Brian Wolfe(y)

This past weekend, I attended the start of Acorn Buddy Camp where my main purpose was to take the camp photo for the 4th year in a row (I’ll make a post on that later about my techniques in shooting groups). This camp specializes is providing a barrier-free facility where campers with physical disabilities can do everything one might expect to do at camp. Each camper is paired with one or two “buddies” depending on the amount of assistance the camper needs in doing things. Everyone has an amazing time.

Before I shot the group photo, I helped the Arts and Crafts director by photographing each camper and their “buddy” on the first night of camp. There was a lot of excitement in both parties so it was the perfect time to capture a portrait of each pair or trio. The A&C director had set up a backdrop so the whole process was very similar to school portraits except we were outside and no strobes were used.

After we finished, I went inside and was given permission to use the computer at the front desk to transfer the .jpg images I had taken onto a CD. I removed my CF card from my camera body and plugged it into the internal card reader on the e-machines tower. Nothing happened so I opened up My Computer and navigated to the removable drive letter. Nothing. I safely ejected the card, replaced it into my camera, turned my camera on and pressed the playback button. My stomach dropped. Staring back at me weren’t the faces of campers ready for a week of fun, no. All I saw were the two words that no one ever wants to see after a shoot: “No Image”.

After a Khan Yell and several trips up and down the rollercoaster of denial I spent 2 hours on a different computer turning a bad situation into something quite manageable. I recovered all but two images and I didn’t spend a penny. You can do the same no problem! What’s best is that the entire process should only taken a few minutes of actual person-computer interaction. Here’s how:

Step 1: Do not download CardRecovery™

Although this software works just fine and it’s probably the first thing you’ll click on after your frantic google search, you’ll need to pay $40 to be able to File>Save your lost/deleted images which will be staring back at your from the other side of the computer screen. So let me save you some time.

Download the free program Recuva instead.

Step 2: Plug your camera’s memory card into the PC using a USB card reader or an internal card reader.

As I mentioned before, I borrowed a laptop for the recover process. I also borrowed a USB CF reader from one of the staff at the camp office. The USB card reader enables you to point the recovery program at an actual location needing things recovered. In my case, plugging my camera (with the bum card) into the computer with my USB cord would not tell me where the card was which prevented me from using the program at all. Try to take the camera out of the equation.

Step 3: Run Recuva

After your card is identified by your computer, you tell Recuva to concentrate its magical powers on that area.

I had to run a “deep scan” to find anything.

Depending on the speed of your card and reader, the scan can take anywhere from a few seconds to an hour (mine took 15 minutes for a 16Gb card on a reader with UDMA support)

Step 4: Save the results (and do a happy dance)

You can pick and choose which files to save and if you shot in .jpg, there’s preview window on the right to see what the image you have selected. I downloaded the entire card (Ctrl+A to select all) so that I could get previews of all of the images in lightroom before knowing what was salvaged.

I sincerely hope and pray that you never need to go through what I did. On the dark day that you or someone you love does, know that it’s possible that you do NOT need to pay money to recover those memories or portraits of campers.

Your comments and questions are welcome.