I shot a wedding a few weeks back.
My computer only holds so many photos before going tits up.
I routinely load the photos by the 100 to disks and then erase them from my computer. (can you see where this is going?)
I went to Kinkos to make a banner for the bride and groom of the moment right after ‘I Do!’
The disk I used? I lost there.
I left it. Or they didn’t give it back. Or they gave me the wrong one. Or something.
I called and they have never heard of the word disk.
The 100 photos from the walk down the isle to the I Do moment? Gone.
What is the word I am looking for?
I don’t even know the word to say how I feel.
Loser is so inadequate.
UPDATE: Thanks Daily Piglet and Michelle. I tried both and neither one could find the images. I am afraid I have used the flash card way too many times since the wedding. I take a lot of photos. But I do appreciate the help. If there is some heavy-duty application that works on a pc hard drive after a defrag, that might work but I can’t find one.
Ask me the last time I looked at my wedding photos. No, better yet, ask me where my wedding photos ARE. No idea.
Don’t beat yourself up. Anymore.
Sorry to hear this, just wanted to offer an internet hug (((you))).
you know, a good friend of mine did the very same thing recently. he deleted them from his hard drive and his son helped him find a website that would find the hard coded data even though he deleted it.
i can send him an email to ask for specific details. oh god, i can only imagine how you feel. it sucks.
breathe, and go sniff some lavender. QUICK!
i just sent him an email. keep on sniffing that lavender, k?
It is okay- don’t cry! Our wedding photographer (a semi-pro friend) showed up drunk from the night before and the pictures were horrible. He cut off our heads, shot us in shadow so you can’t even see us, didn’t take pictures of family members but managed to shoot my girl friend’s asses. Nice. THEN to make it up he shot the triplet’s baptism and lost the film. Needless to say, I’m not letting him photograph anything for me ever again. He’s getting married soon and I asked if I could shoot the wedding. Karma baby.
Sadly, wedding photo mishaps are NOT uncommon. It hurts like hell that you did it, but there are so many others out there too. My friend’s wedding was photographed by her friend. The photographer’s flash sync was off, and every frame was half exposed, half black. Every frame. Entire wedding. My friend’s wedding pictures are what came off the silly disposables on the reception tables. And she doesn’t regret it.
okay, that’s the third such incident lately–the universe is done giving you the message…now all you have to do is sit back, relax, and figure out what the hell the universe was trying to tell you.
piglet – i downloaded something from the internet that searched my files but i think because i defragged after the wedding, there is nothing left. but that would be cool if there was.
jane – not even kidding!!! but there are two other things i haven’t blogged about that would be considered a part of this series. what the frack, universe?
We must first begin by taking a breath. Then we remember that we are perfectly imperfect. Demanding perfection of ourselves will only make us miserable. You’ve made a mistake, had an accident, whatever. You’re human. It’s a loss and there’s nothing wring with feeling responsible or guilty. But when those thoughts turn away from the incident to an incrimination of yourself, you have made a return. Forgive yourself.
dam defrag. he responded to my email and this is what he wrote:
The name of the program you want is ZAR (Zero Recovery Assumption) and the web address is http://www.z-a-recovery.com/digital-image-rec. Hope this helps your friend.
Have you considered posting a lost sign at Kinko’s? You could even offer a reward!
Ouch! That hurts. Sorry, Lee.
oh well, as you can tell your following feels your pain. my friend (that sent that link) was almost packing his luggage to leave town. he too, was devastated.
hey! how about a hug? (((leah)))
Oh Leah. I’m so sorry. How stressful for you. Much love.
Oh God, I so know that feeling. Aaaaahhhhh. I’m so sorry. You aren’t a loser. That stuff happens to everyone but it still sucks, yes it does.
I’m sorry that didn’t work, Leah.
I’m assuming this person is a good and understanding friend, right? Much like someone else suggested, I haven’t looked at my wedding pictures since it took place. :]
ouch. I felt chills reading this. makes me love the negatives in my cupboard…
I have a horror story like that, but fortunately it has a happy ending. I bought a new Sony A 100, the top of the line in new digital cameras (at least it was 6 months ago). I shot a friend’s daughter’s wedding in July with over 450 picutures, both formal and informal. I was using a 4 gig memory stick with the finest resolution possible (10.2 MB). I had spent over 5 hours shooting and I was tired. When I got home, I connected the camera to my computer with a USB cable and set the camera function to “protect” in order to preserve the photos while I downloaded to my photo program. All 450 photos downloaded, but in a safe form in which I couldn’t edit. I knew the photos in the program were of no use to me so……..I reset the camera to “unprotect” and went back to the camera to delete the unusable photos. However, I forgot to un-attach the USB port and when the photos disappeared from the program, I naturally went back to the camera to reload the unprotected photos back into the computer. Oh no. Oh my God. The camera said there were no photos on the memory stick. I quickly went into panic mode. After all, these photos weren’t about a backyard cookout or a fraternity party – they were of the single most photographed event in someone’s life, especially someone’s daughter’s life. At first, I decided I would move out of state (honestly). But my son found a website that advertised “ZAR” or “Zero Recovery Assumption”. In a last desperate attempt, I downloaded the free trial and went through the instructions. Sure enough, the ZAR program dug down into the memory stick and retrieved all 450 photos. I immediately put them in three separate folders and scattered them over the computer and downloaded onto three separate DVD’s. What a relief!! Maybe ZAR can help you. Good luck (I sound like an adverstisement for them, but it worked like a charm).
Billy, Charlotte, NC
thanks for the suggestion. i tried zar and it took about 3 hours per time to fully read the card and then got an error twice and shut down. the third time, it did work right but the photos weren’t there.