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Don't be a fool like me
Well we can all sleep better tonight knowing that our men and women at air port security are looking after our safety.
Last week I flew from Vegas back to Toronto after spending a week shooting with Per and friends throughout Owens Valley.
Went to all the usual places... Yosemite, Bristlecone Pines Park, Bodie and the Seirra Nevadas. Headed home with about 60 sheets of 8x10, a half dozen 8x10 IR and a couple shots still in the holders from a final day at Death Valley.
When we got home my wife mentioned that air port security had left a form letter in her bag mentioning that because of national security her bag had been opened and checked.
I noticed when I checked my boxes of film which were in the bags that everything wasn't just how I packed it and my suspesion was correct. Security also checked my film boxes.
So now I have 60 sheets of fogged film as well as a couple boxes of fresh film that had been in sealed boxes but was also opened.
Don't be a fool like me. Ship your film home separately, process it on location, ship it to a lab and have them process it or carry it on with a changing tent so security can open it in front of you.
The only film not fogged are the couple that were still in holders from the final day.
Next time I'll know better.
-Rob
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That just blows! Sorry to hear about that. It must be terribly frustrating and very costly at that to have a whole trip ruined by some over zealous airport security person that obviously does not know about film being light sensitive.
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Ouch! But why would you put film in checked luggage? TSA aside, it would be exposed to high-dose X-rays.
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Very sorry to here of these results.
Every time I've flown in recent years I've been advised not to have film in checked luggage. Not because of the reasons you had, but because of the massive dose of X-ray for checked luggage.
Again, sorry hear of this type of loss.
Mike
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Always hand carry film, never put it in checked luggage.
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The thing they use to scan checked luggage isn't even an xray machine- more like a C-T scanner or MRI machine. It is guaranteed to nuke the hell out of your film and ruin most of what you check. I guess they give different training to the folks working in the troll cave below the airport than the ones working the check-in lines, because I've had no problems with the folks at the gate understanding what is large format film. I did have to yell at the attendant for United Airlines in Buenos Aires on my way home when she was getting ready to open the box that had my downloaded exposed film, but otherwise everything was fine.
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Oh, I'm sorry...thought by the subject line that you were talking about getting married or something.... ...but anyways, the last time I brought exposed film on a plane (6 months ago) I asked them to just check the film canisters w/out opening them and they did. Apparently they guessed that it was only film as the camera was in the same bag.
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I've heard all the same things about film in checked luggage but it does nothing to bring your images back... I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune, it must be incredibly disappointing. I hope you can use the loss to motivate yourself to get out there and make even better pictures to replace them. All the best. Shawn
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I've actually had worse problems when I take the film as carry on. For some reason they want to look in the box, the x-ray wasn't enough. I've heard of people solving this by bringing along a tent and setting up at the security table.
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I've never had any problems when going through the hand check with 4x5 film. They are more concerned about the little metal box in my bag (the camera). I had to open my Toyo 45a in the Albany Airport so they could look through it.
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