Victoria’s Jenifer Sheppard will be revisiting two weddings, her own and her sister’s, when she finally gets back a stolen camera containing digital images of both nuptials.
Last week, Victoria police released a wedding image digitally stored on the camera, which was stolen in 2018, and asked if anybody recognized those in the picture.
Officers had found the Canon Powershot in January while investigating a break-in on Johnson Street.
The wedding picture and a short story appeared in the April 8 issue of the Times Colonist and the effect was immediate. Before long, Sheppard had been tipped off and contacted police, who can’t release the camera now because of COVID-19 precautions.
But she said she is especially looking forward to getting back the camera, which not only contains pictures of her wedding, on Aug. 17, 2018, but also images from her sister’s wedding about a year earlier.
“We haven’t seen either of those pictures yet,” Sheppard said.
She said her brother owned the camera and took the pictures when Sheppard married Ian Clayards in a small family ceremony at Sandcut Beach near Jordan River, which is notable for its waterfall. Sheppard said her father took pictures, too, but her brother is the best photographer in the family.
In the months after the wedding, someone broke into her brother’s truck and took the camera.
Sheppard had long since given up on ever seeing the pictures, until last week, when it seemed as if the whole world recognized her image in the newspaper or online.
“We had messages from all over Canada and other countries from people we used to know. It kind of exploded,” she said.
“It was like I was found by 50 people all at the same time. Every one of them was asking: ‘Isn’t this you?’ ”
