Pixiq

As we all know, making mistakes is part of the learning process.  More often than not, you just have to learn things the hard way.
But if you're lucky, someone who has already done something stupid will tell you about it, and thus spare you the bother of repeating the same mistake. 

For example:

*  Leaving the lens cap on when preparing to take someones picture. 
This is something I'm sure everyone has done at least once, and isn't such a big deal really.  But doing this when photographing a TV anchorman in the middle of huge open office area, full of media people watching their coworker being photographed?  Priceless.

* Using your new flash on assignment before properly learning how it works.
Shortly after getting my first Speedlite (in early 2006 this was) I was hired to photograph a prominent Icelandic politician and his equally well-known wife.  I hadn't read anything about the settings and just decided to wing it, and spent a good deal of time and energy fooling around with it while talking a mile a minute,  hoping nobody would realize that I hardly knew what I was doing.  Needless to say, the best photo I got that day was taken without the damn flash.

* Having no idea how to use a ring-flash but using it anyway and being puzzled at the awful results.
Haha. This still makes me cringe.  So basically,  I have a ring-flash and before using it for the first few times, I never bothered to acquaint myself with the fact that the lens of the camera is supposed to go THROUGH the ring in order to achieve optimum results.  Using it from a distance from on top of your camera is just not the way to go.

* Forgetting to be creative because you're too stressed to think.
Photographing people I don't know, at a location I'm not familiar with beforehand, is something I've always found rather difficult and stressful, but early on I did quite a few assignments of this nature.  The part of me that just wanted to get it over with somehow managed to override all thoughts of being creative, and I would return home with a bunch of similar shots that could have been made a lot more interesting if I'd just taken a few more minutes to clear my head, use the variety of lenses I had with me, and consider all angles, rather than just shoot quickly and hope for the best. 

* Saying out loud "hey that one actually turned out pretty good!"  in a surprised tone of voice to the people you're photographing.  
I tend to do this all the time without thinking about it, and then realizing once the words are out of my mouth that it's probably not the most encouraging thing for the subject to hear..

* Filling up your only memory card while on assignment and not having anywhere to put the pictures, forcing you to start going through them and deleting some in front of the clients.. 
*Shudder*  This has happened to me twice when shooting a wedding.  Whatever you do, never let this happen, it's totally embarrassing and awful.

* Charging your battery, driving an hour to a location and then realizing the battery is still in the charger at home.
Sigh. 

* Carefully packing everything for a photoshoot out in the country, extra batteries and both Speedlites included, but leaving the speedlite transmitter at home.
 

*Forgetting to check your camera settings before starting to shoot.
This can range from being a minor inconvenience to being a disaster. The worst example I remember was when I spent an hour in subzero temperatures, shooting longexposures , even sitting still for 13 minutes in one of the pictures,  and then realizing that the camera was not only NOT set to RAW,  but set to the lamest of all possibilities, "small jpg". 

*Forgetting to back up your stuff.
Much as I hate to admit it, I'm something of an expert at this one.  Late last month,  my Macbook Pro crashed and I had a terrifying moment before I found out wether or not the harddrive had been affected, realizing that I hadn't backed up anything from the last year and a half. No joke.  It's not that I don't realize the importance of backing things up, it's just that I somehow had assumed that I'd done it already.  So, if you're at all like me and keep thinking "I'll do it tomorrow..  next week.. next month" and then just forget what it was you were thinking of doing,  I seriously recommend changing that habit.