The greatest length you have gone for a shot...

[Stuggi]

As the title says, what's the greatest length you have gone for a shot, like waiting in one place for a very long time, doing something really silly or (partly) illegal etc.

Please share the shot and the story (the longer the better

(And the mods are kindly asked to move this thread if they can think of a more suitable category) ^^

[mseigafuse]

Hi Stuggi,

Most silly thing? I think you might get some good stories with this question. Sorry, but mine is pretty lame. I just tried to take pictures of the Perseid meteor storm. I went to bed at 11:30pm and got up at 3am (after the moon set) - not a lot of sleep. And for all that I managed to catch exactly 0 shots with meteors in them. They were there while I had the shutter open, but they just didn't show - I guess I should have raised my ISO Next time I tell you next time

Anyway - at least I got some decent star trails

[waffles]

I can't decide between 3 things. So I'll do them all, in chronological order.

1 -

First time shooting volleyball. The sports editor told me that I could go where ever I wanted. So I went behind the scorers table, still on the floor, and right by the Winthrop huddle. Sports editor freaked out. The players on the team that I talked to later had no idea I was even over there.

2 -

First time shooting basketball. I was where I was going to be during the games during the slam dunk contest at Fan Fest. Somebody decided not to see where I was. Came off his dunk right toward me. I go up and back to get out of the way. He went to jump over me. His knee caught my head.

Sports editor told me that if the old coach had still been there he would have been yelling at me before I hit the floor. Nothing bad happened except that I was smelling leather for a while.

3 -

First time missing work and class for a game. I had already taken a few days off of work for a conference that I found out I didn't need to go to that day. So instead of letting work know I could be there after all I let my professor know I wasn't going to class (and she had no problem with it at all) and went up to Asheville to shoot a game.

[Stuggi]

Great guys, keep the stories coming! It's so nice when you get a story with the pictures.

[WooD]

I got bored during a 30 hour power outage, and decided to venture out into one of out many hurricanes that visited in 2004.

I shot this parked on Old A1A at Matanzas Inlet. The road is right on the beach about 15 to 20 foot above sea level. When the waves started breaking over the hood of my truck, and the truck started sliding sideways in the road. I figured it was a good time to head home.




This past year I spent 4 or 5 hours sitting out on a dock on the ICW enduring blizzard cold conditions to get a shot of 4 eagles all in one shot. I got it too.

OK the temps were only in the 50's, but it was windy, and overcast. Fifty degrees is cold in Florida.

[Scatterbrain]

OK, not seriously OTT, but give me time. Slightly bizzarre nevertheless!

I was 8 months pregnant & looked like a whale (my 11lb baby was the explination of this) and was keen to get a particular shot for my course as I knew I wouldn't get another chance for a few weeks. Anyway there I was in November, in freezing temperatures & a howling gale, digging a hole in the sand so I could lay 'flat' to take a shot like this one:



Believe me, that was the most difficult shot i've ever had to set up.

I got some really funny looks that day, particularly as I was on all fours struggling to get up again

Scatterbrain

[Stuggi]

Well, you got a really good picture, so...

[kirbinster]

There was that one time I took my camera up on the space shuttle to get some shots of earth,.....oh wait .....that wasn't me

[PnwGuy]

Last January I took a work day off and crawled out of bed at 3:30 am. I met up with a client of mine who is also a photographer and we drove over two hours north. The day prior I had rented a Canon 500mm 4.0L IS lens in Seattle and had to go through rush hour traffic to get back home.

When we got up to Rockport it was about 28 degrees with snow on the ground. It was cold!! Once I spotted my first bald eagle I didn't notice the cold at all. We walked and walked and walked trying to get into position for good shots. We spent about 7 hours up there before making the long drive back.

Hand-holding that 500mm lens all day made my arm ache the next day. I could hardly move it, but it was well worth it. With gas and lens rental and a day off work it was kind of a pricey trip and definitely the most effort I've put in to getting a shot...my proposal shot being a close second.

I plan on doing it again this coming winter!

[lputman]

That is an awesome shot PnwGuy.