See Photos Recovered From Five Year Old Camera Lost in a River
In a story of a miraculous stroke of luck, a man was able to retrieve photos taken from his waterlogged camera, which he had lost five and half years ago in the Colorado River. The wholesome story unfolded when Jeff Zelenka, a Silt, Colorado electrician, stumbled upon an Olympus T-100 camera while kayaking with friends on July 28.
As he floated down the Colorado, Zelenka caught sight of something rather unusual sticking out of the water. “I looked down and there it was, face down in the rocks,” Zelenka said. The camera was battered badly and missing parts here and there, and it had already been waterlogged. But despite the damage sustained by the camera, Zelenka still kept his fingers crossed that the pictures recovered from the drowned camera might still stand a chance at survival.
Zelenka back home started a slow process of drying out the camera and cleaning the SD card. To his good luck, he managed to extract hundreds of photos and videos from the card. The last photo on the SD card was taken on December 31, 2018 – an incredible feat under the scorching conditions submerged in the river for more than five years.
Search for Camera’s Owner
After saving the photos in a flooded camera, Zelenka realized he now had to find the camera’s owner. On July 31, he posted several images in more than 20 local Colorado-based Facebook groups and hoped to find someone who may know one of the faces captured in the images. “Looking for rightful owner,” the title he attached, gathered hundreds of comments and shares within hours.
Hours later, the flood of responses came, this time from Facebook users tagging friends and family members who could be connected to the camera. Soon there would come a call from Frederick Simonton, an old friend of the owner of the camera, recognizing the faces in the photos.
Return of the Camera
Zelenka was fortunate. He finally discovered who owned that camera: this was a party of river guides whose photographs had been lost on a fishing excursion. But in among the reclaimed pictures were very special wedding photos from Simonton’s marriage, of which the Simontons had never even seen copies.
Says Zelenka, “It was very rewarding to return the waterlogged camera and those precious memories back to the owner.” “Frederick’s wife was highly moved especially when she saw her wedding photos that she thought were lost forever,” he says.
Survival of Camera Against All Odds
The Colorado River had not been merciful to the Olympus T-100. Zelenka noted that the river was so voluminous in water — it reaches nearly 20,000 cubic feet per second during runoff times — that it’s surprising the camera did not incur more extensive damage. The photos recovered from the waterlogged camera were surprisingly well-preserved.
Speaking about the incident, Zelenka said that he still marveled at the camera’s staying power. “This is a miracle story of survival – not just for the camera but for all the moments it carried with it.” He further said, “I have never found anything as precious as this camera was to so many people. It’s a huge delight knowing that I did a good act for a stranger.”
Conclusion
The story of photographs dug up from a flooded camera is one of revival in technology and emotional powers of some treasured moments. Thanks to quick thinking and persistence, an old lost camera was restored to its owner and many precious moments in time.
