My photographer lost my pictures...Advice PLEASE!

I would for sure make a big to do about it, until you were refunded your money.

Every photographer I have met is trying to help me recover the pictures. No luck yet!

Can the damaged memory card be sent out for recovery?

When I had a house fire, my hard drive was fused together as was the photographer's with whom I was sharing my office. We sent both drives to a place in NJ for recovery. It was by no means cheap. But it was the right thing to do. So, is the data on the card salvageable if professionally done? This would be my question. I would also ask for the card, so I could ask a recovery specialist... not the photographer.

Do you remember the name of the recovery place in NJ if so I will send it over there asap! I took the card from him bc he sent it to drive savers in California and they were unable to recover the pics. He also said they didn't charge him anything because of this. He gave up but I haven't.

I would be devastated/furious too. I used to video weddings & am an avid photographer now. I'm surprised he's telling you that the SD card was damaged esp when you can't take pictures on a damaged SD card to begin with. The words DAMAGED SD CARD, or DAMAGED CARD, or CAMERA UNABLE TO READ DISK comes up on the viewfinder. Then you have to put in a readable disk to continue taking pictures. Also, he should have been reviewing his photos throughout the night, then he would have surely known something was wrong. I always playback each photo I take to make sure photo is good. I'm feeling the photos were lost after the shoot and wondering if he somehow placed the SD near a magnet or magnetized device, perhaps at studio. I always had to be careful not to place disks or when I used to work with videocassettes near the magnet by editing machine so I didn't delete the video or pictures. I too have had SD cards that became damaged after awhile & couldn't be retrieved. contd in next post....

If he accidentally deleted them by somehow pressing delete all, some recovery service should be able to retrieve them. This is definitely not an act of God. It's human error which could have been totally preventable and fixable during your wedding.

I would sue and not give up til I got my money back. I would also give them negative review on Yelp and other review websites for the photographer and how they handled the situation.

As for the wide angle lens shots or aka master shots, it's not necessarily overkill but used just in case something goes wrong with the main camera and you still have wide views of the wedding. Master shots done a lot with videos. Were there any master shots that you could crop down to a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 to show you and your husband, or your parents? or the master shots all useless too?

Yeah, it's court time.

I would also demand full refund, the pics he did take, plus money for a shoot with a different photographer. Oh and plus money for hair and makeup and whichever flowers you were holding for the day, etc. This is bologna.

He needs to retake your photos, pay for the rental of your husbands tux/suit and any other fees you may need to have those pictures taken again as well as he needs to reshoot all the shots you wanted. OH... and he needs to give you your money back. I'd still write him a scathing review on WW and Google and everywhere you can put it out there.

First of all, I am really sorry you have to go through this. A few things here:

1) This is every photographer's nightmare so please don't judge the photographer as this could happen to anyone (and it has to many who I know). Memory cards do go bad and they can corrupt files. That's why it's important to use smaller cards where you can only use a small portion as opposed to a large number. I invest in new ones every couple of years just for this same exact reason.

2) Was the photographer insured? My insurance policy will actually pay for every member of the wedding party and family to fly back, rent new tuxes, flowers, makeup, etc. Allowing me the opportunity to re-shoot formals. If you never asked if the photographer was insured please do as he may be covered. If it's not, then, in my opinion, he was not a professional in the first place.

3) Recovery of corrupt cards can be expensive and at this point this should not be handled by amateurs as it can do further damage.

Hi Nima, The card was sent to drive savers and they said it was damaged. He was outsourced so I'm not sure what insurance he has. He does do work for a company in nyc but the place he was outsourced from is his free lance or side gig.

I wrote an article for my blog back in May in response to a similar situation. I hate that this thing happens, but this is the difference between a true professional photographer and a wannabe who claims to be one.

http://aclassicimagephotography.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/peace-of-mind/

Contact all your friends and see what pictures *they* took. You may not get the posed ones, but at least you might get some candids.

This is really, really, a bummer!

I actually printed up all of these responses just in case when I meet with the plaza they try some funny business on me. UGH! Thank you everyone! Any more advice is welcomed. xoxo

I would ABSOLUTELY Sue them!!!! They owe you all the $$ back plus they need to pay for anpothewr photographer so you can get more pictures done. I know it sucks that it won't be from the exact day but the feelings & happiness of being together is there!! Make it a fun event!!! But I would absolutely without a doubt sue them!!

AS some one in the legal field & having knowledge of what to do, you should absolutely sue them! What happened is not an "act of God" by any means. Whatever happened to this card was the photographers mistake 100%, he should have checked the card during the pics, backed them up & had extra memory cards. I was just at a wedding on Saturday & helped with alot & the photographer backed her pics up while she was there onto this little hard drive she had. I saw her several times checking her card & to make sure the pics were there. The photographer should give you 100% refund, pay for a new photographer, pay pain & suffering or grievance for doing this, cont.

What does their contract say do they have insurance and do you have insurance? Our insurance and our photographers insurance both paid for every guest to be flown back to re-create the wedding is something wrong with the photos.

The contract just mentions that they're not responsible for any acts of god. The photographers memory card was damaged.

Here is a website with links to professional data recovery services. Check it out.

http://www.datarecoverycompanies.com/harddrives.html

That is not an act of god; that's an act of stupidity...