Ever miss a shot because it no longer exists?

[TSSPro]

Im surprised that no one has mentioned Eugene Atget. He spent a lifetime trying to photograph the Paris he loved and grew-up with before it was gone. His whole goal was to photograph things before it was too late. Even though he devoted himself to his goal, I'm sure there are plenty of missed opportunites too.

 

[Monophoto]

The first year our son was in college in Providence, RI, we scheduled a winter vacation on Cape Cod (it's possible to find a place to park during that season). We stopped at Nauset Light in the National Seashore to photograph the lighthouse and the edge of the steep cliff overlooking the Atlantic. It was a bitterly cold day, so I only exposed one 4x5 sheet. I processed it and made some prints when we got home - I really liked the result, but because of some flaws in that one negative, the prints required extensive, tedious spotting.

We were back the next year, and we went back so that I could photograph the lighthouse again.

But it had been moved.