Day 26/365 - When Your SD Card Fails, Your Resilience Doesn't
The unthinkable happened on Day 26.
I'd spent the entire day shooting in Gotanda, Tokyo—navigating the streets with my Leica and Ricoh GRIII, capturing geometric patterns of light and shadow dancing across apartment balconies and mesh screens. The compositions were strong. The light was perfect. I was genuinely pleased with what I thought was a great day of shooting.
I returned to the hotel eager to review the images. Inserted the SD card into my iPad.
Nothing. The iPad wouldn't read it.
I put it back in the camera: SD card error.
The entire day. Gone.
The Reality Check
This is the part of photography nobody talks about in the highlight reels. Gear fails. Plans crumble. And sometimes, despite your best efforts, you lose hours of work to a corrupted card or a faulty reader.
I had two salvageable images from the GRII. Two. Out of an entire day.
So I did what any photographer would do: I went back out. With just the Leica this time. I captured another image—not proud of it, but I did it. Because Day 26/365 still needed to exist.
What This Taught Me
Backup everything. Multiple cards. Multiple devices. Cloud storage. Redundancy isn't paranoia; it's professionalism.
Gear is fragile. Even reliable equipment can fail. Know your backup plan before you need it.
Resilience matters more than perfection. The shot I took on the second run wasn't my best work, but it proved I could adapt and keep moving forward.
https://youtu.be/JKkBuSum00w
This is the kind of real-world problem-solving I bring to my photography workshops in Taiwan and my global online mentoring sessions. Photography isn't just about composition and light—it's about troubleshooting, adapting, and never letting a setback stop you from creating.
If you're interested in learning street, portrait, or architectural photography—and understanding the practical side of the craft—I'd love to work with you. Check out my Taiwan workshops, join my Patreon for exclusive content, or reach out for personalized online mentoring.