We talk a lot about preserving memories, but this time we want you to share the ones you never captured!
We’ve all had those moments: you grab for your camera, switch it on, take your shot, realize the lens cap is still on, and the moment is gone.
For one of us, it was driving through the Nevada desert at dusk watching a thunderstorm over the mountains. Ten minutes of the most spectacular lightning show went by before we realized we should be taking pictures. And by the time we got the camera out of the trunk–you guessed it–the show was over.
What about you?
123 thoughts on “The Photo That Got Away”
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My memory of Peter is that he died before he was three
Around 1993 there was a total eclipse of the sun in the northeast. During the eclipse I noticed how individual leaves from the trees were casting perfect shadows on the ground, something I’d never seen before or since. Needless to say, by the time I’d retrieved my camera the effect had disappeared back into full sunshine.
It happens whenever I leave the house without my camera. I see the best sunset or beautiful landscape. Now I keep a small camera in the car hopefully I won’t miss that special moment again!
We do, too. Thank goodness for cupholders–cars have so much more room to stash cameras these days.
My camera was in my hotel room, when the king of Jordan came into the dining room at the Hotel I was staying at and stopped at our table to wish us well. Alas by the time and got up to the room and back his Royal highness and his entourage had left! Lesson learned never leave the camera behind!
Wow!
I shot a roll of 35mm at a dairy cattle show and to my dismay when I rewound it, I realized that the film leader never became engaged in the takeup spool. So, I had to drive all over the county the next day and reshoot the winners. A hard lesson to learn.
For me it wasn’t so much missed memories, but double exposure on some precious memories from high school. At the time I took some pictures and set the roll aside. Somehow I ended up reusing the same roll double exposing nearly half of the pics. Real bummer – though at least I can still make out some of the images.
We have a lot of those at home, too. They can be kind of artistic, at least…
Ordering today!!!!!
One of my favorite photos of my son and my husband was taken with a polaroid sticker camera. Everytime I see the tiny sticker, I kick myself for not having taken it with a real camera!
Went to my daughter’s dance recital and snapped shots until I realized the film was used and had been rolled. I missed shots of the whole thing….bummer.
Then, when she was older, I was trying to record a dance recital on my digital camera and realized that I was confused about the on and off on the video. I recorded moving the camera into position and the back of the head of the man in front of me and none of the dance.
Sigh…..
My Mom tossed 28 years of slide carousels away a few years ago. She thought it was unnecessary to keep them considering they were converted to a VHS slide show years ago. They contained my 5 siblings and my baby pictures through adulthood. A real tragic loss. It would have been nice to have those today for Scan cafe to convert to digital pictures.
Oh goodness, that is a tragedy. We can’t imagine that that a transfer to VHS would have been very high quality. We’re so sorry!
I have thrown my parents a total of 3 surprise anniv. parties. They were married in Vegas in Jan. 1973. The 1st anniv. party (their 25thi n 1998) I was 22 and did the party by myself (my brother was no help!). I had a cake for them and wanted them to “cut the cake” since they never had a cake cutting at their wedding. I couldn’t find my camera that I just had with all the excitement so my aunt let me use hers. Well, she had put the batteries in but no film! So all the cake cutting pictures I took with her camera didn’t turn out because it was such a rush I didn’t realize there was no film in the camera! I didn’t discover this until later that night. No one else took pictures during that time either – I learned for the next 2 anniversary parties – I had my camera and a back-up camera!
wow! I suppose going to digital eventually helps, too. Certainly doesn’t make you miss film!
I wish I had taken more pictures of my children once they got older. When my children were babies the camera was clicking all the time. Maybe I started taking less pictures when they got to that age when they wouldn’t pose for the pictures. Now that they’ve moved away, I’ve noticed a big gap in quality pictures of my children.
For me this happened almost twenty years ago. I still remember it today. I was living in Los Angeles at the time. I was driving home at night around 9pm. From the passenger side window I could see the full moon close to the horizon.
What made this sight so memorable was that the full moon appeared HUGE. It was yellowish in color and from my vantage point it was around three or four feet in diameter. It was so mesmerizing that I pulled off to the side of the road and observed it for a few minutes.
Later I learned that it was a combination the moon being close to the horizon and the warm atmospheric conditions that created this optical illusion of the moon appearing larger than usual.
Whatever it was, I have not seen anything like that repeated. And I did not have my camera with me at the time. Even if I had, I probably would not be able to capture that scene with a cheap 35mm autofocus camera.
David
After a day at Disney World, my Dad went to put a new roll of film in the camera, but had forgotten to roll the film back!
Sending in my order now!!!!!
Missing out on the recent lighting storm because I couldnt find my tripod plate.
My whole family had gathered together for a outdoor dinner and
I coerced them into posing for a group photo-
( there were parents and brothers and sisters and gran child)
They were very reluctant-
I shot away and then realized I did not have film in the camera- ( image # 45)
HA !
They all ran away and would not re pose after I went and got film !!
GEE
About 15 years ago when I, my wife and 3 children were travelling in Brazil and were visitng Amazon river, we were in the jungle and I thought I had enough film, but there were so many interesting things to photograph but I ran out of film and we mised some fantastic photos.
My husband and I went to Sea World not to long ago during a slow day on our San Diego vacation. During one of the big shows we decided to go down to the Shamu tanks since we didn’t have to complete with throngs of people to get a look at the new baby killer whale and mom. We took over 60 pictures trying to get a picture of us in front of the new family as they swam by. Needless to say the closest we got was the tip of a fin and lots of funny memories of us getting a little ridiculous to get one good shot. Now we just tell people we really liked the blue background! Oh well! 🙂
We had a wonderful day on the River Road Wine tasting event in Russian River AVA. Great food, great wine, great friends, great memories. We think the pictures were great too, however we stopped for a potty break on the way home and the camera was left in the restroom. Oddly enough the person that found the camera did not turn it in to lost and found. Hope they enjoyed reliving our day.
we’re so sorry! what a bummer.
In reviewing pictures of my parents, I wish we had them more organized so that it would be easier to share them.
Just yesterday, I stumbled upon a Presidential motorcade in which President Obama and President Medvedev went to a local burger joint for lunch. I didn’t even have a camera on me, but I was seeing all kinds of shots worth taking…blurred motorcycle police, racing limos, the glowers of Secret Service guys staring out the windows.
One day last summer, we were cruising Tampa Bay in our friends boat when a giant shark swam up alongside, and actually bumped into us. We were all huddled in the cockpit, scared and never once thinking of a photo-op. After he swam away, we thought of the camera in my purse.
wow, a missed photo and a missed fish story, all in one! Sounds darn scary.
I once cycled across the Canadian Rockies for 2 months with a broken camera — only to find out after the fact that I had not captured any pictures at all…
Digital has allowed me to capture a lot of memories and store them. I wished it had come sooner. I may have not lost as many photos; for a number of reasons.
I always try to be prepared with camera in hand for those special moments. Unfortunately I’ve learned capturing that special moment isn’t always in my control.
I was at my son’s high school graduation. He’s only going to graduate once so I was prepared and ready to go when the M’s stood up to line up to receive their diplomas. As the names got closer and closer to my son’s, I had that camera set and ready to go. This shot of my son receiving his diploma I would not miss. Sitting in my seat with only one thought in mind, I fixed the camera on my son even before he was called. I followed him with my camera step by step as he approached the stage. I followed him with the camera as he walked onto the stage and was ready to shake hands with the Superintendent. As my son smiled and his hand was outstretched I took that once in a lifetime shot. And I got – a great big clear shot of a bald head of the guy in front of me who just happened to stand up while I took the shot.
I later printed out that shot of his bald head and placed it in my photo album of my son. And every time I look at this bald head, I see that image of my son with a smile on his face and his hand outstretched (but of course never the image I missed of him actually shaking hands). Oh well – next time I’ll stand on the chair!
Went to Europe at 16 yrs old with the United States Collegiate Wind Band for a month. Took along a new disk camera with me and after the *first* shot I took the shutter jammed and I never got another picture. Didn’t realize it until I got home. 🙁 but that doesn’t count as there was film in the camera, so…
Another Tale:
Floyd (my dad)
Duane (Floyd’s older brother – my uncle)
Elbert (Floyd’s dad – my grandpa)
Thirty-mumble years ago we went to a big family reunion with all of Elbert’s brothers. Elbert had died in the 1940s. It was the last time all these men would be together as many were old and unwell. Duane was taking photos as the ‘official’ family photographer, but he and Floyd never got along. Floyd was watching and was certain there was no film in Duane’s camera as he never had to change it after taking dozens and dozens of photos. No one else was taking pictures since Duane promised to send copies to everyone. I don’t know if Floyd was right, but I never did see a single picture from that reunion. Tragic.
I bit over 30 years ago I was on an outing to the mountains with my girl friend (who is now my wife) and my college friends. I made lots of photographs with a film camera (no digital back then, of course) and only when the film advance counter went past 36 frames did I discover that the roll of film wasn’t properly threaded and that I had, in fact, made no photos at all that day. I still feel the ache.
I hope this qualifies but when The Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, we turned out the lights in our den and took photos of the tv screen with our camera. We had all of these great shots when they put their names on the screen and I would see the photos at my parent’s house over the years and always think, “I should take these home”.
Then, of course, as soon as I wanted to get them and have them scanned (which I would no doubt be rescanning today with ScanCafe) I couldn’t find them anywhere. I’m still hoping they’ll turn up in a box somewhere but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high.
Does it count if I was in the photo, not behind the camera? My family (both parents and all 5 kids) went to a studio to have photos taken for Christmas cards. My youngest sister was teething, and in a terrible mood, so it took over an hour of standing there posed before we could get enough shots for the photographer to change out the roll…at which point he realized he’d not put any film in to begin with. We all groaned, and had to take a break before the kids were willing to try again. We managed one half-decent shot in the second very fast attempt, and even in that one the baby is blurred from waving her arms around. She does have a smile, though.
My son catching his first overhead wave in CR;
As we were vacationing in the Badlands of South Dakota I missed the most amazing sunset as I could not find my camera. The sun glistened across the bands in the dunes and all the colors were magnificent. I found my camera the next morning packed under other camping equipment. We had to leave the Badlands that day and I did not get the opportnity again.
I rode my motorcycle alone across Africa 2000-2001. I didn’t even take a camera, I bought a cheap one in South Africa. In Malawi on Dec. 30, 2000 was the soccer championship between the teams from Blantyre and Lilongwe (think New York v. LA). The sun was blistering. I was THE ONLY WHITE PERSON in the stadium (as far as I could tell). Also the only person in shorts. The seats were cement. This was a whole series of photos I missed.
Then, after the game, fans of the winning team started celebrating on the field. I joined them, dancing and jumping up and down; and everyone wanted to jump up with me because I was obviously an outside. Then, all of a sudden the police decided to disburse us and we were running to avoid getting cracked with a nightstick! What I scene. I was I had some photos from that one!
Back in the days of kodachrome, I was at Disneyland on a family vacation. I shot a whole roll until I noticed the counter had stopped moving even though I seemed to be advancing the film. Lo and behold, the film had not caught in the sprockets and I had NOTHING at all. An entire morning of pictures lost.
My son started to walk and I didn’t have the camera
First trip to Vegas with someone special … broken camera … nearly all photos grainy and out of focus!
Our first Christmas – My fiance arrived at the house one day to find one of the bedrooms emptied of everything except a refrigerator box wrapped up as a giant present. Inside that box, a wardrobe box, also wrapped up as a present. Like russian nested dolls, she found present within present, down to her first actual present of the season. After all that unwrapping, shredding and unboxing of packing materials, the room was a three foot deep ocean of foam peanuts, ribbon, and wrapping paper – wall to wall. she literally went swimming in it. Would have been stellar to have remembered to grab a camera for that.
Having two little ones seems like you can never capture everything you want to, but here’s to trying!
My dad bought me a black lab for Christmas one year, and on our first hunt I bagged a beautiful mallard. My mom took a picture of the proud owner and his pet with their first duck, but when we tried getting them developed the drug store lost all the negatives from the roll. 🙁
A couple of years ago we were driving on Skyline Drive in Shennendoah Nat’l Park, and rounded the bend, and saw two large red-tail hawks roosting on a branch right over the road, and the late afternoon sun (it was early spring) highlighted them perfectly. If I had had my camera with zoom, I’m sure it would have been a fantastic picture. As it was, we stopped in the road (very little traffic) and enjoyed just looking at them for a few moments before they were spooked and flew-off. Amazing.
I feel like a whole lifetime of memories is getting away constantly. You miss a shot, don’t get the video, or fail to write down a great moment. That’s the great part of having family and friends — just like the photos, they’re there to help remind you of the good times. Now when I miss the photo, I make the diary entry or talk about it with friends. Photos are vivid reminders of the past, but so are our stories.
Many years ago when a vacation meant once in a lifetime chance to visit some places, I had shot about 8 rolls of film. Too excited to wait until I returned home, I took them to a local developer. The prints made were awful, but I thought the kid doing them had just done a poor job and so I took them to my custom lab at home, to find out he had ruined the film during the developing (all 8 rolls) and even my professional could not do much with the images. Ever since then, I never trust an unfamiliar lab, and now I shoot in 2 mediums (film and digital) just to be sure.
I never seem to have a camera ready when I need it. Our now 2-year-old is always doing things that I think are picture-worthy. but unless the camera’s already out the moment is over before I can take a picture. Bad luck, I guess!
I had about 30 photos from middle school. Actually the only album from those school years. 25 years later I went to my mom’s home to retrieve them and they are gone. There are no negatives, no backup, unfortunately they are gone. In 6 months we have our 26 year school reunion, and no old photos to show. Just the incredible memories that we can remember. Now, I backup every single photo. I learned my lesson.
I have been at several events lately and been forgotten to bring my camera when it would have been great to have photos.
While waiting for the perfect moment to click the shutter while watching a pod of Dolphin, my 300mm lense fell off my Canon into about 100 feet of water……..never got that pix or the lense!
I love taking photos of my grandkids but can never remember to bring my camera with me.
My daughter just graduated from college and you know from all the graduations you have been to, how difficult it is ti get just the right shot of your child walking across the stage to get that diploma. You only have one shot at it and then it is over. Well, I missed it, only got the back of her as she was exciting the stage. How sad I was…
Standing on California and Powell in San Francisco taking a glimpse at the faraway Bay Bridge: Breathtaking. Taking a picture? Too bad, I only had my little compact on me. The photos don’t tell half the story… I guess, I will have to come again with my SLR.
It was wonderful to have Scan Cafe to help me preserve the war time memories from my dad (WWII) and then the memories from my husband’s military time (Vietnam). I can now share them all with future generations.
Backpacking in Montana many years ago and lost the camera over the side of a cliff. Ouch!@ Not only did I lose a great camera, but I lost 22 stunning shot (at least I like to think they were stunning)
My mom passed away less than a year ago and I wish I had many more memories. I wish I could live another 25 years making more with her. I miss her every minute of every day and I wish I would have photographs with her through the later stages of my life and although there’s plenty of kid pictures, now that she’s gone, it’s just not enough!
We all posed in our finest for my son’s wedding–only to discover a week later that the photographer had no film!
My mother and I went to China when the Tianamen Square protests were going on in 1989. All the pictures were on 35mm slides so I’m really happy to get these on my computer so I can share these memories.
A few years ago I was leaving an evening with friends when I happened upon a Harry Potter movie premiere party. I was desperately wishing for my camera then!
A 2 week inter railing trip with no camera so as not to be a target for thieves meant we missed south of france beaches, Barcelona, architecture, Monaco, ITaly, Venice, Germany and the Munich Octoberfest and sleeping in Munich train station and all the people we met on the journey
The one that got away from me was at a “once in a lifetime” family gathering about 20 years ago. I was in charge of documenting the event… only to find the film had not caught on the advance spool and the 36 pictures I worked so hard to capture were gone forever.
My son was in a school play in about 1969. I was rather shy at the time and did not go forward to get his photo. I’ve always regretted missing that opportunity.
We attended the wedding of a friend’s daughter. I did not have my camera with me to capture several memorable moments. In addition to missing photos of the bride and groom, both my sons were present, dressed in 3-piece suits. They looked amazing and I missed a golden opportunity to preserve that image. I asked them the next day to dress again for me so I could get a photo – I received the unanimous reply: “No way am I doing that again today!”
1972-Taipei City, Taiwan
I was traveling the Pacific Rim with bandmates on a USO Tour. We had a few days off in Taipei. The guitar player and I strolled around downtown shooting all the sites. From out of nowhere came several police vehicles. Not just any police but the Taiwan police in charge of of protecting the building that serves as their armed forces headquarters. They whisk us and demanded all our film. They took each roll and pull it out out of the canister exposing it to room light and ruining our fine shots of the Defense HQs. The USO in Taiwan had to come and help straighten out the misunderstanding. Needless to say, we were a bit more cautious about what we shot after that.
My son was laughing hysterically at a new toy and when I ran to get the camera I realized the batteries had died.
I agreed to take pictures of my nephew for his prom–prom day comes and I pull out my camera only to discovery the screen had shattered and my camera would not work
Ran to the store to buy a disposable and purchased a new camera a few days later
My friend took pictures at my wedding, but realized too late that he shot slide film instead of print film. Ten years later, I am having those slides scanned as a surprise to my wife!
My friend took pictures at my wedding, but realized too late that he shot slide film instead of print film. Ten years later, I am having those slides scanned as a surprise to my wife!
My friend many rolls of pictures at my wedding, but realized too late that he shot slide film instead of print film. Ten years later, I am having those slides scanned as a surprise to my wife!
Went all the way to Scotland and couldn’t get a picture of Loch Ness.
I went camping with friends and the last night it rain and my camera got soaked. I lost all the photos from the trip.
When I went to the Galapagos Islands I thought I forgot my camera, but then found it on the fourth day! It was a relief to have it, but I missed a TON of amazing pictures on the first three days.
My best freinds dog was the best, she would fetch for hours. When she was tired she sould sit and stare at you and cock her head slightly to one side as if to say “what’s next”. If you made a move of course she would too so it was impossible to catch that look on film. But the memory will be on my mind forever!
Wish I had taken more pictures of our kids when they were in high school.
I was in Rome in 1968 doing “street photography”. After getting some Doisneau/Eisenstaedt-quality photos, I went to dinner with friends and came home and found that my camera – with the undeveloped film inside – was stolen.
Back in 2007 Hawaii was going too view a lunar eclipse. As the big night approached I planned to set up my tripod to snap a series of photos then I could make into a time lapse. Unfortunately, that night was very cloudy and I had a difficult time “finding” the Moon. I ended up missing most of the eclipse in progress but managed to snap one photo through a break in the clouds of the “Red Moon”
My father was the original photographer in our family. There are very few photos of him because he was usually the photographer and not the photographee.
I miss all sorts of things! Especially when i am walking the dogs….lots of nature to photograph if only I took my camera on those walks!
There is a closeup photo that my uncle took of my youngest sister at her third birthday, blowing out her candles. Sadly, the photo was poorly positioned and her forehead is cut off from pic.
She was murdered at age 24 so ANY photo of her has become a treasure.
Years ago, I took shots of a Communist Party celebration that was turned into a Free Soviet Jewry Demonstration. I gave the film to the LA Times because they thought it was important and I wanted the photos seen. Some of the rolls produced nothing. The LA Times said the was something wrong with my camera. (Did they mess up the film processing??)
IN JULY, 1985, WHEN OUR TWIN GRANDDAUGHTERS WERE BORN, WE TOOK MY DAD AND MOM TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE THE GIRLS. HE WAS ALWAYS TAKING PICTURES AND HAD HIS CAMERA WITH HIM, SO I DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT TAKING MINE. HE WAS SO EXCITED TO HAVE THEM DEVELOPED, THAT HE RUSHED RIGHT DOWN TO WALGREENS, GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND DROPPED HIS CAMERA. THE FILM ROLLED OUT AND BROKE HIS HEART. HE DIED ONE MONTH LATER AND I MISSED THE PICTURES I COULD HAVE TAKEN AT THE HOSPITAL WITH MY PARENTS. EVERY SINCE THEN, I HAVE MY CAMERA WITH ME AT ALL TIMES, AND MANY TIMES, A BACKUP CAMERA.. THIS HAS COME IN HANDY AT THE TIME MY MUSTANGE WAS, “KILLED,” BY A DRUNK DRIVER, AND OUR SON ROLLED HIS OVER IN THE COUNTRY WHILE TRYING TO CONQUER SOME MOUNDS ON OUR PROPERTY.
I had a pet donkey when I was a little girl, and I don’t have any good pictures of her.
I was stalled in a traffic jam due to a terrific downpour only to watch the perfect double rainbow and my camera was in the trunk of the car.
The roll of film that just disappeared, even tho I thought I had it in my had when I went out the door. There were pictures of my oldest nephews first day at the beach.
On a cool winter day in Venice, walking along the Lido at night, I asked my beloved to marry me. She said, “of course!” It was precious. I wanted to take a picture of us together that night to remember it. Sadly, I left the camera at the hotel.
Fortunately, the story doesn’t end there. We’re coming on our 7th anniversary … so we have lots of new memories and photos to treasure.
I didn’t take a picture of my daughters first tooth. Now she has so many, but the first one is special.
After college I took a 35mm camera to Europe. Most pictures came out, but some pictures at the end of the roll did not come out…memories gained, photos lost (forever)
I was at the Union Hotel at Purdue University after a football game about ten years ago then Drew Bresse walked up and held the door open for my wife.We could have gotten our picture taken with him but I left the camera in the car.
My great uncle Franklin was a steel worker on some of the great early skyscrapers in the northeastern U.S. We visited him in a nursing home a number of times throughout my teen years. I always wanted a picture of his hands, rough and beautiful like the iron they worked. Alas, I didn’t get into photography until later in life. I still have the picture in my mind. Perhaps I should learn to draw . . .
I was in Maui and I went to the top of Haleakala to see the sunrise. The picture would have been fantastic as the clouds were just starting to fade as the sun came up, however the batteries were dead in the camera.
I was once taking pictures of my daughter trying to play golf at camp on visiting day. She missed the ball entirely or hit it in the wrong direction. Amazingly…just as she was finishing…she got a hole in one. Reviewing the pictures later I discovered I had gotten a great picture of that moment. Unfortunately…it was a picture of my feet.
I’m never fast enough with my camera.
Being able to relive my childhood memories through images has been amazing. On the other hand I have yet to figure out how to use my new camera, and meanwhile, my kids are growing up without without being photographed.
We had two new, active, engaging kittens and I shot two rolls of film (I thought) of them during the first month of them doing all sorts of crazy, fun activities . For some undiscovered reason he films turned out to be blank.
Early one morning while I was on vacation in northern Wisconsin, I thought I would get up and watch the sunrise. I grabbed my camera and my cup of coffee and headed down to the dock to see this beautiful sight. As I sat and watched the sun climb into the horizon, an enormous eagle came gliding by in search of some breakfast. I quick grabbed my camera as this bird swooped down to the water and snatched up a fish in it’s talons. I watched in amazement, still trying to get my camera out. The giant bird was headed right for me as I got my camera to my eye and began to focus, the eagle coming right at me, I leaned back in my chair as he flew over my head. Just as I got him into focus, I leaned just a little too far and lost my balance…backwards into the water I fell, camera and all, no great National Geographic shots taken.
An hour after giving birth, following a difficult delivery that involved a huge amount of “labor” by my wife and some nearly psychedelic analgesic medication by the anesthesia department, she wanted to take a photo of me holding our new daughter. We ended up framing that shot of the blank yellow wall immediately next to where we stood – she missed us totally!
hilarious! at least she wasn’t driving a car!
?
If I had been 5 seconds sooner I would have caught the dog stealing the ice cream cone out of my granddaughters’ hand.
Realized the camera was left behind on a special road trip with my sons, Matt and Mike. Missed some great photo opportunities along the way.
A night in Paris, 1961, photographing the fountains , just as I was about to squeeze the cable releast, the fountain water was turned off, and the fountain lights were extinguished.
I pity the fool whose camera battery died when Mr. T was at the mall.
We were on our way to a Christmas party with our new pocket digital and a covered pot of hot seafood gumbo. When we arrived at the party, we discovered that somehow the lid of the pot had flipped upside down (but was still on the pot) and the camera (which had been on the floor of the van next to the pot) was inside the gumbo. The gumbo was fine….the camera was not.
My kid trying to get through the Hall of Windows in Ocean City NJ and bumping his head into a wall
I once competed in an International Martial Arts Tournament in France, only to realize that the negative was torn from the start. So no photos except for 2 that my friends took of me.
My wife and I didn’t even think about taking pictures when we got engaged. Of course, we thought about it a few days later but the moment was lost.
i had traveled all over europe for 2 months, taken 15 rolls of film and K-mart developing lost them all.
I was out during the May 1st demonstrations/riots in Berlin behind Police lines working with my Leica M5 on TMZ. As I went home after capturing a fairly impressive standoff between the water canons and demonstrators, I looked down and saw the frame counter showing the tell-tale frame number being above 36. Opening the camera confirmed it. No film in the camera. I went home reloaded and went out again. But the standoff was no more …
The memory that just got away was at the most beautiful, most memorable, most romantic wedding of a friend’s daughter that I’ve ever been to. My camera was left on a plane flight during a redeye flight last week and I missed an amazing moment. My husband look handsome as well, me in my summery off the shoulder coral colored jersey dress and silver slippers…we were waiting for a photo that we might have asked someone to take for us with our long lost camera (unless aa calls tomorrow with good news!) These moments got away and I’ll regret that always!
I was traveling through Europe right after college and was unfortunate enough to have my camera stolen while riding the train in Barcelona. A full roll of film went with that camera and all of the great shots on it….
Thinking it wasn’t a good idea to take my camera into the spitting rain in the Yucatan of Mexico while touring ceynotes, I missed getting a photograph of the big, lumbering manatee that was swimming in it.
The evening I first met my wife. One of my old friends did take photos of the evening, but the negatives have since been lost. We’ve been together now for more than 20 years and we take cameras with us everywhere. I greatly appreciate ScanCafe’s service: it helps archive all the old paper photos we have without the original negatives!
Our daughter recently graduated from 8th grade – there was a nice celebration ceremony at her school at 6 pm on a weekday – in the rush to get there on time, get our seats, get our 8th grader there early AND get the siblings in their “finery”, which miraculously they did with no complaint, we completely forgot to get a photo of the five of us – many photos of the graduate and her classmates, but missed the opportunity for a fine photo of our family…..and for the 2010 end of year holiday card!
I have two memories of “lost” pictures. I purchased a new 35 mm camera (my dream camera at the time) went to Israel for a trip…and one day thought the battery was dead….missed a whole day…no the battery was not dead….the film had auto rewound and was flashing saying to take out the roll and put another in!
the other missed opportunity a large group of friends went for a hike up a lighty snow covered mountain when we reached where we were going…the overcast clouds opened up and the sun shown through to a large river below….I backed the whole group up on the side of the mt, with the river in the background promising copies of it to eveyone (no one else took picts, as they always liked my shots the best) and yes…got back to camp…and NO FILM….ugh
Driving from Jasper to Banff, we were so taken by the turquoise coloured lakes that we forgot to take any photos! Need to go back there …
My story is similar. I traveled to England to ramble about the countryside. As most tourists do I visited Stonehenge and had my picture taken in front of it. It wasn’t until I got back to London and had the film developed that I found out that my camera was broken and all the pics were blank. Had to buy a new camera while I was there as repair and cost were excessive!
Uploading my digital pictures and deleting them off the memory card at the same time. Upload didn’t work, and lost the pictures at the same time. Won’t do that again!
On the first day of my 3-month backpacking trip through Europe my camera fell from my backpack as I crossed the street. When I got to the other side I saw the camera lying the street. Before I could go back and pick it up a truck ran over the camera and it was destroyed. So I spent the first week of my trip without a camera until I found camera store in Paris and blew my travel budget on a new camera.
I am so excited about receiving my scans! With this service my printed photos will definitely not get away from me this time!
Used old film that had gone through x-ray machines at my friend’s wedding. About half the photos were grainy and discolored.