What would you do if you were in his situation?

Max (not his real name) is a young and skillful photographer  during the twilight of the film photography.  His work  as wedding photographer caught the attention of  the professionals,  and dubbed him as the new promising photographer.  He belongs to a well connected family and owns  top of the line cameras and a plethora of accessories and equipments. He is the envy of the industry.

At that time, he got a US$12,000.00 contract  to do the  coverage of the  “wedding of the year” for a couple belonging to the elite Spanish-Filipino society. The event was to be held at an island resort, Boracay, a ten minute boat ride from the nearest city port, Caticlan.

Guests from Spain and Manila were flown in and billeted all expenses paid for by the couple. Not to mention, the gowns of the Bridal entourage were custom made from Italy.  It  was a sunset beach wedding.

On the wedding day ,  the weather cooperated beautifully and the ambient light at that golden moment was something once in a lifetime for a  photographer.  Even the beach reception   that followed was  romantically lighted by his equipments. The next day, as a bonus to his clients, he covered the site seeing tours of the guests free of charge.  Perfect!

During the film days, it takes at least a month to complete the developing, editing and printing of the album for submission to the client.  But you know what? Max lost his entire films and disappeared out of embarrassment. He was never to be seen or contacted after the incident to explain how he lost the films. Even today, everybody was wondering where did Max go.

I think the answer to the question of “What would you do if this happens to you?”  Will elicit enough  reflections that would serve as a warning lessons for everybody. I will not extend  this article and bore you of  what should be done as hindsight. Everybody is expert at hindsight.