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

I played guitar in bands for many years and that habit has stuck with me - however with a band it's just one location, unlike a wedding!

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

I feel your pain James. I did the same not so long ago, was packing my car after filming two weddings back to back & simply forgot to pack it, it was right next to my car. Sucks! What a waste of money!

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

A few years ago I drove off with my sound bag still sitting on the roof of the car. I didn't discover it until I got home. I wound up losing three wireless mics, two shotguns, two Tascam recorders, numerous cables, connectors and data cards. I had to replace everything.

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

My best one was getting a phone call from the police very late at night.
"Hello Sir, Have you lost anything?"
"er, no...."
"Sure, Sir? ......."
"Sorry? I don't understand?"
"How about something expensive and bright yellow?"

It hit me. I'd been to get fuel, and trying to find the log book I record my fuel in, I removed the pelicase to get the book, and stood it on the roof of my van. After filling up, I drove off down the road, in a busy part of the town, late at night, and didn't even realise what the little odd noise I heard was. Some people handed it in to the Police - and as it had my phone number and name on it, they called.

I went to pick it up - and they'd Googled the contents, realised how much I just forgot about and made my life hell (nicely) when I went to collect it.

Stupid, very stupid. Pelicases are pretty tough bits of kit - hardly a dent and the camera perfectly undamaged.

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

Phew ... thank god people handed it in. Close call. And i'm fairly sure the insurance company wouldn't be happy if you had to put in a claim !

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

Shame on me. In all the years I've been shooting, I've forgotten my expensive Sachtler tripod at venues 3 times! The problem was that I assumed my assistant packed it up. I once forgot a folding movie screen in the corner. Luckily I always managed to get it back. All of my equipment has a label with my name and number on it. Thankfully, people in Hawaii are usually honest, and the venue staff knows the crew.

A couple of times I've found lenses, caps, tripods, or flashes left behind at the church. I take them to the reception and give them back to a very grateful photographer.

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

Just for fun, here's a list of some bits and pieces I sometimes lose/break on weddings:

-- lens caps
-- rubber bands for Rode VMPs
-- screws that connect Rode VMPs to hot shoe mount
-- feet for Cinevate slider
-- clips for lav mics
-- wind shields for lav mics
-- neck strap on Zacuto Z-finder often breaks
-- screws from different parts of tripod

Actually, thinking about that list, I don't think it's very long at all, which I think is testament to the durability of the gear I have, since I'm rubbish at taking good care of it.

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

Well after reading through these replies I can see I'm not alone! Yeah it was a real bummer.. got my replacement one last week, of course they discontinued the model so I had to get the newer version. Ah try and not make the same mistake again!

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

My buddy was shooting with me and left his backpack at the church (he jumped on the trolly after the wedding and I didn't know his stuff was still there). In it was his laptop, wallet, passport, pretty much everything. We didn't figure it out til the end of the reception and he had a flight to the middle east for a documentary the next day and we couldn't get in touch with anyone at the church. The church was in the middle of a neighborhood, so at 1am we broke into it thru a open window, set off an alarm, got the bag and took off. Left a message for the church but never heard back.

Another wedding I left my 35 1.4 lens at the church and it was the only fast lens' I had for the reception night. So I made my 2nd camera guy drive the 45 mins back to go get it.

Few batter charger's here and there, some I got back.

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

i have always had a check list, everything goes on it and i have two columns for each session, one for before i leave for the location the other for when we're finished, even though i have a partner helping, I eyeball everything and pack it myself.
So far so good (fingers crossed )

:-)

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

2 manfrotto tripods with 501 heads left in a parking lot but good news, got a call (dumb me didn\'t even realize they were missing. That was years ago. Now I pack the car and go back inside and have a look around

Another time I was an hour or so out of town on my way to a gig when with a start, realized I\'d left the camera bag in my living room