A photographer in Vancouver, B.C., Markus Thompson found this camera in Deep Bay and posted photos on Google+. Someone recognized the photos and the owner was found, a firefighter in Vancouver. (Photo credit: Markus Thompson)

A Canadian photographer used Google+ to reunite a camera he found at the bottom of a harbor with its owner, more than a year after the camera was last used.

Vancouver nature photographer Markus Thompson was diving in Deep Bay, British Columbia, for work when he found a dirty and rusted Canon camera.

“I removed the SD card, cleaned it up, stuck it in a card reader and after being underwater in a corroding camera since August 2010 – it works!” Thompson wrote on his Google+ page.

Thompson recovered about 50 photos on the card that appeared to be from a family vacation and extracted some clues about the owner’s life. He posted some of the pictures on Google+ with the following message:

“If you know a fire fighter from British Columbia whose team won the Pacific Regional Firefit competition, has a lovely wife and (now) 2 year old daughter – let me know. I would love to get them their vacation photos.”

In addition to posting some of the photos online, Thompson contacted Canon Canada regarding the camera’s serial number, but they did not have a record of the serial number.

Soon enough, Thompson received a message from a woman named Hilary. She wrote:

“Hello Mark, Thank you so much for the email. Yes I know exactly who the camera belongs to! He is a Delta Fire Fighter. I will have him contact you.”

The camera ended up belonging to a Canadian firefighter, but Thompson did not wish to identify the camera’s owner.

Thompson also noted “an interesting comparison,” he wrote. Thompson posted his finding on Facebook, but only received one “like.”

Thompson called the experience “proof that Google+ hive-mind can be utilized to complete a simply gesture like returning someone’s photos.”