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Monday, October 19, 2009

My Camera Failed Me!


I was in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost part, the past few days. And there I got exposed to the Japanese "inaka" or countryside - a scene so unlike the image that comes to mind when people talk about the high-tech, populous land of the rising sun.

From above, one could see vast plains all over the area, with greens that look like golf courses. It turned out that most of the land was planted to cultured grass, stuff used as feeds to dairy cows.

True to our being universal migrants, Filipinos were there, toiling in almost desolate working conditions. They tend to hundreds of gigantic cows (normally 300 to 500 per farm), and one worker would milk more than a hundred cows per day! And that's year-round, even during the harshest of winter when temperatures would drop to minus 26. And their daily grind? It starts from 4:30 in the morning and ends at 11:00 in the evening - with a few hour breaks in between.

My visit exposed me to a new and fascinating scenery and experience which I documented with gusto with my otherwise trusty camera.

But all those images will now just remain in my mind - as my DLSR choose to play a cruel prank on me. The only pic left of the three-day visit was the single photo (above) I took with my point & shoot, which died soon after (and I forgot to bring the charger).

What happened? Tired from travel, I opted to just keep my pics in my memory card until after the Filipino community activity I attended yesterday. But when I opened the camera, it displayed CF error so I decided to just turn it off. The next time I opened it, it displayed the same message and asked if I want to make a reformat. I turned the camera off again.

On my third try, the camera worked. After I took some test shots, I checked the images and discovered, to my utter dismay, that my Hokkaido pics were gone!

I have checked the memory card thru my computer and its indeed empty. I really feel so bad. There's no way I could recapture those moments.

To the professional fotogs out there, has this ever happened to you? Is there really no way to recover my precious files?

17 comments:

Xprosaic said...

Ooops! too bad... I feel for you buddy... kaso mukhang better luck next time na lang talaga ang pwede kong masabi eh... but yeah... once in a while Sh*t happens... hayaan mo na lang... ang importante, nakatatak pa yun sa puso at isipan mo... jejejejejejeje

Anonymous said...

me solution how to recover pics sa memory by using 3rd party software

Rico said...

Man that sucks big time!
But now you have a reason to go back there again, right?!
Those Pinoys working in the farm have it hard.

atto aryo said...

prosaic: he he. yun nga e. move on na lng. hayz!

atto aryo said...

anonymous: meron nga daw. i'll try to look help.

atto aryo said...

rico: yup, those guys really work hard. nakakaawa yung conditions nila. pero alam naman natin ang pinoy. lahat kinakaya.

Anonymous said...

try to download image recovery from memory card. matagal nga lang mag recover

val said...

sabi nga ni rico, u hav the reasons to go back here again pare. we'll be waiting 4 u. hehehe!
ive been to the place on pic.
nangangagat yang swan nayan!haha!

btw, sana ala kang visitor from jitco kundi lagot mga boss nmin.hehe! ur ryt pag pinoy kinakaya lahat., without knowing it, tapos na kontrata.hehe,. tas bitin p pala!

atto aryo said...

val: oo nga no! masabi nga to sa JITCO hehehe. Di naman. baka madamay pa kayo.

sana nga makabalik ako dyan sa winter. pwede bng mag board dyan sa bahay mo? heheh

Abaniko said...

I'm no pro but this thing happened to me. That's why I advise you to buy several 2GB of memory cards. At least when one goes kaput, you won't feel too bad because you still have pics in other cards.

val said...

winter spring summer or fall. all uve got to do is call...(hehe parang kanta lang), ur always welcome pare.
maganda rito pag last week of jan to first week of feb kc yan usually ang snow festival..

Kikit said...

That's too bad. But you know what, the good thing with having no camera is you try to produce pictures with your mind. :)

Take it easy, dear. :)

BlogusVox said...

Try to find an "outlet" of the company that made your card. Some have "tech guys" who might have some expertise on how to recover your photos.

Mahirap nga yang trabaho sa "dairy farm" lalo na kung winter. Are they well compensated?

atto aryo said...

Abaniko: Yup, am now buying a new CF card. Kasi naman, di mo ko inadvise agad hehe.

atto aryo said...

val: pag andito pa ko by then, i will try my best to attend the snow festival.

atto aryo said...

kikit: yup, i do have a fertile mind. :-)

atto aryo said...

blogusvox: am already seeking professional help. am keeping my fingers crossed.

on our kababayans there, what really made me sad is the fact that despite their slave-like conditions, the pay they're getting is pittance. not even enough to pay the debts they incurred just so they could get there. :-(