The Camera From the Bottom of the Lagoon

Anyone drop a camera in the lagoon?
It all began with an email from TechHive writer, Andy Ihanatko. “Hey DriveSavers, are you guys up for a challenge?”, it began. The email went on to explain that Andy had discovered a digital camera embedded in the dried mud of the lagoon at Boston’s famed Public Garden. The lagoon had been drained for the winter so it could be cleaned.

Andy also told us that he had taken the camera home, extracted the memory card, carefully cleaned its electrical contacts in the hope of reviewing the contents and perhaps he might even be able to find the owner. But alas, his efforts failed and so he contacted us here to see if we could “do any better”. As it turned out, we did indeed do better — much better. We were able to extract all the data from the card which contained images of what appeared to be a family vacation.The last image on the card had a capture date of June 24, 2010 which meant that the card had spent nearly two years submerged at the bottom of the lagoon.

It’s worth noting that although we were able to retrieve all the photos from the card, our data security and privacy guidelines forbid us from releasing images that included faces of identifiable people. Since the camera and its images were not Andy’s property, we could only share a few photos that could be used to help locate the camera’s owner. So far no one has stepped forward.

To see the images we shared and to read Andy’s story on the TechHive website click here.