I'm a wedding photographer from Tucson Arizona. I was recently contracted to fly to Sarasota Florida to shoot a rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception and day after the wedding dinner cruise. I was happy to take the business, and be able to shoot in a new environment. Everything went wonderfully. I got some great shots on the beach at the rehearsal dinner. The next day, I shot the wedding using a 7D, with a 40D for back up. Most of the shots were from my 7D, including the ceremony and the post ceremony family shots. I changed CF cards for the reception, and captured some great shots there too. While at the reception, I backed up a couple of CF cards on my Epson Viewer, and went about my business.
When I got back to the hotel that night, I downloaded the CF cards to my laptop, but noticed one of the cards was missing. My heart dropped to my toes when I realized it was the one from the ceremony and family shots! I searched everywhere in my bag, my suit, my cameras, you name it. No Card! So I thought to myself, "no problem, I'll just download the pics from the viewer". To my horror, when I looked at the backup files on the viewer, they were all there except for the shots from the missing CF card. I literally became sick to my stomach. My wife sensed my panic and helped me expand the search for the missing card. We tore the rental car apart and there was no sign of the card. I went back to the reception hall to see if they might still be there cleaning up. They were all gone, and there was a sign that they'd be closed for the next three days. We checked the parking lot and then drove to the church and checked the parking lot there too. NO card, no pictures and total panic about what I was going to tell the bride. How do you explain that you made a terrible rookie mistake and lost the most important pictures of their young life?
When we got back to the hotel, it was 1am, and neither one of us could sleep. I at least wanted to see what pictures I had remaining on the Epson Viewer. I opened up one file and the first three pictures were from the rehearsal dinner. BUT - My God, the ceremony and family shots were in this file. The reason I didn't see them before was that the first three shots were from the previous day, and the Epson viewer lists the backup files by the date of the first shot in the file. I started laughing so hard, that I could barely talk to tell my wife the good news. I immediately backed these files up to the laptop. All was well, except for the minor problem of losing a CF card. I called the church the next day, and the reception hall later that week, and the card was never turned in.
What did I learn?
1. Be anal retentive about backing up your work as quickly and safely as you can.
2. Develop a routine about storing your cards as soon as you take them out of the camera. Anything that upsets the routine can cause you to misplace a card.
Does anyone have any other tips or suggestions to make sure you never lose your critical shots similar to what I almost did?
Thanks much
