I’m a photographer, get me out of here!
Recently we asked our photographers to tell us their all-time-best photography “sticky situations” stories. We were after the聽funny, serious, silly or scary and聽you guys really delivered. As it turns out, stock photographers are quite an adventurous bunch – you’ve been shot at, stranded up mountains, attacked by huge insects, told off by royal security, arrested at gunpoint…and one of you even had a snake try and make a nest in your shorts.
We’ve collated our favourites here but if you want to see the full selection of photographer stories聽then head over to the .
Slippy surfaces and giant elbows –听Steve Tucker
“A couple of years ago I was in North Wales aiming to photograph from the Nantille Ridge at dawn. Climbing alone in pitch dark I had to cross a boulder field which had become聽as slippy as ice and the climb was聽lethal. I did indeed slip and fall forward. Putting my arm out in instinctive defence it went down a hole between the boulders and I went head over heels with my rucksack on my back. My elbow did not want to follow.
I yelled out in pain and then lay there clutching my elbow and wondering what I was going to do. My elbow was about 3 times larger than normal and my headtorch had catapulted off and lay down a hole.
Unfortunately the grassy path I had seen as a way out was a dead end. I had no choice but to climb back up to the top and聽over the boulder ridge.
Getting in position I found removing the rucksack from my back and mounting camera on tripod quite difficult with one arm but did manage it.聽I got several interesting shots of the sun rising and then headed back clutching my elbow, which turned out to be fractured, not broken.聽The good bit was I have sold this image from that day twice, once in a magazine article I wrote and once through 17吃瓜在线:”
Making the moth of it –听TABan
“I remember a late September evening in the mid ’90s, back in the days of film. My wife and I stood atop a cliff overlooking Lake Superior at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This is a place with about as stunning scenery as you’re apt to find in the Midwestern United States.
I had my Canon EOS A2E (EOS 5 elsewhere) on a tripod and as the golden hour gave way to blue, I decided to change lenses. A few seconds after removing the lens I had been using, a big honking moth flew into the mirror box. I had to shoo it out with a blower brush. Then I had to blow out the numerous wing scales it left spread all over the inside of the camera. It probably would have been funnier had I put the other lens on without noticing the moth. I would have had a startling sight through the viewfinder.
I shudder to think what would have happened with a digital sensor behind the shutter.”
Just a little off the top please, your Royal Highness聽– Dyn Llun
“On one of the occasions I was asked to photograph Prince Charles he was opening a new library at a Welsh university. Due to my working for the university and having a high security clearance I had ‘access all areas’ and could wander where I wished, away from the press corps who were herded and corralled about. I found an elevated vantage point which gave me good views of everything going on, meeting and greeting etc.
A suited special branch guy with earpiece and ominous bulge under his jacket sidled up to me. “Hello Pete”. He knew my name which I though was spooky. “No big problem” he said “but we have been asked to make sure no-one photographs the prince from above”. “Why?” I said innocently. He smiled, winked and patted the top of his head. I looked down at Charles and could see that he was beginning to go thin on top!”
The mixed bag –听Ed Rooney
“I’ve been shot at, had my cameras stolen, been menaced by the Gendarmerie in a Paris riot, and almost went over the Iguaz煤聽Falls in Brazil.”
What’s that crawling into my pants? – Philippe, from Arterra Picture Library
“A few years ago, I went to Spain to take pictures of bee-eaters. These colourful birds breed in riverbanks in which they dig nesting holes. Early one morning, I lay flat on my belly on a sandbank in the middle of a little stream, hidden motionless under a camouflage net. After an hour, the birds began to appear. It was very peaceful, lots of frogs hopping happily around me. Suddenly, I felt something crawling into my trouser-leg. “Must be a frog looking for shade” I thought. I couldn’t move to get rid of it, because any movement would scare away the birds nearby. The animal crawled further and further. I had a hunch it didn’t feel right. I very slowly turned my head to look back. …. A two foot long tail was sticking out of my pants.
From the pattern on its back, I could see it was a large venomous viper. I didn’t dare to move. Not to scare away the birds, which was the least of my concern at that moment, but to avoid being bitten. The snake still moved further up. With a firm grip, I twisted my pants at the height of my thigh to prevent it of getting any further and bite into my….I sure didn’t want to walk around straddle-legged like John Wayne for the rest of my life. Apparently, the viper felt very comfortable because it wouldn’t budge. I lay there motionless for another hour in the searing sun. I have a lot of patience, but there are limits. I was fed up with the snake. I carefully moved my leg in such a position that some of my weight came upon the snake to make it uncomfortable. It worked! Slowly, the snake moved backwards and disappeared between the rocks…I had a most exciting day.”
There’s always a silver lining –听Colin Woods
“Back in September 1997 I got the earliest cable car up to the Aiguille de Midi. The conditions were perfect, but the downside was that I had no camera. Lenses – check. Filter – check. Spare film – plenty. Camera – nope. I had cleaned it the day before and had forgotten to put it back in my bag. This is what happens when you open the first beer before you have finished the last job of the day. To say I was annoyed is to miss my emotions by a wide margin, and my disappointment was intensified, as it always is, when you have no-one else to blame.
On the upside though, I met a charming Quebecoise and we spent the day together. We walked along to the Mer de Glace and I showed her the sights of Chamonix. Awed no doubt by my film-star good-looks and urbane sophistication, at the end of the day we exchanged addresses and despite a quite disgraceful 13 years between us (if you can’t grow old gracefully, then grow old disgracefully) we were soon an item and in 2002 I emigrated to Quebec City, and now we are parents of a son and daughter.
The Moral of the story – if you mess-up your photo day, never mind and keep your eyes peeled for the silver lining.”
To the wolves! Cheers! –听Funkyworm
“Many people who have been to Georgia (the European one) will have come across the seemingly unbounded hospitality of the Georgians. Staying with families on a few occasions I would find myself drunk just after breakfast after going through toasts of my mother, your mother, her mother, her mothers mother, your father, then my father, going back to my forefathers who crossed from Africa 30000 years ago.
For part of my trip I wanted to go to Kazbegi in the mountains close to the border of Russia. Getting there was a challenge as despite being late April the military “highway” was literally just that, a high way in depths of snow through which we spent much of our time pushing the mashrutka.
Speaking to my host the day after arrival I stated my intention that I wished to walk to a monestry high on a hill above the village. He looked at me doubtfully, “Hmmmm… the wolves should still be hibernating…”
“Wolves!?!”
With the prospect of being little red riding hood in my mind I decided to head to the outskirts of the village and see how far I got. Skirting around a cemetery I saw some men surrounding a grave in a wake. Not wanting to disturb their deliberations I tried to pass as quietly and unnoticed as possible, but they caught sight of me and called me over. A bottle was produced and despite my trying politely to get away with a day not getting blotto toasts to the dead, to my mother, to their mother, to her mother etc etc were done. After about half an hour I made my excuses and continued into the forests. I didn’t get very far. With the snow getting up to my thighs, stoned out of my head on some homemade concoction and with the chance of being a wolves dinner I gave up. I waved as I passed the wake once more and went in search of a bed to sleep off the effects of Georgian etiquette.”
Close Call in Guatemala –听John Mitchell
“Back in the 1990’s, I was visiting Antigua, Guatemala, and decided to climb up to a well known viewpoint on Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross) to take some panoramic shots of this attractive Spanish colonial town and the surrounding volcanoes. On the way up the wooded hill, I was stopped twice by locals who told me to watch out for “malas personas” (bad people), but I continued on despite their warnings. When I got to the eerie lookout at the top, I found that it was totally deserted.
I hurriedly snapped a few photos and took off back in the direction of town with my heart pounding. Two days later, an article on the front page of the local newspaper reported that a group of language students had been robbed at gunpoint the day before on Cerro de la Cruz. The thieves shot the class’s unfortunate teacher point-blank. I couldn’t help thinking that it could easily have been me.
P.S. The聽pictures turned out well, though:”
All aboard!聽–听Marianne
“I had gotten a press pass, thanks to 17吃瓜在线 News, to shoot OpSail 2012 and was invited aboard one of the beautiful old wooden sailboats for the Parade of Sail from Niantic Connecticut to New London, CT.
After about an hour or more of sitting out in the blazing sun on a rocking boat, on a day that would eventually approach 100 degrees, we heard that the anchor of the lead ship, the Coast Guard barque Eagle, was fouled so we could not get underway until they could start. A total of three hours passed on board the rocking ship before we even began our journey, at which point I was lying with my head over the side incredibly seasick.
I spent several more hours on the ship as we eventually sailed to New London, taking turns between taking photos and being ill. The crew and my fellow shipmates were great and I got some beautiful shots despite it all.”
…and finally, probably not true聽– Jeff Greenberg
“Reminds me of the time I was surrounded聽by a聽pride of lions on the Highveld Plains of聽Mpumalanga.聽One of them stepped forward and asked what kind of聽camera I had.
I said, “I am carrying a Canon.”
Another聽one said, “That looks like a Nikon to me.”
I replied,聽“I am not a lion nor am I a liar.”
A third said,聽“You are not a liar but you are in a lair.”
We all laughed, took selfies and went our separate ways.”
Have you got any photography stories you need to get off your chest? If so let us know in the comments below!