NIGHTMARE----lost 900 images of wedding

[bradfernihough]

Sorry to here that..

 

The only thing i would add is this. The advantage of digital is that you have immediate access to the images. So, my rule of thumb is when i stick a CF card in the camera, to have a look at what files are on there. Usually, this will be enough to jog your memory as to how important they are.

[janet cull]

I shoot film so don't have a clue about the problem or the fix... but just wanted to say I feel your pain. I've made other

mistakes and kicked myself. So sorry!

 

>>>may the gods, angels and tech wizards be on my side - your prayers are welcome.<<<

 

Believe it or not, I already did. Pray for you, that is. I hope it works out well.

 

Janet Cull

[jamespjones]

http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/

 

Photo rescue does wonders - give it a shot!

[garydem]

there is no blow to soften. it is very bad news and that is that. my simple advice is just tell the bg. you are going to look stupid and silly and dumb and imcompentant and etc. but you know that going in. just have a check made out to cover the refund and have it with you, so you can hand it to them right then and there.

 

and in the future-DO NOT CARRY A FILLED MEMORY CARD ON YOU AT ALL, NEVER, NEVER. when you fill a memory card it goes in your photog carry bag as soon as you can, only carry the empties on you.

this is exactly why weddings are so hard to do-you are not allowed a mistake in anything or any part of it. and noone is going to care one whit about why you made the mistake. they only thing they know is they do not have the pictures of the wedding.

i did some weddings years ago, and that was the end of that. i made myself a promise-no more weddings. i have kept the promise, though the weddings that i did were fine. i got into p[hotography many years ago for a hobby and enjoyment, not to get an ulcer.

[pankaj purohit]

Hi B, First of all Sorry for the said happenig.

 

I am working with computers from more than 9-10 years so I ma familiar with these tools and problems. Earlier and many time I have tried to recover data from mine and some of my friends hard-disks. I tried some software tools for that work and got surprising results..... Yes I got recovered maximum of datas many times and a few times, it was disappointing. Maximum of times I got these pleasent results whwn the Hard-disk was accidently formated.

 

But here I should clear that I never tried recovering data from memory card but once or twice I tried to recover data from my flash-drive/pen-drive/memory-stick and I recovered some of JPGs and BMPs from that but I couldn't recover my needed file which was not a image format.

 

If you search on internet, you can easily find some software for recovering data.

 

Now Some advices for you;

1.>> Don;t do anything with your that perticullar memory card, keep that safely.

 

2.>> Now try to get some good softwares and then experiment those woth another memory card in which you don't have any important data. First of al shoot some images on that MCard and store some more images, you can total about some 700-1000 photographs. Than format this card and now try those softwares to reecover your data.

 

3.>> Now which one software gives you best, try that software safely on your that weddings memory card where you lost your important shots.

 

4.>> I think (Even I hope and pray for you) you will get recovered many files from that. Save those carefully in a folder on your hard-disk.

 

5.>> If you still feel some mere files could e recovered than you can other left softwares with this MCard.

 

I hope you will get some exciting results and tell me what happened.

 

Now one and important thing, why pro photographers use DSLRs whether they earn money from photography and can spent a very little ut safe on the negative films. I am a hobbiest and a serious amature, but never fallen in love woth digitals, tried some but never let those my first love and need.

 

Shooting on negative films and dropping those at the lab at night and get the prints next day is the best and safest way, but nobody thinks about the digital risks.

 

When computers were invented, there were no viruses, but when those have become mainstream toll everywhere, proffessional hackers and viruses born and now everywhere damaging data and important informations. The virus problem is going to be the next big problem foor the Digital photography systems.

 

Still we have time to wake-up. Keep film alive otherwise this (photography) great proffession is soon going to be killed.

 

Best of luck for your data recovey tries.

[laverephoto]

I once had a camera stolen from a church with 120 wedding images on it. I have also had to use recovery software

many times because my camera bodies had different firmware versions that were not compatible and the file directories

would not read properly if the cards were used in the "wrong" body. Its always these hard learned lessons that stick with

you. Some of these lessons will be so rough that you will use the anxiety to avoid new problems. I will add my name to

the list of folks with rigid habits of shooting in the field. My habits may not be all that critical for some types of work.

Others will have systems that are better suited to their equipment, but most mistakes come from not having a system in

the first place.

 

1. Format all your cards at home, never format on the job.

 

2. Have loose cards on your person at all times.

 

3. Have two separate secure places for shot cards V. empty cards.

 

4. Save money and sanity by using more small cards rather than few large cards.

 

5. Know exactly how may cards you have total.

 

6. Copy everything to an external storage device and go home with two copies.

 

7. I can see the wisdom of dual card bodies, I just can't afford one that meets the other requirements I want.

 

When the photographers I know all started going digital everybody was freaking out about data safety. Fact is, a good

system is way safer than film ever could be. You can verify your shots as you go, you can back up your data, and you

can be sure never to shoot an empty camera. I personally feel more secure with digital media.

[Member69643]

I must be too frugal. I shot a wedding yesterday and in six hours, ended up with 450 or so images. I can't imagine what there could be to take 3000 images of, even if I were visiting the ruins of ancient Greece, Egypt, and South America with a safari in Kenya thrown in...

 

Unless there were lots of hyenas...

 

:)

[scott_b.4]

Oh wow..I feel for you.

 

I have two seperate card cases to keep the used cards seperate from the new cards to avoid incidents like this.

[craig_shearman1]

If you start doing the math, things may not be as bad as you think. You note above that you now realize you're only missing about 400 shots, not 900. Hopefully you shot 2-3 frames of each important image to guard against blinks or bad expressions. So maybe what you're actually missing is 150-200 images (as opposed to files/frames). And if a professional recovery service can get some of those back, maybe you're only missing a few dozen. Not good unto itself, but a lot better than 900. And hopefully even 900 was only part of what you shot, not the whole wedding. In other words, if you shot 2,000 plus frames and maybe 100-200 are missing, it may be that the bride and groom aren't even going to notice -- were they standing there keeping a list of everything you shot? And if a few they remember are missing, you can legitimately write if off as "technical problems." I'm not saying at all to be dishonest. But many of the earlier posts saying to come completely clean were based on 900 missing pictures, not 100 missing pictures. Don't lie, but don't ruin your reputation by volunteering answers to questions that aren't asked. I also like the idea of buying new cards for each wedding. They're much cheaper than film. When I took feature film production classes at NYU, the sound class instructor said he put a complete set of fresh alkalines in his Nagra recorder each morning and again at lunch time. With a union crew and multi-miliion-dollar actors being filmed, "the batteries died" or "the batteries were weak" was not an acceptable excuse for why a day's work had to be reshot. The barely used batteries got take home for his grandkids' toys.

[mel_unruh]

If you formatted and the COMPLETEY filled the card again, then it's over. However, if you formatted and then shot up

say 50% of the card, then there may be hope to recover some of those images. Formating simply wipes out the FAT

table (the index of files in the file system), it is non-destructive to the files themselves. It only appears they are gone

forever. The destruction happens when you begin writing to the card as the old information is overwritten with the

new. So, your hope for recovery is in direct proportion to the percentage of space available on the card as of now.

This empty space contains some of your original images. So, if you have 50% of that card left, there is a very good

chance that half of your original images may be saved. If it was totally filled with dance floor stuff, then its all gone.

There are a couple of recovery software packages available and could be worth their weight in gold for you. Good luck

 

Mel

[ilkka_nissila]

Although digital storage media may appear to store just 0s and 1s, in reality the information is stored in a physical system

which may be far from binary in how it functions at the lowest level. I would not be surprised if some traces of the older

data could be read by special hardware. However, the quality of the data after recovery may not be useable in the intended

application, depending on the application, and the cost of the procedure could be in the tens of thousands.

[lou korell]

"DO NOT CARRY A FILLED MEMORY CARD ON YOU AT ALL, NEVER, NEVER"

 

I will add to that....ALWAYS CARRY ALL OF YOUR FILLED CARDS ON YOUR PERSON ALWAYS ALWAYS! Do

not trust your valuable images to a bag or case that is not on your body for the entire day. If your bag is stolen you

are in big trouble. Take the last card out from all cameras and keep them on you after the wedding as well. This

thread is not about having the cards with you and making big mistakes. It is about having a system by which you do

not have to format a single card at an event - and - you have a system for keeping track of your filled cards.

 

Put a sticker on your cards and number them. Whatever card wallet you use, when you load it for the day, put them

in the wallet number side up. As you use them return them to the wallet number side down. Only use the ones with

numbers. It's that simple.

 

Don't leave your cards anywhere. Keep them in your pocket. I will be very blunt that the advice to not carry your filled

cards on you is a huge error in judgement and will lead to way more trouble than you have already experienced. You

can prevent your mistake from now on with a good system. You can do absolutely nothing to prevent loss if you

leave your cards anywhere but on your body. Yikes!

 

Lou

[mgvaughan.com]

If you in fact do recover the lost images, perhaps you will be kind enough to post the recovery process here for others in the same circumstance. This is a tough, tough loss.

 

Follow your instincts and make it right with your clients.

[niccoury]

You can't format film....

[ellis_vener_photography]

"You can't format film...."

 

But I've known many photogrpahers who thought they were being smart and leaving the tongue of the film out --and then proceed to put throug ha camera at least twice.

 

This isn't anbout film vs. digital Nic, it is about being organized.

 

I hope B. Pearl has insurance that covers re-staging and re-shooting. PPA offers it and it is good.

[fotografz]

So Ikka, does one tell the client that they are to weak to carry the proper gear? Does one tell the client they will place their wedding images at risk because the photographer is concerned about his or her

personal comfort? There are all kinds of aids for made for photographers to carry cameras and lenses. Plus, one need not carry a bigger camera for 10 straight hours. You can use the dual card camera for

the most important "must haves," and a smaller back-up for much of the rest. I do wonder how some of those great women photographers carried big Rolleis and Hasselblads around all day : -)

 

As to not getting shots because one doesn't have the latest greatest is of course ridiclious ... how on earth did all those weddings get shot before the D700? They got shot beautifully, that's how.

 

I also agree with Lou ... always keep all your cards on your person ... preferably thethered to you and in your pocket.

[iqbal]

My understanding is that memory cards (CF, SD etc.) have Locks. Once a card is filled, you just lock it.

So that, if you want to use it again (to reformat or to take photos), it will not allow you. A locked card simply implies that the card is full with photos & don't touch it. Do it so only after transferring files to computer or CD/DVD. Is my understanding correct?

[lightsmith1]

Several threads running here. First is can you recover your first set of files. "Formating" in your camera does not re-format the card. It deletes the table entry for the file but not the file itself which is why recovery applications are able to restore files by recreating the table entries. When you write over the file that had its table entry deleted by the camera with a new file all the bits of the old file are replaced with the new bits from the new file copied over from the camera's memory buffer. The old bits no longer exist to be recovered if you completely filled up the card with new images.

 

With weddings there are no retakes and EVERY precaution needs to be taken to protect the images you take for your clients. You failed to take any precautions and this time it had serious consequences. I would make amends in a way that is beyond being fair for your clients and their families. At a minimum I would provide a 50% discount and agree to use images from their guests in the album.

 

Customer problems like yours are not good for business but you can recover some of the goodwill and loss to your reputation by how you choose to respond. Whatever you do be prompt and keep it simple. I would just say that the files covering a period of time during the wedding cannot be retrieved and that you will do everything you can to "make it right" to the extent that is possible.

 

For the future you need to have a system in place to make it virtually impossible to lose your clients' images. For my part I do the following:

 

1) All cards are numbered and in a wallet that is secured to my person the entire day until I get back to my office.

2) When a card is full I turn it upside down and put it back in the wallet which goes back into the waist bag. When in doubt I go to the next card in the sequence - more to avoid running out of space and having to do a card swap at a key moment like during the first dances.

3) When I get back to the office all of the cards are copied into a single folder on my primary computer.

4) I verify from the time stamps that I have not missed a block of time, i.e. a card.

5) I copy the entire folder to a RAID server. At this point in time I have 3 complete sets of the files.

6) I verify that I have all the files copied over to the RAID server. If one of the 4 drives fails I can replace it and continue to have all my data accessible spread out over the other 3 drives.

7) I leave the CF cards until the day before the next wedding - just in case

8) The day before the wedding I reformat (erase the directory table) each card in a camera and put them back into the wallet and put the wallet back into the waist case.

 

With this process I have eliminated problems from lost or misplaced cards, theft, computer problems, or user error.

 

During the week between weddings I am converting the RAW files to JPEG and so even after I reformat the CF cards I am left with 2 complete sets of RAW files and a set of JPEG files located on 6 different physical hard drives. In 6 years of photographing weddings with digital cameras I have lost a total of 3 files which resulted from a defective CF card - now I test new CF cards before they go into my wedding kit.

[arjun_mehra]

As far as I know, the images are gone forever. Sorry. As for what to do now, you should probably just come clean

— or, don't; bottom line: you tell the people there're no pictures. Of course, you can't charge them anything:

You don't get to somehow quantify the work and say, "You can give me 25%." Was there another wedding photographer

present? If not, they MIGHT go ahead and take what you can give them, but, if that doesn't even contain the vows

— just some post\-ceremony drinks — forget about making any money from the situation.

[les_baldwin1]

Welcome to professional wedding photography. This can and will happen to many pros. It happened to me way back

in the film days. I had multiple gear failure and then lab disaster to boot. All on the same shoot, lost near 70% of the

images. Now with PS they could be scanned and probably salvaged.

 

My only other comment other than to say I know exactly how you feel is say that you should move to a camera body

that allows two CF, or a CF/ SD capability to automatically back up all images from origination. There is a reason

that Canon uses that system and believe me I use it quite a lot on the 1 series cammeras. The other thing I would

suggest is to number your cards so that they never are reused during a shoot. Purchase enough cards so that you

will run out of DAY before your run out of capacity.

 

I really wish you all the best. As to my situation? I was taken to small claims and sued. I offered a complete refund,

but they wanted me to fly in family members, re-rent the church and re-shoot the entire wedding. The judge asked

that I give a complete refund, what ever images I had and shoot a portrait.

 

I did the first two that day. I had no issues with that even though my contract limited my exposure to monies taken

minus expenses. The bride found the groom with an *ahem* friend.... Divorce was nearly immediate after just 6

months.

 

Cheers

[wedding-photography-denver]

I am with Marc on the dual card camera's, except that I don't like those bodies.

 

My solution is two bodies all the time and a second shooter, all the time. When these camera companies finally put two slots in the little bodies, I will be using them.

 

I also believe, strongly, that a larger card will indeed be a better insurance than all the little cards which are so easily dropped, lost, formatted mistakenly, overfilled, used too often/much and generally harder to keep track of.

 

You must consider the client. If you cannot afford the best/latest gear, l suggest you need to make a plan to get what is required as soon as you can. Meanwhile, tell your clients the risk THEY are taking with your plan of action.

[mel-zzp]

Wow ... people jumped on this one!

 

I am so sorry ! I really feel bad for you. Reading your story brought back thoughts of my own run in with losing photos.

 

I once lost 3months worth of pictures ... the first 3 monthes of me daughters life. We thought everything was backed

up, but things happend. We reformatted the computer and reliezed there were no pictures (much longer story, but

you get the point). Believe me there were lots of tears. We did find a recovery program and we did recover some of

them, but not in the best quality. I think it hurts more when you know you played a hand in the loss. It was a

humbling experince for me.

 

I learned alot from that experince and I it hasn't happend since. I have so many procautions now, that I have

procautions for my procautions...lol.

 

Anyway, this too shall pass and once it is all cleared up you need to go do something completely fun

 

Melissa

 

P.S Just an idea: maybe... you can talk to the B & G (parents) families tell them what happen before the B &G get

back from the honeymoon. Plus, You were not the only photographer there that day, I am sure there were many

family member taking photos too. If the families can gather photos for you, you could work some magic in a photo

program. This is going to happen anyway once the family find out about the photos, so why don't you start the

process. This will also show that you have some empathy for they family.

 

Granted, you will have to do more work, but it does tell the family the lengths you would go to correct a mistake. The

bottom line is it will end up as a great wedding story and a photographer who went to great miles to make sure their

wedding was captured. Just and idea ... I am sure it won't be welcomed with open arms at first....Just an idea.

 

Melissa

[ecwatts]

Refund Their Money ... ONLY after you have explained the problem and worked diligantly to make the rest of the Portfolio a

very acceptable treasure and ... have investigated a reliable recovery service. If the photo's can be recovered, you really

don't have a problem ... only a small delay. I would reserve the refund as a final gift ... either way ... and learn from the

whole experience. People are more forgiving than you might think ... and YOU are probably harder on yourself than they

will ever be! For what it is worth.

[fotografz]

Yes, there are a couple of threads running here. The poster has gotten plenty of suggestions concerning recovery, and lots of sympathy ...

and I add mine to that list.

 

However, this is a forum read by many beginners and the lessons learned can and should be wider spread to benefit all.

 

I also grasp that some folks just do not want to carry the larger dual slot cameras ... and frankly, when I only had single slot cameras I

used two like David Wegwart, and IF I had a

second shooter they'd shoot key shots also. This obviously was the case when I shot film ... since no one ever made a 2 roll camera : -)

 

I will always advocate the use of dual slot cameras, because I will never forget when a friend lost a bunch of key shots on a 2 gig card that

could not be recovered by anyone regardless of what it would cost.

 

In reality, there are easily identified key shots that are prime candidates for these cameras ... Processionals, a few key altar shots, first

kiss, formals, cake cut, a few toasts and first dance. Those are the shots that you cannot explain away. Telling the client that a technical

glitch ate some candid reception shots or getting ready shots or group dance shots is far less devastating than telling the Bride her trip

down the asile with her dad is not there.

[ilkka_nissila]

<i>So I[l]kka, does one tell the client that they are to weak to carry the proper gear? </i>

<p>

So now the dual-card cameras are the only <i>proper</i> gear? It's not about a weakness but a trade-off. I was

shooting side by side a dance performance with someone using a 300/2.8; I had the 300/4. The other guy with the

big lens was most of the time holding the camera down as he couldn't point it towards subjects all the time. I

was taking pictures of the performers and the audience pretty much all the time. Sometimes he would copy my shots

but most of the time he wasn't shooting but resting his hands. Now, he may have gotten better isolation of the

subject because of the f/2.8, but I got great shots. Analogously, you may be happier and a more productive

photographer

when you're using a lighter camera. Or you might be happier because of the added security. Personally I think

using smaller and less conspicuous equipment can make people notice the photographer less and appear more natural.

<p>

<i>

Does one tell the client they will place their wedding images at risk because the photographer is concerned about

his or her personal comfort?

</i>

<p>

No, you can just say that the equipment that you use doesn't have this kind of a backup feature if they ask. BTW

it's not just about comfort, it's also about the photographer's health.

<p>

<i> I do wonder how some of those great women photographers carried big Rolleis and Hasselblads around all day :

-)</i><p>

A Rollei or a Hasselblad with a lens isn't necessarily as heavy as a dual card camera + lens. And I would bet

that most women photographers today do not use dual card cameras (not that the sex here is all that relevant).

<p>

<i>

[H]ow on earth did all those weddings get shot before the D700? They got shot beautifully, that's how.

</i>

<p>

How on Earth did all those weddings get shot before the dual card cameras? Did you say to the clients that I

wish camera manufacturers made better gear so that your images would be safer?

<p>

There are risks involved in anything that you do. You can end up in a traffic accident, for example. Do you avoid

driving and arrive at the church the day before so that you have time to get a replacement in the event you don't

make it there? What if you have a stroke and nobody knows where you stored the images?

<p>

BTW just for the record, I shoot all of my ceremony images with a D3 and write on two cards. I still don't think

this should be required - it is an extra precaution that helps with certain types of problems but not all.