The day a pigeon got stuck in my medium format camera during a shoot at the park

I was at Prospect Park last October, doing a portrait session with a Mamiya RB67. Midway through, a pigeon flew right into the bellows and got its head stuck between the focusing tracks. I had to carefully take the whole lens and bellows apart right there on a bench, with the client just staring. Took me 45 minutes to free the bird without breaking the light seals. Now I always carry a small screwdriver set in my bag, even for casual shoots. Has anyone else had wildlife mess up a shoot in a weird way?

3 comments

3 Comments

maxm635d ago

People act like a 45 minute delay is some huge disaster. Sounds like you handled it fine and got a good story out of it.

coleman.jade5d ago

Had a buddy who does event photography tell me about a time his whole memory card corrupted halfway through a wedding. Lost everything from the ceremony and had to photoshop phone pics from guests to make it work. So yeah, 45 minutes is nothing.

the_phoenix5d ago

Read a story once where a squirrel got into a photographer's bag and chewed through the sync cord for their studio strobes. Had to cancel the whole shoot and drive 40 minutes to borrow a backup from a buddy. At least pigeons don't have teeth.