Left my monopod at a wedding over the weekend.. fml.

[James Palanza]

Sigh, there goes 300 bucks. Of course its gone. I was so caught up in the moment because it was a prettier than usual location that I left the darn thing on the ground in the grass. No ones seen it since.

Anyone ever leave their gear?

[Noa Put]

Just a few weeks ago, it was a outdoor ceremony in a field and I was running 3 camera's, I was moving around constantly to check up on the camera and shoot from different anglers when the weddingplanner came up to me saying; "is this yours?" and he had my sony rx10 spare battery in his hand which fell out of a pocket, after the ceremony a guest comes up to me saying "I think you dropped this" holding my yamaha c24 and don't ask me how I lost that, don't know. It's not like that every week but it happened more then once I forgot a audio recorder in the church but always managed to get it back. It sucks to loose your gear like that, have you checked the location where you lost it?

[Rickey Brillantes]

Done that too.

Left my jacket, light stand, battery charger with batteries in it and slider. (not all at the same time) When you are in your fifties like me and when you are at an event doing your thing, your mind seems to be running 360 degrees left and right. Luckily of all the above I mentioned, I was able to retrieve it, except for the slider. Dang! $500 slider, gone!

From then I always make a checklist before leaving, may look silly but anyways it helps me in remembering things.

www.iClickFilms.com

[Chris Harding]

I left a transmitter complete with my lav mic on the venues boom stand a few years ago ...After a BIG sigh I decided to go back to the venue on the Sunday morning and the staff had carefully put it to one side safely for me ...I was impressed ...amazingly enough I left the grooms mic and transmitter on a gazebo table as well and went off on the photo shoot ..I gave it up for lost until a venue waitress arrived at my table with my gear all intact on her tray.

Both these events were pure carelessness on my part so I blamed myself and deserved to lose the items but in April this year I carefully locked my car but rolled the window down not more than 1/2" to let a little air in at a park ..I was parked right behind the limo (with the driver inside too) and was doing a stedicam shoot about 50m away ...some scumbag forced the window, grabbed my still camera, lenses and also a bag will all my lighting too in broad daylight .... !!

Maybe it pays to be totally careless?? You get your gear back ! Carefully secure everything and you get ripped off!!! What is annoying is the inconvenience factor PLUS half the time the thief cannot use the gear anyway as all of it is not there at the time it disappeared!

We do need to be more careful though but it's tough when you shoot solo!!!

Chris

[Peter Rush]

I left a Canon 50mm lens (the plastic version) and a £100 EF-NEX adapter at a wedding (on a table next to the cake) at the end of last season - rang the next day and nope - no sign apparently :(

I've also left my Zoom H2 several times but it always comes back, and recently left my Manfrotto monopod which was put away nicely for me :)

Pete

[Dave Partington]

I left a monopod (actually my assistant did - but in the end it's my responsibility) and Lotherton Hall a couple of years ago.

Didn't realise until the next week when we're looking for it for the next wedding! Fortunately the staff had it in the office and I was able to go pick it up.

No idea why they couldn't be bothered to call and tell me it was there since our details were on it, but they waited for me to call them. :(

[Noa Put]

Actually knowing that something is missing is easy to find out at the end of the weddingday just when you pack in, I have been thinking about making it many times but for some reason did not make time for it. If you just make a checklist of all the gear you have with you before you leave for the wedding and use that same checklist at the end of the wedding you at least know at that moment if something is missing.

I once was shooting at a large venue that had several smaller rooms, I used my steadicam, placed it "somewhere" and continue shooting handheld with another camera, when I wanted to use the steadicam again I couldn't recall where I put it. It took me maybe 15 minutes before I found it but those where the longest 15 minutes in my life :)

[Dave Baker]

Let me pass on a tip which saved me losing equipment many times out in the field.

Before I retired I was a mobile engineer, so it was tools out for one job, tools away and drive somewhere else for another job, no chance to go back if I had forgotten something without it costing several hours.

I had bags and boxes for all but the largest equipment, with a specific place in each bag/box for every tool. For the bigger gear, I had specific places in my vehicle. I also had different bags for different classes of tools to make it easier. When clearing up, if a pocket was empty, I knew I had forgotten something and also what it was. I still do it today with my camera gear.

Dave

[Noa Put]

Now at the end of every wedding I do take my time to gather all my gear and put in back in place, even if that takes half an hour as driving back is no fun, I think today I finally will make my long overdue checklist. :)

[Chris Harding]

All my cases have custom foam inserts so I can see at a glance if anything is missing. I also have places in the car for my gear and they always are packed there...the reception is often more scattered around near the DJ (helps to have your gear right next to the DJ as he is usually always there so people might be less inclined to swipe anything.

I think tidiness and order is the way to go as a careless "abandoned" lens on a table is much more likely to be slipped into a pocket than an entire case of goodies! To keep things neat and in order I'll also pack down my speeches gear and put it neatly with my stuff ...that makes it less likely to forget something if you have fewer "packages" to account for.

Chris

[Don Bloom]

I've always had a slight case of OCD when it comes to my gear so I never let anyone help me pack up and I have a certain spot for things so if it's empty, I know I forgot something. I do a mental idiot walk before I close up my cases or bags and I'm not lying when I say in almost 44 years of being a still photog and video guy I've never left a single piece of gear nor (knock on wood) have I had one stolen off the job. Not that they haven't tried. I guess OCD does have some advantages.

[David Barnett]

Around New Years I left my 2nd camera at a wedding, when I left the reception. :( Got home, luckily popped the trunk & fear struck when I noticed it was missing. Fortunately its a bright yellow case so it stood out that it was missing, although I almost always bring my cameras in, and mic bag, leaving the tripods etc in the car overnight at times. Anyway, I got back in & darted up as the wedding was nearly ending at that point, although staff wouldve likely still been there & I might have talked my way in. My fear was though that I left it near my car as I was packing it up, and left it in my parking space. While it's unlikely a guest would walk out of a wedding with a camera case, I think it's somewhat likely (given the wrong crowd/guest), that someone may find a camera bag next to their car, and grab it & toss it in their car and go home. I'd like to think not, but its possible. Anyway I pull into my spot, and don't see it, yikes! Then I go into reception as it's ending and people still saying their goodbyes, and fortunate for me, there it lay:) I walk up, grab it, and make my exit2.0. I was lucky.

The only other time I left something was my on camera light & tripod bag, not a huge biggie. Though oddly it was about a month later the photog texted me (I think we exchanged cards) asking if I recalled leaving them behind. It was a winter wedding so I didn't have any weddings in that time, but had purchased a new light, so now I just have a backup. Not bad.

[Adrian Tan]

Main things I've lost so far are clips and wind socks for lav mics -- grooms and celebrants can do bad things to gear. I always carry spares just in case. One time a celebrant accidentally walked off with a lav mic, but she returned it the day after.

There's been a few occasions when, rushing out of a bride's house, I've left something behind, but remembered to go back for it. Eg: was shooting with two cameras; stashed one camera behind the bride's bed; only realised when I got to the car that I was light.

Something that's saved me more than once is a habit of doing a walk around a room, looking to see if I've left anything, before departing the site. So, one time I noticed I'd left a battery charger still connected to a wall. Another time I found a light on a light stand (outside the room, shining through a window). Another time, I found batteries my second shooter had left on a church window sill (this particular lady never wears clothes with pockets).

By the way, second shooters in general seem more prone to leaving gear lying around. I've discovered this with a few people -- tripods left outside churches, camera bodies and lenses lying on tables. They're just not as paranoid about keeping everything together.

Other incidents include:

-- losing a wind sock off a Rode VMP in a Bali resort. But the staff were great. Not only did they pick it up straightaway, but they somehow surmised that this weird, furry object must belong to that guest who runs around with the cameras, and handed it back to me.
-- leaving a lazy susan at the groom's house. Never bothered to return to collect it, but whatever. $25 wedding present.
-- leaving a mannequin at a bride's house; collected it before they went on honeymoon.
-- forgot a roll of gaffer tape due to 2am fatigue, leaving it at a mechanic's garage after a music video shoot.
-- lost a black shotbag somewhere in the Australian bush when doing a film shoot late at night; couldn't find it no matter how long I searched, and it was also raining.
-- left a sound recorder behind signage at an outdoor ceremony -- when you hide things, it's definitely easier to forget them. Fortunately, the reception was just 50m away, and I remembered later on in the evening.

[Oren Arieli]

Chris and Dave have the right approach. An organized gear case can be a big money saver. The only thing I would add is to get a label maker and make sure that any piece of gear big enough to hold a label gets your company name and cell phone number attached. This has already saved me in the case of a priest walking off with my wireless and driving away before I could retrieve it (emergency blessing required somewhere?).

[James Manford]

I'm more likely to lose small niggly bits like microphone covers, audio recorders, ball heads, screws, nuts and bolts basically than I am larger items. As I only take what I need with me to a shoot.