunk officer telling me that it's illegal to skateboard on public property and proceeded to grab me and pull his baton out. I could smell whiskey. I said sorry and kissed ass. Told him i'd walk home and ran away..

Another bicycle cop took my skateboard once ($80-100 gone), I asked for his badge number and he wouldn't give it to me. I asked for his name and he wouldn't give it to me. When I walked up to him to read his badge number he shielded it and told me he would beat the s(*&( out of me if I didn't leave. I wasn't harassing anyone, I was rolling down the street.

Most of the time I fear the authority. It's the ones with absolute power that scare me. Not homeless drunkards who only care about finding a warm place to sleep and a bottle or bag. What if that were you? It could very well be you someday, and those people are someones father, mother, daughter, son.. and they are still people..

If I lived on the streets or without a home and had nothing I would be drunk and high as often as I could be too.
end diatribe.. sorry I went OT.

micek · Nov 16, 2008

My most dangerous photographic moment was when the postman knocked on the door and delivered two enormous boxes containing my new 11x14" to my wife.

Marco B · Nov 16, 2008

micek said:
My most dangerous photographic moment was when the postman knocked on the door and delivered two enormous boxes containing my new 11x14" to my wife.

Well, maybe Philippe can lend you his red safety helmet next time you decide to empty your pockets or bankaccount and risk your wife's frying pan

Polybun said:
In harlem, the police are probably on the take. They are probably making crack cocaine in the abandon factory, or meth. It is common practice. If it were just pot, they wouldn't be so defensive.

Be aware: Haarlem and Harlem are not the same thing:

Haarlem in the Netherlands (where I live), is what most people and international tourists consider a quiet sleepy provincial town with some nice musea like the one named after our famous Dutch 17th century painter "Frans Hals" , and what I thought it was until my experience near the abandoned cacao / chocolate factory :rolleyes:

Harlem is that district of New York that most non-Americans have heard of of being a violent place (well, probably part big myth and some part reality). Actually, Harlem originally took it's name from our Dutch town Haarlem...

GraemeMitchell · Nov 16, 2008

Great stories!

This isn't mine, but it was passed down to me by the guy I assisted for years, Steve. His first full time assistants in the early 90s was this ex special forces guy who'd just come by looking to mop the floors of the studio, looking for any sort of work. I forget his name, but let's just call him, Dylan. Steve being cool and seeing the guy needed some help hired him on. Steve said Dylan was a relatively small, wirey guy with eyes that saw right through you. Turns out he'd been down in Latin America for the last decade doing "stuff."

Anyway, one night they're out shooting 8x10 in some part of San Fran, just the two of them, deserted area, one of their first time's working together, and these 2 other guys come up on them. They want the gear, the wallets, etc. You know, it's San Fran... Steve, is making ready to bolt. Dylan walks half way over to the guys. One of them pulls out a knife. There's a pause. Dylan was wearing a studded belt, and he said something to the extent of, "I'm going to turn around and take my belt off, and if you guys are still here when I turn back I'll beat you both until you're in the hospital." He turned, took off the belt, and the guys ran off.

I guess pupils didn't dilate.

Steve kept him as an assistant for years. He doesn't know what ever came of him though.

Shmoo · Nov 16, 2008

I once was hiking to Snow Creek Falls behind Mirror Lake in Yosemite. Everything in Yosemite is "up" and that's where I was looking and I barely missed stepping on a rattler crossing the path in front of me about a foot away...rattling its tail furiously at me. I'm glad my ears were working, even if my common sense wasn't.

David A. Goldfarb · Nov 16, 2008

Marco B said:
Harlem is that district of New York that most non-Americans have heard of of being a violent place (well, probably part big myth and some part reality). Actually, Harlem originally took it's name from our Dutch town Haarlem...

It's not as bad as it used to be. As other parts of Manhattan have become unaffordable, Harlem has become increasingly gentrified.

Larry Bullis · Nov 16, 2008

Shmoo said:
....I barely missed stepping on a rattler crossing the path in front of me about a foot away...rattling its tail furiously at me. I'm glad my ears were working, even if my common sense wasn't.

Hiking the first leg of the Yakima Canyon in a very hot June weekend with a group of "models" (you know, a bunch of people who were hungry for a bit of adventure and didn't mind benefiting from the expense account) -- it was dusk. Not a great time to be out there, but there was still about a mile to the pre-established campsite at a ruin, Rosa. I was second in line. The guy ahead of me suddenly became airborne, landed facing backwards toward me. He had just jumped over one.

They come out when the sun goes down; the earth is still warm and the air has cooled. If'n you was a snake, wouldn't you just love to lie around when it's like that? Is there a snake equivalent of the margarita?

Despite our weariness and smelling the barn, we became pretty careful, deliberate and slowed the pace. Ten miles in 100°F is a bit much for west of the mountains city folk, even if in fairly good shape and myself carrying a bunch of gear and having had to run circles around everyone with it hanging off of me to get the pix.

They can't strike very far, but it wouldn't be just great to be in their range.

I bet the folks from OZ can say a thing or two about snakes!

gerryyaum · Nov 16, 2008

But suddenly the whole footbridge construction started to move and coming lose of that big and dirty (black) steam boiler. I grabbed my camera (by the tripod) by one hand and the handrail by the other.

love this part, got to save the camera and yourself at the same time...now thats a PHOTOGRAPHER!!

I kind of get where your coming from, recently I did a bunch of portraits in a petrochemical plant of the workers and found it a very different sort of experience, all the noise and strange surrounding makes the shoot difficult, luckily I did not face the dangers you faced. Shooting with a hardhat/safety glasses/ear plugs/2way radio/saftey boots/nomax coveralls plus a gas detector was interesting!

gerryyaum · Nov 16, 2008

David A. Goldfarb said:
Once I was photographing an old factory structure in Tampere, Finland, with my 8x10" camera, and a seemingly drunk elderly fellow tapped me on the shoulder while I was under the darkcloth, and then started ranting about something in Finnish, involving rifle sound effects--pchhh, pchhh, pchhh, pchhh, pchhh. In retrospect, he may have been telling me something about the history of the factory, where there had been violent labor conflicts at one point, but I had no idea at the time. I let him look at the image on the groundglass. He nodded and grunted and moved on.

lol....you got to love the drunk guys...remember one time I got accosted by a drunk at a western bar/sex worker area of Bangkok " why you taking f-cking pictures? why the f-ck are you doing photos?" he yelled in a drunk French accented English. At that point he took his half eaten juicy sandwich and pressed it into my face. I pushed him and told him to "back off!" and left the area as he shouted and swore at me.

Drunk guys always a pleasure to deal with!

Larry Bullis · Nov 16, 2008

I don't know whether Roger was at risk when he photographed the fudgesicle plant in Idaho. Roger Dudley was the principal of Dudley, Hardin, and Yang, a major Seattle studio where I worked circa 1970. He had his camera set up on a tripod to photograph the fudgesicle machine. The machine got stuck "on" and started throwing fudgesicles all over the place. He was in stitches when he described it.

What a way to go. Beaten to death with ice cream bars!

randyB · Nov 16, 2008

2 dangerous shoots actually. The first one, being 1200 feet underground in a zinc mine photographing the blast crew loading the charge into the bore holes wondering if my multipule flashes will set off the the charge and kill us all, the crew boss said NO, the slurry was very stable until the blasting cap blew. The second one, while on a shoot for a very large hardwood timber mill I had to get a shot of their kiln building, the only vantage point was on top of what I thought was a small water tower so I climbed up the ladder to what I thought was a "walkway" and went around to the other side for the shot. As I was focusing and framing with the camera to my eye I noticed the image changing a little so I looked down to find myself sliding down this very slightly slanted sawdust-powder covered roof toward the edge, no rail, nothing to stop me from falling 40+ feet to the concrete below, I very quickly looked around and grabbed a metal pipe and stopped my slide. While hanging on with one hand I recomposed and clicked several shots one of which made it into the brochure. The "water tower" was actually the sawdust collection tank.
RandyB

Vaughn · Nov 17, 2008

I was photographing in the redwoods -- had the 8x10 out and was composing/focusing when a herd of elk wandered into my scene. I took the photo (but the ladies did not show up due to the long exposure), and then the alpha male showed up and started to shake his antlers at me and did some huffing and puffing and general noise-making. I have never tore down my 8x10 so quickly! I wandered in the opposite direction than his ladies, and climbed over a mess of fallen redwoods, where I though the bull would have a tough time getting over. When he went back to his ladies, I made tracks out of there.

Vaughn

gerryyaum · Nov 17, 2008

pesphoto said:
well, this guy scared the cr#p outta me. Was walking thru the old neighborhood on SMith HIll when i turned a corner and there he was.
I managed two frames before I realized he could just step over that fence and rip my face off. Yes, he was as menacing as he appears in this picture.

great shot, get the photo first then realize the danger, the proper order of things!

gerryyaum · Nov 17, 2008

micek said:
My most dangerous photographic moment was when the postman knocked on the door and delivered two enormous boxes containing my new 11x14" to my wife.

lol....

Poisson Du Jour · Nov 17, 2008

In my "must get that image" pursuit, I've often blinded myself to immediate dangers, particularly around rainforest streams where snakes are active and blend in very cunningly with their surroundings e.g. the terrain. I have only had one 'near miss' in September '07: on a two-wheeled reccé of an hitherto inaccessible rainforest, I had stopped my bike, pulled up on a narrow 4WD track, prepared the camera and looked to the side where a very well-fed tiger snake was watching curling its head up, eyeballing me intently; these species are extremely aggressive (and lethal) if humans are too close. Suffice to say, my priorities changed instantly: a quick pic, then put the camera away and very, very cautiously eased way back — then pedalled like my tyres were on fire!!! I have not been back to the spot but would do it in winter when the problem of snakes is replaced with the more tolerant annoyance of jumbo-sized leeches!

Your most DANGEROUS photographic moment

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