Never put all of your eggs in one basket!

I was so stoked, and so honored to be a 2nd shooter for the first time with David Rorhrick. David instantly made me feel right at home beside him even though my nerves had been doing quite a number before the wedding. I learned a very valuable lesson while shooting with David. A few days before the wedding I contacted David about buying some new flash cards, mainly..what size cards should I get? I wanted to make sure I had enough to hold all my images from start to finish. I had seen some 8GB cards and was thinking of purchasing a few of those. David pointed out that he never puts all of his eggs in one basket and suggested I purchase my cards in 2GB and 4GB sizes. Following David's advice, I started by shooting the ceremony with a 4GB card, then switched to a 2nd fresh, brand new formatted card when we got to the reception. Half way through the reception I got an Error message in my camera, and could no longer shoot any pictures. Thinking the card was full, I reloaded with a 3rd flash card and continued shooting. At the end of the day, I handed over my cards to David to download on his laptop, giddy with anticipation to see the amazing shots I thought I had. David couldn't get the 2nd card to download! But's it's a brand new card I exclaimed!

Hmmm.....both other cards downloaded just fine, so it wasn't my camera or my shooting. I ended up taking the error reading card to Cord Camera to have them look at it and see if they could get my images. Long story short...the card was a dud! My images were forever lost. Unless I wanted to pay an extravagant amount to have my card shipped off and expertly downloaded by some technical wizards, I was out of some precious wedding reception and details images. I'm so glad I learned this lesson early on. Had I purchased my 8GB card and shot the entire wedding on one card, I could have lost the ENTIRE wedding! This also points out the significance of having a 2nd shooter. Had I been the only one taking pictures, it would have been a disaster! So many moments from the day were lost. We must keep in mind at all times we are at the mercy of our equipment and sometimes equipment, no matter how much we spend on it, fails. Thanks for teaching me such a valuable lesson David!

Here are a few of the images that were spared from my eye opening experience.