I never have before, but that changed last night.

I'm not usually one who has vivid dreams that stick with me, or dreams with lengthy narrative stories. My dreams are typically fragmented, random images which fade from my consciousness like morning mist within a few minutes of waking. But last night was a rare exception, and the dream was photography related, so I thought I'd share it here and give everyone a minor chuckle.

In the dream, I am wandering through some sort of hotel or private estate grounds, somewhat similar to the Biltmore Estate or that place from the finale of Beverly Hills Cop. The grounds have many shallow decorative pools with fountains in them, and standing in the pools are various male and female models, posing in swimsuits for photographers who are shooting them from outside the pools. Most of the models are posing in or near the water shooting from the fountains; the effects are actually pretty creative and would probably make for some interesting photos in real life.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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I approach a tremendous t-shaped swimming pool, beyond which is the main building. Off to the left are two photographers, staring into the depths of the pool, and at the bottom of the deep end of the pool, I can clearly see a large DSLR camera, with an off-camera flash unit connected to it. The photographers have obviously dropped their camera into the pool and are debating how to get it out, when a swimmer comes to the deep end, retrieves the camera, and returns it to the photographers.<o:p></o:p>
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Being the ever-helpful butt-inski that I am, I immediately tell the photographers that they must dismantle the camera and thoroughly dry out all of the components before turning it on, or the water will short it out ant ruin it. They reply sarcastically that they know this, and stalk off toward the main building. For some reason, I follow them.<o:p></o:p>
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They go to the front of the building and find an unused sidewalk, where they hunker down and begin dismantling the camera. But the sidewalk is covered with dirt, leaves, and vines. I lean over and tell them that they should go inside and find a clean place to do this work, or the dirt will get into the camera and ruin it.<o:p></o:p>
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The photographers are again disdainful of my suggestion and tell me to buzz off, they are professionals and they know what they're doing.<o:p></o:p>
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Now I'm angry, and I reply, "Well, you may be pros, but I'm not the one who tried to do a professional model shoot with only ONE camera, I'm not the one who dumped my camera into a pool in the middle of a shoot, and I'm not the one who's taking an expensive camera apart in the dirt where it will get filthy inside and never work again!"<o:p></o:p>
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After that, I stalk off in a huff, and the dream ends.<o:p></o:p>

I have no idea what prompted this odd dream, but the story reminds me a lot of some of the anecdotes I've read online about incompetent photographers and weird situations that pop up during shoots.

Anyone else ever have photography related dreams? Or maybe even nightmares?

Coincidentally, I had a photography dream just last night as well. I don't remember too many details (I usually don't remember my dreams much at all), but I recall that I was out doing some street shooting with a D3 and 24-70 f/2.8, then I went to visit another photog friend of mine. This is odd because I don't do much (any) street shooting, and I have neither a D3 nor a 24-70. And, I don't particularly lust after them, either. So who knows?

Mine all relate to weather to pick up camera or bow or gun and this beautiful animal is just standing there posing for me....as I pick up weapon and then pick up camera and the internal stuggles continues until I hear a shot or see an arrow penetrate the vital area and the animal bounds off to..............then I see myself and ask why did you kill that animal before I got the shot.......the answers are always the same......BACKSTRAP TONITE MAN!!!!

Oddly, I have had two photography dreams in the last 2 nights. The first night I was dreaming of playing with a Canon 200mm lens. Last night I had a dream of playing with a 400mm lens. I don't own either. Most interesting part was that I was having REAL trouble using both of them. They were falling apart on the camera and in my hands. I was having real bad luck. Not sure what any of that means.