Shots The You Regret missing.

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Anyone ever regret missing a great shot. Didn't have your camera with you, didn't have the guts to take or just missed it.

I've 3 such occasions.

1, Early morning in a park in Bristol, saw a guy sat on a bench under a big tree reading a book, his head was down. He had a dog sitting at his feet, looking up at him. I could have captured the whole scene if only I had my camera.

2, In Pisa, saw a policeman next to a long wall with graffiti on it which read "f*** the police". I was with a group and had been drinking, too slow to react.

3, In Valencia near the cathedral, lots of tourists about some queuing to get in to said cathedral. There was a beggar sat on the street next to the queue. He was barely dressed and so thin, (I mean skeletal thin). I just didn't have the balls. Really regret not taking this one.
 
An AA van on the back of an AA relay truck, I was driving at the time.
 
Similar to Chris's but an RAC Discovery on the back of an AA recovery truck - the AA had (might still have!) the contract for recovering LR products under warranty.
 
Two.

1. Along the road just out from Pulborough going towards Fittleworth, the road runs beside a river. Driving past one day, the river had a glorious mist rising from it. The only time I've ever seen it, and it went unrecorded by my camera.

2. Another water one, in Scotland. A perfect mirror reflection from a loch - nary a ripple - but by a narrow road bounded by slope and stone wall and nowhere near to park.
 
There was a hare that rushed across the field in front of me whilst I was trying to shoot a landscape. I missed it. Fast little blighters arent they.
 
.....and if you missed it, then go back and try again.

Funny how we all remember the 'epic' shot that we all missed.
 
I had decided to catch the bus home. I took my camera off its sling strap and packed it into its holster bag. The bag was bought long ago for an SLR. It's now rather tatty and a bit of a tight squeeze for the bigger DSLR. Out of a side street just yards away came two men carryinging between them a very large glass box, about the size of side board, which was completely empty except for some feathers floating in it. In fact the feathers couldn't have been floating, they must have been suspended on inivisible threads, because they continued to float as the men walked across the road. I was so astonished by this surreal vision, like something from a Fellini film, that for a few seconds I just gawped. Then I started struggling to get the camera out of its tight case. Too late.

There are many such. Over the years they've caused me to buy better bags, and better camera straps which can more comfortably and safely carried the camera while allowing more rapid access.
 
On my way to Dartmoor for a day's winter walking. In my Defender I can see over the parapet of the Exe bridge on the M5, and in the right weather the view south over the marshes can be lovely. So this particular morning - I'd made my usual, probably pre dawn, early start and the motorway was almost empty for some reason. There was mist lying over the marshes with just a hint of the reeds below the mist, there wasn't a breath of breeze, the sun had just risen and was poking from behind a cloud in a blaze of orange sidelighting the mist, still water and reed beds. Words don't do it justice, but that was the moment I learned the true meaning of the word 'breathtaking'. I almost stopped on the hard shoulder and got my camera, but even with an empty road I hesitated. A few seconds and there was no going back. If my camera had been on the passenger seat I'd have stopped, but it was buried in my rucksack down the back. I keep telling myself that if I had stopped I might have messed up the shot, and that would have been even more galling. At least I still have the memory.
 
The mother in law ducked once, just as I pulled the trigger!
 
Big shark. 3m shark. Very near. I completely forgot I was even holding my underwater rig due to utter awestruckness at how easily it could just do whatever it wanted.
 
I was in Dorset last week, driving to Swanage through Corfe. It was early morning and the fog coming through Corfe Castle was amazing. I stupidly carried on driving.

I'm guessing it maybe foggy there regularly, but knowing where to park/shoot from is another matter.
 
So many, but most recently, a beautiful, tattooed young woman sitting in the sunshine just along from the Pier Head on Liverpool waterfront, didn't have the balls to ask to take her picture. Looking back, she was a bit of a poser and probably would have welcomed the attention. :s
 
A couple from me.

I was in Manarola, Italy last October. I have two lenses, a 16-85mm and a 70-300mm. I was taking pics of the bay as the sun went down, a 3-4 minute walk from where I was staying, and just took the 16-85mm, because I'm taking wide angle images of the bay right! As the moon started rising up over the hill I could see that there may be a tree silhouetted perfectly in front of it. :rolleyes: It may have looked amazing if I had the other lens. :eek: If I weren't on my own I maybe could have run to where I was staying and got the other lens. Alas, I travel alone. There was one tree silhouetted perfectly., and I had the wrong lens. :mad: That is the main one I regret. :( I take both lenses everywhere now. :rolleyes:

The other one, I walked through the streets of Rome in the early hours to get some night pics with no other tourists of some of the main sites. I ended at the Colosseum at about 4am. Nobody there except a Land Rover with two soldiers 'guarding' the Colosseum.:rolleyes: I took all the pics I could but they were right in the scene I came for. I walked over and asked the soldier standing outside the car if they were there every night. He nodded. I asked if they were in the same position each night. He nodded again. I asked if they could move the car 10-20m so I could take some pics. He mumbled a few words to the other soldier in the car, who shook his head, and then the chap outside shook his head. :mad: What can you do, they were doing there job and they had machine guns. :rolleyes: And nobody stole the Colosseum. ;) :LOL:
 
Pine Marten in Scotland, I got him in the end but not a good shot. If only I had taken my flash triggers with me it could have been great.
Should explain that said Pine Marten was a frequent visitor to the holiday cottage.
 
Many, many days every Autumn and Spring. My commute to work is absolutely stunning (around the outskirts of Bath) but there is no practical way of stopping as it's a very narrow busy road with no space to pull in whatsoever. It's nice just seeing it with my eyes, but still!
 
Last week in Virginia saw a black bear but it was quick and no time to get a shot
 
Last week in Virginia saw a black bear but it was quick and no time to get a shot

same here... a couple of years ago in Yosemite was walking through the forest without a care in the world when a large black bear slowly bumbled out in front of me. Remembering the warning posters I picked up a rock ready to throw near the bear if it became aggressive, but it just sauntered on past me without a care in the world. As soon as it had got a few feet away I remembered that my 70-200 was in my backpack, but unfortunately my girlfriend wasn't keen on me following it into the woods for a photo!
 
same here... a couple of years ago in Yosemite was walking through the forest without a care in the world when a large black bear slowly bumbled out in front of me. Remembering the warning posters I picked up a rock ready to throw near the bear if it became aggressive, but it just sauntered on past me without a care in the world. As soon as it had got a few feet away I remembered that my 70-200 was in my backpack, but unfortunately my girlfriend wasn't keen on me following it into the woods for a photo!
Staying with a friend at her house in Tahoe, we were awakened in the night by an almighty clattering.
Further investigation revealed a large black bear pacing backwards around the porch with the aluminium trash can stuck over his head.
We watched for a while until he dislodged the bin an wandered off in search of simpler pickings.
This was in 1992, years before I took up photography.
The memory is vivid though :)
 
Earlier this summer in the lake district at Tarn Hows. There was a thunder storm coming in and I thought I had got the best of it.

The wife was waiting in the car so I packed up and hurried back to her. When I came out into the clearing near the car I could see light rays going everywhere - the sight from my earlier vantage point must have been superb. I apologised to the wife and ran back to the hill I had been setup on. Missed it :(
 
Earlier this year at the Langdale pikes, was out for a walk without the camera and missed an enormous rainbow right over the middle of the valley sitting above bowfell and crinkle crags, I could have screamed lol
 
A long time ago, with my youngest son then about 2 years old on a beach - a swimmer was in trouble and I saw a very dramatic rescue by a lifeguard, she didn't wait for the rest of the team + landrover to reach the beach and so went out without her lifeline. By the time she was on her way back with the man, the rest of the team had arrived and two other lifeguards had gone out, and there were plenty of good photo opportunities.

And yes, I did have my camera but with my son there it was just too dangerous.
 
And then theres the shots you regret taking...
On the way back from the Oktoberfest in Munich a friend in our party kept failing when going through the airport metal detectors so got carted off by security for a strip search. As we all laughed I pulled out the (film) camera and took a quick snap. As it was in a security area, we all got carted off for an hour of questioning. Years later we can laugh about it again!
 
A long time ago, with my youngest son then about 2 years old on a beach - a swimmer was in trouble and I saw a very dramatic rescue by a lifeguard, she didn't wait for the rest of the team + landrover to reach the beach and so went out without her lifeline. By the time she was on her way back with the man, the rest of the team had arrived and two other lifeguards had gone out, and there were plenty of good photo opportunities.

And yes, I did have my camera but with my son there it was just too dangerous.

Once I was out on a boat trip and we went to the rescue of a man and his son when their yacht went over in an unexpected gust. My camera stayed in its bag. It just seemed wrong to use it. Happily both yacht and occupants lived to sail another day.
 
I took the kit to work one day a couple of years ago as the Red Arrows were doing a flypast for the launch of HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth. I didn't expect to get anything because I work at the Gyle on the other side of the water.
I spotted them flying in formation directly toward the building I was in, they flew right over us and I couldn't get the shot as I had a 100-300 on the camera instead of something shorter as I wasn't expecting it!!
 
The 2 Harrier Jump Jets that came through Tebay virtually side by side - then they stopped flying them and never got the chance to try to get them [emoji45]
 
Battle of Britain Memorial flight, low over our house last August b/h, as we arrived home from a day out. Camera bag in car, fell over in garden in the rush to get it and missed it all pretty much, let alone the chance for a pic. My wife took a pic of my grazed knee though!

Rising strawberry moon a few weeks back, low in the sky, took a couple of shots, stopped to check exposure and then got the binoculars out just in time to see what looked like an A380/jumbo pass right in front of it. Waited for another 20 mins or so to get that cliched shot, but no other plane came near.

Not the once-in-a-lifetime shots but frustrating nonetheless.
 
And then theres the shots you regret taking...
On the way back from the Oktoberfest in Munich a friend in our party kept failing when going through the airport metal detectors so got carted off by security for a strip search. As we all laughed I pulled out the (film) camera and took a quick snap. As it was in a security area, we all got carted off for an hour of questioning. Years later we can laugh about it again!

Many, many years ago I worked for a company than designed & manufactured commercial antenna systems. We went on holiday to cyprus and not far from Akrotiri we saw a large deployment of one of our leading products. I waited for about 5 minutes or so, then took 3 or 4 shots capturing the 100 or so separate antennas in a large array and walked back to the hire car. Only for an RAF Regiment crew to turn up and start asking questions. Took about 30 minutes for them to believe that I worked for the company that made them and was actually involved in the deal to sell them to the MOD.

Was quite silly really when I think about it.... Still have the B&W print somewhere though.
 
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