Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and women and children of all ages. I am going to share a couple of painful memories with you in the hopes that you will learn from my mistakes.

Having a backup as the title of this months article says should come as no surprise to anyone who ever lost data on their computer. My experience with that topic could fill an entire book so I’ll save that for another time.

What I want to emphasize in this article is the importance of making sure your prized photographs from your once in a lifetime trip to some far off land are in fact really on film.

There is nothing more painful than returning home from a trip, eagerly awaiting your pictures return from the lab and receiving the sad news from the person behind the counter that your film is blank or has terrible streaks across every frame.

Don’t feel like the lone ranger! It has happened to just about everyone who ever took a photograph, and to some it was more devastating than others.

This is the primary reason I do not shoot weddings or any other event that cannot be repeated. Just try to explain to the new bride that all of your pictures were blank! Imagine the repercussions to your friendship! Today's wedding photographers are shooting with digital cameras and seeing the results instantly, but make no mistake about it, even the world of digital can bring surprises. Corrupted files, erased memory cards just to name a few .Most professional wedding shooters have performance insurance and assistants shooting, this does not heal the pain of all the lost memories it just awards lots of money!

Over the Christmas break from school, I took my Art Students to London, England with an overnight trip to Paris. Several of my students were carrying Nikon cameras, coincidentally what I shoot. I have an assortment of lenses that fit any of these cameras from super wide angle to long telephoto. I wanted to share these capabilities with some of my students. I also carry 2 identical Nikon cameras, one of which was just completely serviced, the other I had no inkling was in need of service. One of my best photography students was in need of a good camera so I loaned her the Nikon which had been serviced. I used the other one for my usual snapshots and several opportunities where my super wide lens was the only alternative to get the shot I wanted. Canterbury Cathedral is immense and cannot be captured with anything other that extreme wide angle. All of us Nikon shooters took turns using the wide lens and tripods and felt very proud of out shots. I carry my Hasselblad for really important shots where I am thinking more in fine art terms so I shot a few with that camera also.

The next morning we all boarded the Chunnel train to Paris and shot all the usual wonders, The Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre and Sacre Coeur. That night we wandered around the Moulin Rouge district and took night shots with 800 speed film we had just purchased

Everyone was feeling great about all of out photo opportunities as we caught the train back to London .One of my students even shot with his new digital camera and had downloaded them onto his laptop and we all shared them on the train. Fantastic!

On the way back to our hotel from the subway station I dropped off one roll to be processed just to see how they looked, no-one else wanted to spend the inflated prices to process their film and were going to wait until we returned to Abilene.

The next morning I picked up my film and the person behind the counter showed me an almost completely blank roll. I was very disappointed and had to figure out what went wrong. Usually with the newer cameras it’s battery problems but in the case of my trusty Nikon it had just had too many rolls through it and was tired and dirty causing the automatic lens diaphragm to not open up for the proper exposure. I immediately insisted my student process one roll from my other Nikon as well as another student who had used my lenses in case they were a problem. They got their films back and were very satisfied with the prints, to my relief!

You may be wondering why I led you on this verbal journey. I always carry at least 2 cameras, sometimes more depending on the type of photography I am doing. I shoot Polaroid proofs when the final product is a must have with the same camera I shoot the film with, medium or large format 35mm is a bit different, but my best advice is to shoot with 2 cameras if you can afford to with different lenses on each, if not shoot your heart out but process a few rolls during the or trip locally so if something does go wrong with either camera, you at least have the chance to possibly re-shoot while you are there. The other thing is to always carry spare batteries for both your flash if it’s not attached to the camera and batteries for your camera too. One more thing, I took the Nikon to the repairman soon after my return and had it completely cleaned lubricated and adjusted.

One thing I see every semester in my classes is blank film from my students first personally developed roll of film. It can be caused from a myriad of problems but the most common is improper loading of the film. On the older cameras you must insert the film tab firmly into the take up spool and wind and cock the shutter several times while watching that the film is indeed being taken up on the spool. It’s only then that you close the back and wind a couple of more times before you start shooting.

The other thing I see a lot of is light streaks on properly exposed film. This is usually caused from the foam rubber that provides a light tight seal around the cameras back when it is closed. Over time it dries out and crumbles away letting light in on the film. Take a look when the cameras back is opened at the foam around it and feel if any is missing or crumbled away, if so it’s a fairly easy and cheap fix.

I am writing this in my hotel room In Guadalajara Mexico and at this very moment looking at the first roll of pictures I just had processed that I quickly took last night and this morning. So far so good and cheap too! $3.00 a roll for 24 exposures. I bought more film here too! I .plan to have all of my film processed while I am here. Several positives from this are the prices are great and most importantly there are no x-rays to ruin my exposed film on the way back home on the plane.

Well that’s enough for this month, I need to load my cameras get a good nights sleep and prepare myself for tomorrows photographic quest for the elusive and very dangerous El Poquito loco Gato , hopefully I will be able to report at some later time the results of my quest. There are reported sightings in the jungles near here.

PS DON'T DRINK THE WATER!!!!!...............I DID….not a good idea!

Tell next time…………………….