My Weekend . . . And My Huge Mistake

I had such a busy weekend shooting. It was really fun, but ended on a stomach-turning note. Another one of those "live and learn" experiences.

I did a shoot at a girl's house of her almost 2-year old. We did some indoor shots of him playing in his natural environment and had a great time. They had some amazing natural light. I can't wait to post some of the pictures. And then we took some outside in the below-freezing weather of little Nolan all bundled up in his coat, jester hat and little red nose. It was really fun.

Then later that day, the fam and I made out way up to Peoria to visit Kristin, Chris and baby Jack (Jenn, I think I can cross this one off my Uberlist - it's now been 2 visits in just 3 weeks!). We had a great time. Jack has really grown in just 2-1/2 weeks. He sure is pretty. I may be biased, but I think he looks a lot like Kristin!

Anyhow, of course I brought my camera, lights and backgrounds. We took about 150 pictures. Some really amazing pictures. One that I remember quite well as a favorite, is of Kristin (looking fabulous, I must say, after just having a baby!), laying on the ground behind Jack with both of them looking at me. Another one was Chris holding Jack on his bare arms . . . priceless. Oh how I love the contrast of daddy's skin, Jack's skin and then the black backdrop. We really had a fun time.

Then Sunday we had a mini baby shower for Natalie at Panera. She came up from St. Louis. It was she, Bella, Kori, Nancy, Lyn, her children, and myself all there. We were there a couple hours just gabbing, eating and unwrapping pressies. Afterwards Nat came back to my house and we did her maternity shots. Got about 100 great shots. Nat, by the way, is about to burst! She is almost 38 weeks and could go at any time. We're hoping, of course, that she can make it to her due date just because the baby is predetermined to be pretty small, just like Bella was, at a little over 5 lbs. We had a really nice time. (Good thoughts and prayers Natalie's way, please!)

So last night I went to download all my pictures from the weekend. I make a folder for Nolan, for Kristin and for Natalie. I double check that I have all their pictures in each of their folders. Nat's were all there, as well as Nolan's. I go to Kristin's and only about 30 of her 150 pictures were there. I go into panic mode. Start re-downloading all my memory cards. I don't see the other 120 pictures anywhere. I search my computer for any RAW files that I might have missed. No where to be found. So then I trace my steps.

This is what I did: I downloaded one of my cards to my computer, right before Nat arrived, from Nolan's session. I bring the card back upstairs, as well as my camera. I lay the card down. Should have put that card directly ito the camera, and totally meant to, but didn't. I then even look at the pictures on the current card in the camera before I format. I see pictures of Kristin and even show Natalie and her mom a couple of them. Not even thinking twice, I format the damn card. (If you don't know, formatting means deleting every single image on the card and all the information that goes along with that image.) I go on to shoot 100 picture of Nat - over all of Kristin's pictures WHICH I DID NOT ACTUALLY EVER DOWNLOAD. Later realizing OH MY LORD I mistakenly forgot to take that card out and shot over those images thinking it was the card I just downloaded and brought from downstairs. Are you following me?

When I realized what I did, my stomach fell out of my body. All that time that I spent on Kristin with a newborn baby . . . a baby who will quickly grow out of his wrinkly fresh body, who lives 1-1/2 hours away . . . whose parents are busier than I am . . . wasted. Pictures GONE. I am still sick. So so so sick. I have never done this before.

I bought and downloaded a program for my computer which is a recovery program for memory cards that have been formatted. I was able to salvage 8 pictures. Better than nothing. But still makes me so sick. I hate myself for doing this. I thought I was being careful. Just goes to show you can never be too careful. And once again, I'm living and learning. I just don't care for this lesson that I just learned. It's irreplacable. I think I need a glass of wine. It's 10:00 a.m. That's ok, right?