Memory Full

This is where I was at, when my camera stopped working, I looked at the LCD screen, and "Memory Full" appeared on the screen.  2,408 images on a 36 GB card, the memory card was full to capacity, and I was in an isolated hilltop village in southern France.  The equivalent of running out of film, well kind of.  I checked in a couple of shops and no one had memory cards to sell.  I sat on a bench in the shade and deleted 15 or 20 images that were out of focus, or clearly duplicates - I tend to double click on most images.  With that I limped through the day - feeling just slightly lost with my camera hanging limply from my wrist. 

The next morning, our first stop was a Super U supermarket in St Martin De Crau.  We had shopped there before and they seemed to have a little bit of everything. I went to the customer service counter, popped the memory card out of my computer and asked for help in my very elementary French.  At first the clerk looked a bit frustrated, she looked in the case and around her, then she came out from behind the counter and led the way to to a display of computer bits and pieces.  Right there top and center was a 64 GB memory card, mission accomplished.  I thanked her prolifically - one of the few things I can easily do in French, I should have kissed her. 

Just before we left home, I had changed from my daily camera, to the newer back-up body. Leaving behind the camera with the 128 GB memory card, and taking the one with the 36 GB card. The newer camera sounded better and the settings knobs are just a little tighter. I didn't think of the memory card.  

Before leaving on an epic adventure, check the memory card, take a spare, and always, always, always carry an extra charged battery. I can get 700 to 1,100 images per charge, I always have at least one, and often two extra batteries with me.    

A friend of mine is a retired photojournalist.  We were trading stories one day.  He was in the middle of a political protect in Moscow, when his battery went flat. He had a gadget in his bag that would charge his camera, using AA batteries.  He stepped into a tobacco shop and sure enough was able to buy a dozen AA batteries.  He got the images to go along with the story that day.