I was an idiot.
Again.
This time I left behind all my memory cards but took my camera. Thinking the bag was properly packed, I spotted Mt. Baker very bright and shiny off the starboard side of the ferry boat while taking Sabrina to school. Walking to the aft deck I whipped out my camera and….”No Card”. BLAST! I checked the bag (one I am testing and not fully packed) and found my hard case which can hold up to four cards. It held exactly zero. DOUBLE BLAST!
I’ve gotten better at not overreacting in the past three years. When the water goes up, I go up, or so a Zen Buddhist story goes.
My brain started working on how the heck I left ALL my cards behind. It was a simple mistake on my part because all my cards look the same and the one I thought was in the camera was really in the card reader. After noodling on how to prevent this in the future, I realized it would be a good topic for a blog post on Digital Photography School, a blog I get paid to write for. (That post should be up next week, in case you are wondering how to not be an idiot like me.)
I hammered out most of the post on the way back home on the ferry as inspiration was still high (and Mt. Baker was far gloomier under a wintery Washington sky). I did have a point and shoot camera and I used that one, which would not have captured Mt. Baker well at all, to take a photo of the “No Card” image on the back of my Canon 7D. Copy file, drag, drop, spell check, grammar check….and post to blog queue.
Some blog posts for DPS take 4-6 hours to write if I’m struggling to explain a new concept. This one took maybe an hour in total. Relatively speaking, an easy payday (mind you, I have to do a LOT more writing to make it an actual day’s pay).
I could have left the boat fuming about missing the great shot, and it was a beautiful view this morning. Instead, because I have been slowly training my brain to find opportunity in ‘bad’ situations, I have a few more pennies to put toward purchasing a new lens.
Have you had any moments when things didn’t go your way, but you were able to make them pay off (monetarily or not) in the end?
Something that I am still in the midst of.
On a fall expedition to take pictures, my Xsi started to act extremely odd, no longer focusing reliably. Even after cleaning the contacts, my camera no longer will take photos in AF mode. The contacts are shot, and none of my lenses will focus on the body any longer. Manual focus works just fine.
So what I have done, while dithering on replacement or repair, is learn to take photos strictly with manual focus. This has been an opportunity for me to learn a new skill, and also slow down in taking photos.
Another tip would be to use a point-and-shoot that has compatible memory cards to the DSLR! Glad you were able to find a silver lining though.