I’m pretty strictly a studio photographer. I like having full control of the entire set and lighting. But there were a few pictures on my ‘to do ‘ list that just seemed to be begging to be shot outdoors.

My sister came into town to visit and needed some beach shots for her blog. That was the final ingredient I needed for an inevitable outdoor shoot. So, armed with her shoes, and my toys, off to the beach we went.

Honestly, it wasn’t the best beach day. A bit too windy and chilly. But we stayed for just over an hour. I photographed seagulls and I photographed toys and I figured all the photos would be crap, because I was out of my comfort zone.

That night, I popped my SD card into my computer to see just what I had gotten. And to my horror, there were no new images on that SD card. I put the card back into my camera – gone there too. And this isn’t the first time this had happened. I calmed myself down, thinking they probably weren’t good photos anyway. But the next day I bought a new memory card.

Image recovery software came free with my new card. I’d never heard of such a thing but I went ahead and downloaded it. Free’s free. I decided to try it out with my old card, figuring the software would only recover items you had deleted and such. Nope, it showed everything I had ever taken with that card. I mean years worth of images. And, the cherry on top – my beach shots were there too…and I liked them.

Takeaways:

  1. If you’re ever in this situation, don’t panic. Image recovery software exists and it’s awesome.
  2. Every now and then, shoot outside your comfort zone. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Have you ever lost your images? How often do you push yourself outside of your comfort zone in your photography? Let us know in a comment below.

~ Jennifer Nichole Wells