Digital is Cheap - Is it?!

[PMG]

So digital photography doesn't cost much - so they say - well sometimes it does and it happened like this!

Instead of looking back wistfully around Nov time and thinking .... I haven't seen such and such this year - again ....... Back in Jan I made a rough 'wish list' and assigned times and dates to get things at their best. Its worked well and I'm pleased at what I have achieved just from being a bit more organised and forcing myself thro the door at the appropriate time as if I was going to work!

So Sunday just gone was one such date and Gracie and I set off in search of Marsh Gentian at Cors Eddreinogg on Anglesey. The parking was distant, the walk was down a long track, it was hot weather, I had no idea just where on the reserve the gentians were, but we were going to enjoy a big walk around and a 'nosey' at somewhere neither of us has been before.

To cut a long story short .... two other photographers appeared and went a different route to us, but we kept on eye on where they where and what they were 'bending down to' (as you do!). Finally our paths crossed and we got chatting (polite way of saying we all asked leading questions and hoped to pick up fresh knowledge!) They were a smashing couple from Stafford and we swopped ideas and info. The gentians were (as I suspected from watching these two folks!) rather unbelievably on the raised ridge of heath - not in the marshy bits as I'd thought! Finally we got around the middle of the reserve, found our way thro ponds and bogs and onto the heath and low and behold - cap doffed - there they were - stunners, colour gorgeous tho some were pale and some just seered the eyeballs the colour was so vibrant and rich. They are also taller than I expected - but the absolute archtypal 'gentian' - wonderful! Time passed and many photos were taken. I lent my macro lens to the couple from Stafford as he didn't have a dedicated macro and was wondering what lens to buy. Eventually job done, the Stafford folk had disappered and we headed back up that long and now very hot track (uphill) back to the car. We were stupid and hadn't carried anything to drink so we were parched by the time we reached the car. Eventually after a long sit outside on chairs and sev brews we set off to Cors Bodeillio for an evening stroll on the boardwalk there and then off for home at 8pm arriving back to drop Gracie off at 10pm. So in other words a very enjoyable if slightly draining day out with photos in the camera - satisfied customers!

Then (and possibly cos I was tired) something went wrong with the downloading of those precious photos gained in blood, sweat and tears ..... the card reader wasn't working properly and the situation quickly escalated from pics still on card and showing in camera to the dreaded message 'No Images on this card' ........ NOooooooo .........

To cut another long story short - a pin was missing broken off in the card reader - it didn't appear to be in the CF card - but the end result was the same - irretrievable loss of all images from the day ......... Its now 11.30pm and the die is cast - I tell myself that I have to get up next morning and return to Anglesey. I wasn't going to accept losing the images, the weather was forecast to turn wet and windy and the gentians are getting past their best and no I wasn't willing to wait till next year to get them again .........

The clock went off at 5am (yet another night with not enough sleep in it) and off again at 6am ........ I drove numb along the M6 and M56 and M55 thinking this is ridiculous - I must be mad - do I want these pics? Yes - well keep going then - by night-time it will all be over ........ When I was 8 and 9 years old we went to Penmaenmowr (spelling?!) for a weeks hol in a caravan and it took us all day by coach, rail and scooter - thats just once in 12 months a major undertaking for an annual holiday - and here I was going twice in two days ......... how things have changed.

So I parked up at 8am and set off again down long track - with the delight of rounding a bend and a barn owl came over the high hedge and almost flew into my face - I don't know which of us was most surprised! I route-marched back to the ridge - the sun was out - but the gentians weren't! It was already getting warm but I had to wait till nearly dinner time for flowers to open and they never did open as wide as the day before - it must be a 'time of day' thing rather than strength of sunlight - I reckon they only open out fully in the afternoon - and I didn't have the afternoon - I had to get back and collect my mother ....... so I made the best of what there was.

Like the day before another photographer showed up (and he had the latest Canon macro - bet thats a beauty!) We chatted and found we knew many of the same places for stuff and he had a 'wish list' he too was acting on!! We also both share arthritis and were limping gamely after plants and other wildlife photography with grim determination! He had managed to drive down that long track tho - as a gang, who are putting in a footpath on the far side of the reserve, had turned up and unlocked the gate at the main road! The chappie said if I arrived at his Range Rover before he did I could have a lift back to the main road. I decided, instead of the track, to following his route in, checking out one of the other lanes on the way - I found as I suspected it was there - but the end was fenced off and was covered with many years vegetation, trees and blackberry bushes above head height - so no way out that way ..... I thrashed about and finally found a way across to the main track and was 10 yards from reaching it when - yep - I heard a vehicle approaching - I watched helplessly as his silver RR disappeared away from me up the track .... this final gate when I reached it was locked and broken at the top - so climbing over was not an option unless I wanted to risk breaking arms and legs. Fortunately the gap underneath on the left looked deep enough to squirm under - so on my back I squeezed out onto the track, good job it was dry at that point - but it would have made no difference had it been boggy - there was no turning back!

So to get back to the original starting point of this thread - cost! On the Sunday £30 of fuel .... on the Mon £40 of fuel (and yes there's still plenty of that left) a new card reader £5 and a new CF card £25 ...... which means these photos below have cost about £70 To be fair there have been times in years gone by when slide film has been lost in the post or ruined in processing and came back with the dreaded written slip enclosed in the box and you just knew that bad news was coming and always on a film where the images 'mattered' ....... the 'so-so' photos always turned up undamaged as per 'sods law' ............




Pauline

[pammosley]

Pauline, what a great read
It`s a horrible thought to have that you may have lost photos from a special trip. Your photo is lovely. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us

[PMG]

It could have been worse .... it could have been the Western Isles Arghh!!! NOoooo ...... the moral is - when tired do not attempt mechanical things - they see you coming

Glad you enjoyed the read Pam - it struck me as quite funny by the time I was driving home ....... but yes there were other things on the lost card such as the profusion of skullcap ......

Pauline

[Lawrence Martin]

Great detemination Pauline and story. Sorry to come up with this in retrospect, but had you had the Sandisk rescue pro, except for the broken card reader you may have been able to rescue most of your pictures without the drive back to Anglesey. It is a very small programe will run easily on windows xp, I have used it when the erro messeage "NO images" on this card appeared and retrevied most of my pictures from that session. The programe is free and comes with Sandisk compact flash disk's. Thanks for all your great pictures and stories and best of luck for the future shoots.
Lawrence Martin.

[glsammy]

A good read Pauline. Sorry for the trouble you had, bur I'd still try and rescue that card if I were you.
There's free rescue software around that's worth trying. Smart Recovery 4.5 is one such that comes to mind.It's freeware and worth trying.

[PMG]

Thanks Lawrence and Graham: the card is in the bin under the table here .... so I might have a dabble later - it will make it even funnier if I can add an edit later and some of the orignal pics ........ but if the card does have a broken pin in it I would be wary of putting it in the new card reader - I may be talking out of the top of my hat but I suspect these rescue packages are for when the software in the camera or card have gone wrong - not for an actual physical breakage of a component? I don't empty my bin till its overflowing across the room (you think I jest?!) so the card will be down there for a week or two yet .......

Pauline

[Lancashire Lad]

Great story Pauline. And if Murphy's Law has anything to do with things, as it usually does when things like this happen, you will probably now find a way of retrieving the original images!

Reminds me of a somewhat drastic occurence in 1991. - We went on a long planned diving holiday to Florida during the Gulf War.

Flying restrictions on electronic equipment were such that they wouldn't allow me to take my Nikonos flashgun, so for starters, I had to cough up an extra $680.00 to buy another when we got there.

The holiday was fantastic. We saw some incredible underwater life and I knew I had about four or five hundred great transparencies. (No digital in those days!).

Time came when we were soon due to fly home, and I had been constantly bombarded with stories telling me that the airport staff wouldn't allow 35mm film cannisters on board with just visual inspection, and about the "industrial strength", unduly high powered x-rays that they were currently using for baggage checking due to fears of aircraft sabotage etc. highlighted by the war.

Long story short, I decided to get the films processed before flying back. Yes, you've guessed it, they used a batch of contaminated chemicals and only three out of 24 rolls of film survived.

Gutted wasn't quite the word.

Regards,
Mike.

[PMG]

NO-ooooooooooooo ....... oh nooooooooo ......

Oh I am sorry Mike and the thing is your mind never really forgets those images does it - they attain the status of the 'Golden Calf' ...... they were your best work - the pinnacle of your photographic career, never to be repeated ........ yes I know

Pauline