In memory of photographs accidentally deleted

One of the joys of digital photography is reviewing your photos on a large screen almost immediately after you have shot them. On a recent visit to Bhutan, and after a long day's travel and shoot, I was trying to do just that. I inserted the SD Card in the computer and was waiting for the transfer of close to 300 photos, impatiently. While the transfer was going on I began rummaging through the SD card and found no less than seven folders that my camera had created. 
"Quite redundant" I thought. 
In a momentary lapse of reason I selected six of them and deleted. And lo! the transfer was interrupted! Only then I realised that I had deleted the photos as well! And no, just when you need it, Windows does not trash it in the Recycle Bin but directly sends it to the netherworld. I frustratingly opened the folder on the desktop to assess the damage. I had lost about 50 photos. 
"Not bad". 
"But which ones?"
From the sequence of photos already there, I began to reconstruct the sequence of events. Takin Zoo was the most affected. Close ups of the remarkably tame national animal of Bhutan were lost. I reckoned none of them were particularly good although a few were shot by the camera precariously hidden from the heavy rain. A slew of idioms passed through my mind: "sour grapes", "spilled milk", "Love's labour lost" etc. I felt frustrated not because the photos were particularly good but because some of them were shot under trying circumstances. There were a few photos of here and there, nothing remarkable. But also there were photos of the splendid Drukgyel Dzong. This elaborate fortress, though destroyed in a fire, is matter of national pride in Bhutan. The 500 year old imposing structure was the site of many a battles between the Bhutanese and their northern neighbours, Tibetans. The saving grace, however, was that I was staying quite close to the Drukgyel Dzong and I had enough time to hop off the next day to salvage some of the views. 
Lesson learnt? "Life doesn't often gives you a second chance but it certainly gave me one!"

Comments

Varuna said…
That's sad...we all have gone through that some time or the other.
Varuna said…
That's sad...we all have gone through that some time or the other.

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