Photo of the Week

A few summers ago, I was visiting my parents at their house in Black Hawk, Colorado. It is not abnormal for them to have visitors in their backyard. They get moose and deer tromping through their yard frequently. Bear and mountain lions are sighted in the area as well.

At this particular visit, we came face-to-face with one. My parents were having a family event so there were about thirty of us all scattered through their yard. All of a sudden out of the woods marches a huge male bull moose with antlers that easily spanned the width of my minivan. We all froze as we watched the beast navigate down their driveway and out of sight.

As any good photographer, I happened to have my camera on me. I got incredible shots. Close-ups with my lens and shots of him next to our vehicles, dwarfing them completely. I got photos of the beast against the gorgeous red paint of my parents' gorgeous self-built home.

I was excited to come home and upload all the photos to my camera, as I had done thousands of times before. I uploaded them and formatted my card, as I had done thousands of times.

What I didn't do this time that I usually do is to check before formatting the card that all and not just some of the photos uploaded. This was the only time I ever did this before, and it was the last time I have ever done so since.

When I went to show the photos to a friend later, they were gone. Completely gone. There was no way to recover them.

This was a heartbreaking life lesson for me. Never assume you got all the photos before you erase them. Now I save my photos four different places before formatting the card.

Well, the universe took pity on me and gave me a second shot -- literally. A few weeks ago, I was at a writing retreat up in Allenspark, Colorado. We stayed at the incredible Highlands Camp & Retreat. It was a peaceful and inspirational weekend. Like a good photographer, I brought my camera and lenses. Just in case.

I was glad I did when this baby moose came traipsing through the meadow in front of the lodge. He was so sweet and just let me capture him snacking (from a very safe distance).

Thank you, little buddy!