15 Minutes of Fame

O.K., I wouldn’t say I REALLY had my 15 minutes of fame today, but it’s possible that I was as close as I may ever get. Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from my friend, Rev. Pat Hall. He and his brother, Dan Hall, were going to be meeting with Governor Pawlenty this morning to receive the Governor’s proclamation of the National Day of Prayer in Minnesota, which is coming up on Thursday, May 1. They asked if I would come along and take pictures that they could then use for promotion of the National Day of Prayer events that they are heading up. Well, sure, of course I’d be happy to do that.

So, I arrived early at our designated meeting point, with my camera ready to go. I double checked everything last night to be sure all was working properly, and even remembered to pack the extra battery (which was good because I needed it.) I only had about a half dozen pictures on the disk from Easter and I made the decision to wait and download them all to my computer after I got home today.

The photo session went well. It’s important to be quick when taking photos at such events. The governor is a busy man and I didn’t want to keep him waiting while I adjusted settings, etc. I tried to act professionally and quickly. There was also a staff photographer there taking photos. Well, he wasn’t so much a photographer, but he worked in communications for the governor and was sent in to take pictures. He was a nice “kid” and assured us he’d taken a photography class in the 10th grade, which by my estimation was about 10 years ago, or less. Whenever I take photos I always appreciate other people with their cameras in case mine should malfunction.

So, I came home this evening all ready to see how the photos turned out. They looked fine on the little screen on the back of my camera, but I never really know for sure until I can see them enlarged on my computer. I plugged my camera into the computer and waited for the photos to come up. Mind you I took probably 50 pictures this morning. I just kept clicking as I was asked for lots of candid shots, in addition to the formal ones. TWO photos came up, both from Easter. There were a lot of little boxes but they were all blank! Not ONE photo from the governor’s office. My computer said there was a corrupt file! What I want to know is who corrupted it?

The photos are no longer available to view on my camera either. They are gone. I was told by the woman at National Camera Exchange to bring in the disk and they will try to do a file recovery on it, but I’m not holding out much hope.

There you have it, my 15 minutes of fame and NOTHING to show for it. At least I got to meet Governor Pawlenty. He was a very nice guy and I was quite impressed. And, thankfully, the staff photographer got some photos and was able to pass them along to the people who needed them. I guess that 10th grade photography class paid off.