What Photographic Insurance? - and my story about Photoguard

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In the spring of 1968, after my Peace Corps service, I rode from San Jose, Costa Rica to Los Angels, California and somewhere in the mountains of Guatemala my camera along with my *leather jacket jiggled off the tail rack of my Costa Rican registered Honda CB175 . That Olympus Pen 35 mm camera could split each frame so that a roll of 36 frames produced 72 photos
*Riding gear and digital caterers were not yet then created - no fancy touring jackets, boots, panniers, tail boxes etc available - especially in Costa Rica and the CB175 was one of the largest bikes on the Pan American highway.

So Neil, I understand your loss....., because I lost the 70 photos including my departure photos from Costa Rica, the photos of my first overland ride - and, of course, I had no funds to purchase a new camera or anything else except food and gas en route. I was heart broken. I had been dreaming of riding home to the States and photographing my journey for the previous two years. As per Peace Corps regulations, (at the time) so as not to be confused by the locals of Puerto Limón, as being a CIA agent, I took no pictures during my Peace Corps service.

So, these 70 lost photos - including Edward Curtis style photos of the K'iche Maya culture of Chichicastenango, Guatemala were to be my photographic memoir of my first real job (Peace Corps) and my first overland journey, and were my first significant photos.

This was 1968, there was no uploading, no downloading, no "cloud" no flash drives, no memory chips - no lap tops, no back ups whatsoever. My dream had to be amended to accommodate my loss. This I did by focusing more on my social skills and my ability to speak in Spanish with the people I encountered along my route. I became so involved with the people, my journey took more than four months, including two week lay over for the 1968 olympics in Mexico City, and, a Mexican señorita as an amigovia!

I realized during the Costa Rica to Guatemala leg of my ride, the camera had allowed me to isolate myself, to content myself with the capture of images of my experiences. After I lost my camera - actually the loss of the jacket was more painful due to the cold I suffered - I became the camera, living my experiences and storing mental image pictures.

There was no insurance, there was no ability to communicate internationally without spending a fortune and then waiting for hours for an international line to become available, once you found a telephone capable of international calls.

FYI, ATM machines had not yet then been invented.... no xoom.com and bank wire transfers were iffy and only available in major cities!

So, Neil, thank you for this thread, that has allowed me this very cathartic essay and know that you are creative enough to steady your camera without your treasured "carbon fibre grottos tripod" and well, dare I say it, you still have your photos. Or, you, yourself can become your own camera and tripod.

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