Photos Recovered From Waterlogged Camera Lost in River Five Years Ago

A man recovered photos from a waterlogged camera that was lost in a river for five years and then heartwarmingly reunited the device with its owner.

Jeff Zelenka was kayaking with a group of friends in the Colorado River on July 28 when he discovered an Olympus T-100 digital camera floating in the water.

“I looked down, and there it was, face down in the rocks,” Zelenka tells PetaPixel. “The camera was beat up pretty bad, missing the lens and some buttons but was largely in one piece and full of water. I thought the photos might be recovered but had little hope as the camera was full of water.

Out of curiosity, Zelenka — who is an electrician based in Silt, Colorado — decided to take the waterlogged and battered Olympus T-100 camera back home. He decided to see if he could salvage the photos on the SD card.

Incredibly, a few days after cleaning the water and mud off the SD card, Zelenka was able to recover hundreds of photos and videos from the SD card in the sodden camera. The last picture on the SD card was dated on December 31, 2018.

Zelenka sifted through the photos and took screenshots of the images that featured identifiable faces. The photos on the SD card varied from snapshots of everyday life to vacation memories in Costa Rica and even some wedding images.

On July 31, Zelenka posted the pictures in around 21 local Colorado-based Facebook groups with the title: “Looking for rightful owner.”

Zelenka thought he had little hope of finding the camera’s owner. But within a few hours, his Facebook post had received hundreds of responses — with people offering to help spread the word and locate the camera’s owner.

Before long, Facebook users began tagging friends and family members they recognized in the photos.

By the end of the day, Zelenka connected with Frederick Simonton, an old friend of the camera’s owner.

‘A Remarkable Story of a Survival’

Soon, Zelenka was able to return the camera and the cherished photos back to them. One of the most treasured finds on the SD card was a set of photos from Simonton’s wedding — pictures he and his wife had never laid eyes on until the camera was returned.

“Frederick contacted me through Facebook Messenger stating it was his friend’s camera and those were his friends and family in the photos. They were river guides and had lost the camera during a fishing trip,” Zelenka says.

“That Saturday, I returned the camera and SD Card to them. Frederick’s wife was very happy as their wedding photos were on the card.”

Zelenka shared that it felt rewarding to reunite the long-lost camera with its owner. He was also astonished that, despite being submerged for so many years, the photos were still salvageable.

Zelenka says that the Olympus T-100 camera faced extreme conditions in the Colorado River — specifically being subjected to the powerful water flows of nearly 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) during six runoff events in the High Country.

“In a matter of hours I was able to locate the owners of a camera that was lost in the Colorado River for just over five and a half years,” Zelenka says.

“It is a remarkable story of a camera’s survival in a high-flow mountain river and then locating the owner of it.

“I have never found anything as valuable as this camera was to so many people. It makes me feel good about doing a good deed for a stranger.”

 
Image credits: All photos courtesy of Jeff Zelenka.