Lessons Learned or .........?

Running with the idea from this thread click here

1. If the water looks cold it probably is.
2. Wet usually equals slippery.
3. Blowing the snow off the front of your lens in subzero temps...bad idea.
4. Assuming your hiking partner (my wife) is as athletic as you can get you into some really trying spots.
5. When a large Bull Elk stalks you from a quarter mile away, and closes to within 25 yards in a few minutes, chances are, he his trying to tell you to find something else to photograph.
6. Snow is cold...Blowing snow is colder.

There is the few I can think of right quick, please share your lessons learned or advice from in the field or in the darkroom.

7. A bad day in the mountains is better than a good day most anyplace else.
8. Bad weather often = good photographs.
9. Don't pick your nose while four-wheeling, or you might hit a bump and end up with brain matter under your fingernail.
10. Don't cut your toenails too short on the eve of a multi-day backpack trip.

And the excellent advice that started it all, from Kalin:
11. It's hard to focus while sitting on a cactus.
And CAZ:
12. Even if they are the last things left on your motel's free Continental breakfast, don't grab a handfull of bran muffins and wash them down with coffee on your way to a wilderness shoot.

Keep 'em coming, gang!

13. Gravitational acceleration is NOT a constant. Gravity is strongest near moving water, cliffs, and rocky surfaces. If/when you drop something, it WILL be near one of these features that will cause the most harm to your equipment.
14. For LF shooters, it's always a good idea to fire off a couple of shutter releases to make sure it's working smoothly...before you pull the darkslide...
15. Don't hike downwind of someone who grabbed a handful of bran muffins and coffee from the motel's continental breakfast....

16. Don't climb up something if you don't think you can climb back down.

17. (4wd specific) Don't drive up something if you can drive back down it in reverse.

Some real 4wd tips (since lots of us use 4wd to get toour shooting spots).

18. If you are stuck in sand, immediately stop spinning your tires. Get out, lower the air pressure in you tires to 8-15 psi and try again. If the sand is up to your axles, its too late. This also helps in snow and ice.

19. If you are stuck in snow and only one tire is spinning, lightly apply your brakes while giving it moderate gas. This can help "open" differentials and certain types of limited slip differentials to transfer power to the tire that has traction.

20. Carry an avalanche type shovel with you in the car in the winter. You never know when you might need it. Matches, blanket, coat, hat and gloves are also useful.

Photography related.

21. If you were out with friends the night before remember to check the ISO before you take those sunrise shots. Chances are you left it at ISO1600.

22. If focusing is acting real funny and not giving confirmation, you probably left the camera in AI Servo.

23. The sunset is always better from the other viewpoint.
24. If the sunrise/sunset looks questionable, assume it will be spectacular.
24(a). If you follow your doubts, you will be disappointed.

25. If you see a bear hunter on the trail, think about how much you weigh and what color of clothes you're wearing.
25a. If you see a bear hunter and bear track on the trail think about #25., plus how much your pack weighs and how well your shoes get traction.

Amen on 24 and 24a. I've been burned so many times in the last few months, and nearly so back in June when I was in Moab.

Also, 16a - it's typically easier to climb up something than down it. (Note, I said climb.)

26. You will always wish you had the lens/equipment you didn't bring. Conversely, if you have it with you, you won't need it.
27. It takes one person to create a traffic jam in a National Park. Especially if holding a telephoto lens.
28. Wet rocks are slicker'n snot, regardless of whether or not they're smooth to begin with. So are wet boot treads on bone dry rock.

29. If you have to step away from your tripod, or even turn your back on it, first remove the camera. (Fortunately it was only the hot shoe level that broke).
30. When photographing in the desert, bring plenty of water.

Learned another one tonight. Guess you're never too old to learn!

31. You can't expose the film you left in the car - take more than you think you'll need.

32. If you love sleeping late and REALLY want to get up to catch that sunrise, make sure you have to get out of that nice warm bed to hit the snooze button.

32. When you're on a commercial shoot, verify you actually have a memory card installed!

33. DON'T trust your LCD to ensure proper exposure - use that histogram!

33. If you are hiking in subzero temps with a rigged up camelbak tube hanging outside your pack, blow the water back into the bladder after each sip. Coming prepared with 3 liters of water for a long winter hike does you no good if your line is frozen! (got that tip from Brent D.)

34. (this one's for Erik S.) If you don't own an underwater camera, DO NOT attempt to take shots underwater.

and a few lessons learned from my own experience...

35. If someone who’s not a photographer excitedly gives you advice on a great place to photograph, avoid that place at all costs.

36. If you see a group of obnoxious, drunk college kids camping illegally in a dry creek bed that’s prone to flash floods, wave, smile, and drive on by.

37. If you have a small raft with a weight limit of 300 lbs., avoiding floating in it with a friend if you have a combined weight in excess of 450 lbs.

38. Never attempt to fit three people in a “three-person” tent.

39. When camping alone for six straight days, you might start talking to yourself or reading things out loud. Just be sure no one is walking by when you yell out "One zip is all it takes!!"

40. If you are prone to the above, DON'T camp by yourself for six straight days.

41. When hiking and photographing at 11,000 feet in the winter, BRING GLOVES!

42. When hiking into a large desert canyon in the summer, BRING WATER!

43. Try to avoid getting two flat tires at the same time atop a mountain pass.

44) Wherever you set up to wait on a sunset/sunrise apparently it is the best spot because people will literally set their tripods up so close that the legs are intertwined. When this happens I will usually pick up and move to a different spot.

45) Always, always, always check you lens cloth BEFORE you clean your lens.

46) Lens cleaning fluid is, as the bottle says, extremely flamable.

47) Never try to take a self portrait of yourself near the bank of a river.

48) The person with the most expensive camera gear is probably a novice.

49) There is no such thing as bad weather - just inappropriate clothing.

50) If you're being chased by a wild animal, it doesn't matter how fast you can run - just don't be the slowest in the group.

51) If you're in the middle of a lightning storm on top of a mountain, it's a good idea to get as far away from your aluminum tripod as possible.

52) Don't accidently shoot bear spray in your vehicle.

53) If you do #52, no matter how much you wash your hands before taking out your contacts, DO NOT re-use the same contacts again.

48. Never leave your fully extended 4x5 camera unattended on a tripod in 50+ mph winds on the side of a mountain.
49. Never go to Sprague Lake in RMNP before dawn to photograph during Labor Day weekend unless wearing extra-strength bull elk repellent.

56) If you want to be the first person at Maroon Lake for sunrise during peak fall color, don't even think about going to bed the night before.

57) Sleeping bag temperature ratings are not reliable when you have a wet sleeping bag.

58) Do not hike out to Coyote Buttes in Rockport dress shoes. (Paul, are you reading this?)

59) When a bear tries to crawl in your warm tent with you in the middle of the night, it doesn't help to have the gun in the truck.

60) When flying in a private plane and it runs out of gas and drops several thousand feet, don't panic, odds are the gas guage on one of the tanks wasn't working and the pilot knew it was going to happen.

61) Don't set off home from Moab with an empty gas tank!!!!!!! At 5 degrees F!!!!! This can be fatal!
62) Watch out for speed cops near Vail, especially if you forgot to take your driver's license with you that day!
63) When taking the Navajo truck up the wash into Antelope Canyon don't assume that it won't break down.

63) Always check your hotel room for tripods lurking under the bed, to find out at The Wave TH that you haven't got it is too late.

oops sorry cant count, lets make the next one 65) just for luck!

I agree with 33. except that mine still froze up so I took it back to REI.

65) Don't speed near Moab. I've heard there's mean cops around there .

66) driving at night through Utah watch out for deer crossing, we had a bunch of close calls.

65a) Don't speed near Moab because the Sheriff's Deputies that hang out at the bottom of the hill have "instant on" (also known as "oh sh*t!") radar (seriously) and if you make it past them you've got to deal deal with a local law enforcement type with the Hollywood-esqe name of Officer Edge (less seriously).

65b) To bypass the cops in Moab avoid the malt shops, not the doughnut shops.

67) The fact that you are in a well-trodden area such as North Window does not mean you won't encounter a rattlesnake in the pre-dawn hours.

68) Don't chase the rattlesnake away (by shining your headlamp on him until he leaves) in order to make the area safe for your friends who are ten minutes behind you on the trail because they won't believe it was there in the first place.

69) The sound of a rattler in the darkness is a far more effective means of getting the blood flowing in the morning than an entire pot of paving-tar-thickness coffee.

Ever learning...

70) You can't focus (or adjust movements) if you can't feel your fingers. Wear the right gloves with it's below 20 degrees (or whatever your personal threshold is).

Sorry I'm late to the game but I was busy enjoying a chocolate malt at the Diner!

71) If you're a photographer racing to catch the light, all you have to do is tell me that is the case and I'll give you an escort with lights & sirens blazin'. (This offer only applies in the Moab area)

Bret, does that offer also include orange cones and yellow crime scene "do not cross" tape pre-set up at Mesa Arch to reserve a spot?

Tony, it certainly does however, there is a caveat: I am to receive one framed 30" x 40" photo from the morning shoot. That's fair and equitable trade, right?

72) If you are hurrying to catch the dawn at Bosque, its better to fit your camera to your tripod at the car than to try to do it in the dark on the flight deck when you arent using quick release plates and there are hundreds of people jammed in there! I'm going to buy some!

Bill

http://www.billmeikle.com

9. Don't pick your nose while four-wheeling, or you might hit a bump and end up with brain matter under your fingernail. >>>>

73) Always, always, always carry insect repellant. (It's hard to concentrate on your art when your brain has to compete with the skeeters for your own blood!)

74) Never trust your tour guide to be prepared with emergency supplies including a radio or cell phone, matches, water, or any other emergency rations.

75) When the tour guide's jeep breaks down in the middle of the desert in late September, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, miles from help, and your not due back until well after dark, you should be prepared to take care of yourself and his sorry a$$ until help arrives.

76) It gets cold in the desert at night.

77) When steep sandstone above a 30' drop appears to be covered in a thin sheet of ice - it is.

78) Sandstone covered in a thin sheet of ice leaves even the grippiest of hiking boot soles utterly tractionless.

79) Self-arresting a fall on sandstone using only your bare hands may work, but not without some minor discomfort.