'ImageFieldFile' object has no attribute 'content_type' only after picture has already been uploaded then isn't either changed or removed

I'm working on a project that uses both django registration and django profiles. I have a form that allows users edit/create a profile, which includes uploading a photo. Everything works fine in the following situations: a profile is created or edited and no image has ever been uploaded; a profile is edited/created and an image is uploaded; once an image is uploaded, the profile can be edited as long as the image that was previously uploaded is either changed or removed... The place I run into issues is if there is an existing profile image, and the user tries to edit his/her profile without making any changes to the current image (i.e. removing or replacing it). In that situation, I get the error 'ImageFieldFile' object has no attribute 'content_type'. Any ideas as to why this is happening. I have tried variations of other answers found in stack overflow, but couldn't get any of them to work as they were stated. What I currently have is a variation of one of those with changes I made:

class UserProfileForm(ModelForm):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(UserProfileForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        try:
            self.fields['email'].initial = self.instance.user.email
        except User.DoesNotExist:
            pass

    email = forms.EmailField(label="Primary email", help_text='')

    class Meta:
        model = UserAccountProfile
            exclude = ('user', 'broadcaster', 'type')
            widgets = {
            ...
        }


    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        u = self.instance.user
        u.email = self.cleaned_data['email']
        u.save()
        profile = super(UserProfileForm, self).save(*args,**kwargs)
        return profile

    def clean_avatar(self):
        avatar = self.cleaned_data['avatar']            

        if avatar:
            w, h = get_image_dimensions(avatar)
            max_width = max_height = 500
            if w >= max_width or h >= max_height:
                raise forms.ValidationError(u'Please use an image that is %s x %s pixels or less.' % (max_width, max_height))

            main, sub = avatar.content_type.split('/')
            if not (main == 'image' and sub in ['jpeg', 'pjpeg', 'gif', 'png']):
                raise forms.ValidationError(u'Please use a JPEG, GIF or PNG image.')

            if len(avatar) > (50 * 1024):
                raise forms.ValidationError(u'Avatar file size may not exceed 50k.')

        else:
            pass

        return avatar

Thanks for any help or advice.

Here is the full traceback:

Traceback:
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\core\handlers\base.py" in get_response
  111.                         response = callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\contrib\auth\decorators.py" in _wrapped_view
  20.                 return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\profiles\views.py" in edit_profile
  197.         if form.is_valid():
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py" in is_valid
  124.         return self.is_bound and not bool(self.errors)
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py" in _get_errors
  115.             self.full_clean()
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py" in full_clean
  270.         self._clean_fields()
File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py" in _clean_fields
  290.                     value = getattr(self, 'clean_%s' % name)()
File "C:\Documents and Settings\user\projects\xlftv\lftv\userprofiles\forms.py" in clean_avatar
  146.          main, sub = avatar.content_type.split('/')

Exception Type: AttributeError at /instructor_profiles/edit
Exception Value: 'ImageFieldFile' object has no attribute 'content_type'

So if you look at the last point in your traceback, you'll see that your error is coming from this line main, sub = avatar.content_type.split('/') , which appears to be from your clean_avatar method. Looks like you're trying to make sure it's an image... I have to imagine there's another way to do that.

Looks like worst case, you should be able to parse avatar.name to check file extensions (see https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/files/file/#django.core.files.File)

Btw, the way to get content_type for an instance is ContentType.get_for_model(avatar).