My biggest nightmare.....

[ReneeT]

Picture this - the family is sitting around at the holidays, mom, dad, kids, cousins, grandparents, neighbors, looking at all of our digital pictures from the last year. Christmas, kids birthdays, yada yada yada. Then, out of left field, pops up a 50" 1080i HD image of you dressed to the nines as your favorite fem self!! Maybe in a seductive pose, maybe in a club with your girlfreinds, maybe modeling your latest lingerie find! Dead silence, shocked expressions, fainting. .. .

This is not a nightmare I have experienced but it could happen, as I often use my wife's digital camera. As a result, I finally went out and bought a compact digital camera, pink in color, for Renee. All pictures are downloaded to a network hard drive on my home network that I physically disconnect from the network after downloading. I do this now because I found that my photo management program (Picasa), while nice, trolls all my drives and collects all photos. With the drive disconnected, Picasa cannot "see" those photos.

Have any of you experienced this nightmare?

[LisaM]

I have not experienced it but I have the same nightmare so I have my own camera and laptop--and I don't take a lot of pictures because I am afraid I will be careless.

[carrie-ann]

I havent but could happen. Thats the risk any one takes being in the closet. Sooner or later people as a rule out them selve one way or another. I'm 24/7 so don't havve a worry.

[JustWendy]

Wow, having to watch on only a 50" TV, that is a nightmare :). I use a webcam to take pictures and, while no nightmares yet, I do worry that I haven't cleaned up after myself - maybe left pictures in the webcam library that will pop up if my daughter lauches it. Or left photos in the Recycle Bin.

Wendy.

[Michelle-Leigh]

Such an occurrence would not be a nightmare for me, but would be for my wife as she is so fearful of others knowing about me. As for me, I would love nothing better than to come out to everyone whether they accepted it or not - then I would wear anything I wanted and be as girly as I like when in their presence, and not have to hide Michelle underneath the androgynous clothes !

[sherri52]

I'm not sure it would be a nightmare. I may not want everyone to know but that would certainly open the door for complete exposure. It would be more like " Thank god I don't have to hide anymore". Then I would have to deal with the few that don't know.

[Karren H]

Not going to happen... Don't have a single photo on any of the 4 home PC's... Everything stored on an external .5 terra byte drive... Flash drives and memory sticks.. Have my own camera and my own laptop just for my fem photos..

[ChainedJane]

:eek:

*runs to check if she deleted the pictures off the camera*

Thank goodness this topic came up, I totally forgot to erase my make-up test pictures off my fiance's camera. We've had accidents before, forgetting to erase naughty pictures and then showing friends the pictures of our day out... Yeah, don't want a repeat of that. :sad:

[Stephanie Miller]

Haven't had a problem yet. I keep my "Stephanie" folder as a hidden file. I un-hide when I use, and re-hide when done. Haven't had a problem with Photoshop or any other programs searching a hidden file yet. Kind of nice when others use the computers too. Even if they open the drive it doesn't show as exisiting.
(Don't know about Picasa, Renee. Can you try it and let me know plz.)

But I guess if it ever happens that the "left field pops up a 50" then I would just sit calmly and say something like " I just hate that picture. It makes me look so fat. :heehee: " And move to the next while everyone is caught off guard.

[eileendover]

I use a separate memory card in the camera, and store the images on a separate flash stick.

[Rachael Ray]

Haven't had a problem yet. I keep my "Stephanie" folder as a hidden file. I un-hide when I use, and re-hide when done. Haven't had a problem with Photoshop or any other programs searching a hidden file yet. Kind of nice when others use the computers too. Even if they open the drive it doesn't show as exisiting.
(Don't know about Picasa, Renee. Can you try it and let me know plz.)

But I guess if it ever happens that the "left field pops up a 50" then I would just sit calmly and say something like " I just hate that picture. It makes me look so fat. :heehee: " And move to the next while everyone is caught off guard.

Be careful Steph, if you're doing a seach in WinXP you can select "search hidden files" if you select "more advanced options".

[suchacutie]

We are very careful to keep photos only temporarily at this point. If we were to keep them longer term we'd need a careful plan for control! Are we control freaks...you bet we are!!! :)

tina

[SamanthaS]

That would suck "big chicken"! LOL, but at least you'd look good ;)

[JustAlex]

With the drive disconnected, Picasa cannot "see" those photos.

You can configure Picassa to look only at specific directories or drives.
I have it set for MyDocuments/MyPictures. This way, I put the pictures I want classified into that directory or subdirectories under it.

[5150 Girl]

Ya know, I used to worry about such things, but then I got over it. I decided that this is who I am, there's not thing one i can do about that, so i can either go out and be happy, or stay inside myself and be miserable, and anyone who can't acept that, well, tehy can go f**k themselves...

Take pics, and pass a camera arround, go outside, forget to put things away, whatever, anytime you wish to lead a double life of any kind, you're playing with fire. At risk of sounding like a broken record here, if you play with fire long enough, you will eventyally get burt! I don't mean to sound like a bitch, but that's the harsh reality of our buisness ladies!

[/stephanie]

well it would be one way of comming out not as one would like plan or want

[arkknee]

I share your nightmare and duly hope in the future neither of us has to deal with that

[DonnaT]

That's how I came out to my mom!

Glad it wasn't a nightmare, however, since she's quite accepting.

Now, if my brother hadn't already left the room, that might have been a different story.

[Kathi Lake]

I've been close to caught a few times. Once, I was recovering a few pictures of of our camera's flash card that my wife had accidentally deleted. The program was churning through, trying to do it's thing, and suddenly up started popping all of my Kathi pictures that I had deleted. My wife and daughter were coming downstairs, and the program was taking a lot of memory and CPU time, so the computer didn't want to hide that window or quit. Luckily, I was able to move to my extended desktop window, where Kathi wasn't showing off. My daughter did see a glimpse, but has seen my "Halloween" pictures before, so didn't think anything of it (I think).

Another time was during a weekly Bible study. I have a Bible on my iPhone, and someone asked me about a verse. I turned it on and unlocked it, and up popped Kathi. I had shown my Kathi pictures to someone earlier that day, and had just turned it off, so the next time I turned it on, there I was, in all my feminine glory. :)

So, as long as there is physical proof, it will be seen - no matter how careful we may be.

Kathi

[NicoleScott]

It's been a concern of mine, too, a pic or video popping up at the wrong time for the wrong audience. I know there are good hardware and software tools for managing files and keeping them secure, but I have always kept my private files on a flash drive or written to a cd/dvd.

[carhill2mn]

This scenario did happen to me! My wife at the time was showing some photos from camera to me daughter and one of me , that I had forgotten to erase, popped up. My daughter wanted to know who that woman was in our house. My wife quickly made up some lame excuse and my daughter did not pursue it then.
When my wife told my daughter about our pending divorce she also told her that I was a CD. My daughter's response was that it didn't surprise her! I have yet to follow up on that statement.

[EllieOPKS]

Also, if you have pics on your pc that you want to get rid of, don't forget to Empty the Trash. I have only taken a few pics and the minute I send them I immediately delete the pics but I have sometimes forgotten to Empty The Trash and had the pics on my laptop for weeks instead of minutes :)

[Imogen_Mann]

Nooo.... But I did accidentally leave a screen saver running that was flicking through the "my pictures" folder, which contained some pictures taken for work reasons (don't ask... They featured penises), that were wholly inappropriate for my in-laws who were watching the pictures flick by.

Whoops.

The simple answer, nip into a shop and buy yourself a 16Gb memory stick, and keep your pictures, AVI's and personal documents on there. safe in your pocket, desk, or wherever you want to hide it, and not even the most determined hacking teenage relative or nosey computer literate friend can find them

[Amanda Stubbs]

On a nite out last September I took a photo of myself for the first time on my phone I loved it, I'd only seen myself in mirrors before, so I ended up taking a few more. Recently my grandaughter was born to my daughter so Ive been like David Bailey taking photo of them! Anyway after a few beers I was showing the baby pictures when up popped Amanda! who's that? She asks oh she's a friend of mine you don't know her and promptly exited.

[Cristi]

I have several photo programs that will automatically go to the last folder used when opened. I'm always leery when showing anything to a friend that I'll open a program and it will have last been used to look at my 'Cristi' photos.

When I remember to, I'll open the programs up ahead of time just to check before a friend visits if there is any chance we'll be doing computer stuff.

[Kristy_K]

Those files are hidden on Picasa program when you use it. If you use another photo viewing program you can find them. I speak from experience of just 24hrs. ago. My wife found them. That's another story.

Love Kristy

[ReneeT]

" I just hate that picture. It makes me look so fat. " And move to the next while everyone is caught off guard

Too funny! I hope the need never arises, but if it does iam going to use that line!


That would suck "big chicken"! LOL, but at least you'd look good

Thanks, Samantha. Unfortunately, my father-in-law probably wouldn't think so!


You can configure Picassa to look only at specific directories or drives.
I have it set for MyDocuments/MyPictures. This way, I put the pictures I want classified into that directory or subdirectories under it.

Good tip - I will try that


So, as long as there is physical proof, it will be seen - no matter how careful we may be

So true! In a previous life I dabbled in S&M (sub, of course) and the domina shot some polaroids. Damn if my wife didn't find them under the foam padding of my rifle case. What the hell was she looking there for??????

[Jenny Beth]

A few months ago I took photos of my brother-in law's boat that he's building and downloaded them to my PC. I erased them from my camera and have used it several times since, each time erasing my new photos after downloading them. So a few days ago I use my camera, the boat pictures where still there when I went to download my new pictures. How this happened I have no idea but it just goes to show that deleting pictures isn't a sure bet for those who are trying to keep their secret.

[Cristi]

A few months ago I took photos of my brother-in law's boat that he's building and downloaded them to my PC. I erased them from my camera and have used it several times since, each time erasing my new photos after downloading them. So a few days ago I use my camera, the boat pictures where still there when I went to download my new pictures. How this happened I have no idea but it just goes to show that deleting pictures isn't a sure bet for those who are trying to keep their secret.

Some cameras have a function that can 'lock' selected photos to prevent them from accidental deletion. My guess is that you, without realizing it, locked one or more of the boat photos. Look for that feature or a key with an icon that looks like a lock or key on the back of the camera.

[sherri]

Picture this - the family is sitting around at the holidays, mom, dad, kids, cousins, grandparents, neighbors, looking at all of our digital pictures from the last year. Christmas, kids birthdays, yada yada yada. Then, out of left field, pops up a 50" 1080i HD image of you dressed to the nines as your favorite fem self!! Maybe in a seductive pose, maybe in a club with your girlfreinds, maybe modeling your latest lingerie find! Dead silence, shocked expressions, fainting. .. Why did I find myself strangely excited by your what-if scenario? What is wrong with me?!? :o

[krisinpink]

I use a seperate SD memory card for Krissy, and don't keep photos on any shared computers!

So far, so good, but as they say about motorcycle riders, "There are those who have put 'em down, and those who will"

[JustAlex]

It's important to remember that files are not deleted in a physical way. There's a special file (many actually) on a disk or storage device with a catalog of its content and location information. When you delete a file, not even the catalog record is deleted, it's only marked as deleted. The whole file is there and the information about it is there. Only if the space is needed to store another file, the content is overwritten and the file record on the catalog too.

I heard other stories about deleted files popping up from a memory card. For what I heard, it could be a misbehaving device or piece of software in your computer. Unlike magnetic media, memory cards don't allocate space based on first available block. Because each memory point has a limited life based on access, the space is allocated from top to bottom and back to the top. For example, block 1 is allocated, then block 2, then block 1 is freed because you deleted the file but the next file is going to get block 3. A magnetic media would most likely use block 1 again (the algorithm is a little more complex than that) but on a flash memory that would kill your block 1 prematurely.

Due to this, anyone can read a memory card completely just by ignoring the delete flag. It's different if you format it because then the catalog is wiped. But the data is still there and the files can be reconstructed although is a lot more complicated.

[Starfire Jade]

Picture this - the family is sitting around at the holidays, mom, dad, kids, cousins, grandparents, neighbors, looking at all of our digital pictures from the last year. Christmas, kids birthdays, yada yada yada. Then, out of left field, pops up a 50" 1080i HD image of you dressed to the nines as your favorite fem self!! Maybe in a seductive pose, maybe in a club with your girlfreinds, maybe modeling your latest lingerie find! Dead silence, shocked expressions, fainting. .. .

This is not a nightmare I have experienced but it could happen, as I often use my wife's digital camera. As a result, I finally went out and bought a compact digital camera, pink in color, for Renee. All pictures are downloaded to a network hard drive on my home network that I physically disconnect from the network after downloading. I do this now because I found that my photo management program (Picasa), while nice, trolls all my drives and collects all photos. With the drive disconnected, Picasa cannot "see" those photos.

Have any of you experienced this nightmare?

This isn't a nightmere for me as I willingly MADE it happen. Of recent I have thrown myself into the abyss, I don't care anymore.

[AmandaM]

This is why I delete my pics, then if I had taken 10, I immediately take at least 10-15 of the wall, etc. To attempt an overwrite. Since I've done this, I haven't seen any Amanda pics come back.



It's important to remember that files are not deleted in a physical way. There's a special file (many actually) on a disk or storage device with a catalog of its content and location information. When you delete a file, not even the catalog record is deleted, it's only marked as deleted. The whole file is there and the information about it is there. Only if the space is needed to store another file, the content is overwritten and the file record on the catalog too.

I heard other stories about deleted files popping up from a memory card. For what I heard, it could be a misbehaving device or piece of software in your computer. Unlike magnetic media, memory cards don't allocate space based on first available block. Because each memory point has a limited life based on access, the space is allocated from top to bottom and back to the top. For example, block 1 is allocated, then block 2, then block 1 is freed because you deleted the file but the next file is going to get block 3. A magnetic media would most likely use block 1 again (the algorithm is a little more complex than that) but on a flash memory that would kill your block 1 prematurely.

Due to this, anyone can read a memory card completely just by ignoring the delete flag. It's different if you format it because then the catalog is wiped. But the data is still there and the files can be reconstructed although is a lot more complicated.

[AliceJaneInNewcastle]

That wouldn't be a nightmare for me. Most of the relatives and neighbours know but only a few talk about it. No big deal.

[Nicole Erin]

Am I the only one who thinks it would be hilarious if something like this happened? :heehee:

[AliceJaneInNewcastle]

Am I the only one who thinks it would be hilarious if something like this happened? :heehee:
Only if someone did it because they thought that it was going to upset me or if someone reacted badly. :)

Reminds me that I still haven't emailed my sister to thank her for outing me a couple of years ago to the immediate relatives that didn't already know. She might have been trying to be nasty but the result was positive for me.

[jenifer m.]

well i guess thats as good a time as any to completly come out of the closet,and lay all the cards on the table.

[Sophie Lynne]

But I guess if it ever happens that the "left field pops up a 50" then I would just sit calmly and say something like " I just hate that picture. It makes me look so fat. :heehee: " And move to the next while everyone is caught off guard.

I guess if the nightmare happens, facing it with humor is the only thing to do.

[victoriamwilliams1]

I use network drives as well and keep all my photos in a hidden directory and I am not sure if Picasa can see hidden directories. However that did happen to me with my boss who was showing his new photo printer and he though the picture was of my aunt! Good thing I do not shave after my dressing outings!

[Ashley B]

I've never had anything like this happen, but I've had a couple close calls that never seem to make me more cautious. I live in an apartment with my brother and a friend, and since we are all pretty close we have no qualms about just walking right into each others' rooms to see what's up. This has caused some nerve-wracking situations for me.

One good example is the day I was home alone and looking at my Ashley pictures in a slideshow on Picasa. My two roommates walked in from work while I was in the bathroom taking out my contacts, and one of them stood in the room about 5 feet from my computer while he told me a story about his day. If he had just looked to the left he would have gotten a good look at a girl who bore a striking resemblance to his friend.

Just a couple days ago, I went shopping and bought a couple skirts and a top, which I laid out on the bed after trying them on again. I forgot I had put them there, and I went for a run around 4:30 or so. My two roommates got back home before me, and generally if my door is shut when they get home they'll peek into my room to see if I'm around. My door was open a little bit when I got back, but they didn't say anything to me about the clothing, which is my sign that they only poked their heads in and didn't walk into the room. I can say for certain that if they had seen the skirts, one of them would have mentioned it almost immediately.

I'm in the camp where I don't know if someone finding out about Ashley would be my worst nightmare or a blessing in disguise. If my brother found out there is no chance that the rest of my family would not learn about it soon after, so that would obviously be super embarrassing. On the other hand, it would take care of my coming out to the family, which would probably end up being a positive in the long run.

[eluuzion]

I was always paranoid about having two "profiles" or "accounts" falling under the same "master account" or whatever Yahoo calls it. (using one for regular e-mail and the other as my "CD" account.) I worried about accidentally sending an email or photo to my mom or friends by thinking I was still using on my "non-CD" profile when I was actually using the "CD" one...yikes.

I also had a close call when I used to have family pics, etc mixed in with CD stuff on the same discs. While retrieving and burning some copies of family pics onto a disc for my daughter one time, I got confused and thought I gave her a disc with CD pics on it!!! I lucked out, but that was the last time I mixed anything together, ever again!

[Starling]

This isn't a nightmere for me as I willingly MADE it happen. Of recent I have thrown myself into the abyss, I don't care anymore.

After many years in the closet, the abyss looks pretty good to me--and a lot more spacious. Congratulations to you, girl, for making your move!

:daydreaming: Lallie

[Spinne0013]

Am I the only one who thinks it would be hilarious if something like this happened? :heehee:
I would fall over laughing if that happened. Then stand up brush off and say "well now you all know", but I've been plucking my eyebrows and a few other things that would seem odd to some but they never make comment.

[Tranny Tee]

I did it a few years ago in the darkroom. I was in the college darkroom one afternoon, I thought I would be alone for the rest of the day so I printed a black and white headshot of me in wig and makeup. As I put the paper in the developer a student from my class came in and watched the image develop. As my pretty face appeared on the paper he said, "Oh, a person." and left without recognising my image. It would have been funny if he had, he was from a very conservaive, very religous family and I am sure he had never encountered a crossdresser in his life.

[janet p]

I've never had it happen that I know of but,I had some friends use my apartment while they were waiting for bus tickets out of town [long story] while I was at work they must have used my PC because when they left she made the comment after what they had found she couldn't get out of there fast enough. GOOD REDENCE TO THEM!:tongueout:love:

[ultrapaint56]

the worst that could happen for me is a mid-stage pic of the "transformation" effect being shown. but as far as friends or family seeing, as long as they know or indifferent at least, it shouldn't be too bad........ *hides*