By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Did you lose a camera?
There are marvelous family photos on it, just the sort that the owner would like to have as keepsakes.
A young girl blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.
An older gentleman wearing his favorite hat straining in his garden to hold up a gigantic pumpkin for a photo.
A wonderful closeup of the gentleman posing cheek to cheek with someone I’d guess is his son.
The camera was found by Manville resident Bob Schoenfeld on the streetline in front of 113 Weston Road in Hillsborough. It’s not an expensive camera, just a point-and-shoot Canon Power Shot Elph 300 HS in a semi-hard black case. A mini-carabineer clip let the owner down, apparently.
Mr. Schoenfeld would like to get the camera back in the hands of the person who lost it. He went to the police, who told him to leave it in case anyone claimed it. Mr. Schoenfeld didn’t figure that would happen and wanted to be more pro-active in returning it.
So he called me.
Now I have bought into Mr. Schoenfeld’s quest to find the owner.
I’d love to print or post a photo, but I hesitate.
I’m afraid because of the repercussions of printing a photo — without permission — of little blonde Katelynn blushing as she sits in front of a birthday cake with her name.
Concerned about violating a family’s private moments in the backyard above-ground swimming pool would bring a complaint to the publisher.
Even worried that — for some reason — a photo of a woman on a living room couch hugging her two young pajama-clad boys would unleash some domestic dispute.
Such is the society in which we live these days.
I have no reason to doubt Mr. Schoenfeld’s motivations and sincerity. He found the camera, he said, while en route to pick up a 90-year-old woman he often takes for morning coffee and companionship at McDonald’s. I bow to his selfless acts of kindness.
Initially I thought it would be a simple favor. Then I began thinking of the possibilities. What if it was my camera? Would I want snapshots of my private life published without my consent?
At an editorial staff meeting, my colleagues were guarded, too. One editor clicked through the photos and stopped at one of a vacant room, with wood floor glistening and sliding glass doors showing off the back yard.
“How about running that one?” he asked rhetorically.
Or the one of a split-level house nestled in the woods, the lawn covered with leaves?
Neither showed anything revealing that would make a neighbor or friend exclaim, “I know them!”
There’s an old adage, “When in doubt, don’t.”
So I hesitate to reproduce a photo from the memory chip. So that’s why you are seeing printed here a pair of hands holding the camera, and not photos of old rock and rollers (from an AC/DC concert maybe? There’s a photo of the Aug. 26 concert ticket stub.)
Or various stages of a garden — from staked out to it burgeoning with luscious tomatoes and peppers.
If any of this sounds familiar, give me a call at 609-874-2163 or email [email protected]. Mr. Schoenfeld and I will be tickled to get the camera back in your hands.
— Gene Robbins