diff --git a/src/components/Gallery.jsx b/src/components/Gallery.jsx
index 263e0d0e..ac0d3dc5 100644
--- a/src/components/Gallery.jsx
+++ b/src/components/Gallery.jsx
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ export default function Gallery({ images, currentPage, lastPage, total, perPage
                     />
                     <div className="carousel-caption">
                       <h5>{current.name.replaceAll("_", " ")}</h5>
-                      <p>{formatDate(current.date)}</p>
+                      {current.date ? <p>{formatDate(current.date)}</p> : null}
                     </div>
                   </div>
                 </div>
diff --git a/src/lib/gallery.ts b/src/lib/gallery.ts
index ecac79aa..768e4d1f 100644
--- a/src/lib/gallery.ts
+++ b/src/lib/gallery.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ import { statSync } from "node:fs";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { getImage } from "astro:assets";
 import type { ImageMetadata } from "astro";
+import sharp from "sharp";
 
 export const PER_PAGE = 9;
 
 export interface GalleryImage {
   name: string;
-  date: string;
+  date?: string;
   thumb: string;
   full: string;
 }
@@ -16,6 +17,74 @@ const files = import.meta.glob<{ default: ImageMetadata }>("../assets/gallery/*.
   eager: true,
 });
 
+function readExifDate(exif: Buffer): string | undefined {
+  const tiffStart = exif.toString("ascii", 0, 6) === "Exif\0\0" ? 6 : 0;
+  const byteOrder = exif.toString("ascii", tiffStart, tiffStart + 2);
+  if (byteOrder !== "II" && byteOrder !== "MM") return undefined;
+
+  const littleEndian = byteOrder === "II";
+  const read16 = (offset: number) =>
+    littleEndian ? exif.readUInt16LE(offset) : exif.readUInt16BE(offset);
+  const read32 = (offset: number) =>
+    littleEndian ? exif.readUInt32LE(offset) : exif.readUInt32BE(offset);
+  if (read16(tiffStart + 2) !== 42) return undefined;
+
+  const readDirectory = (offset: number) => {
+    const start = tiffStart + offset;
+    if (start + 2 > exif.length) return [];
+    const count = read16(start);
+    return Array.from({ length: count }, (_, index) => start + 2 + index * 12).filter(
+      (entry) => entry + 12 <= exif.length,
+    );
+  };
+  const firstDirectory = readDirectory(read32(tiffStart + 4));
+  let exifDirectoryOffset: number | undefined;
+  let dateTime: string | undefined;
+
+  for (const entry of firstDirectory) {
+    const tag = read16(entry);
+    if (tag === 0x8769) exifDirectoryOffset = read32(entry + 8);
+    if (tag === 0x0132) dateTime = readAscii(entry);
+  }
+
+  if (exifDirectoryOffset !== undefined) {
+    for (const entry of readDirectory(exifDirectoryOffset)) {
+      const tag = read16(entry);
+      if (tag === 0x9003) return toIsoDate(readAscii(entry));
+      if (tag === 0x9004) dateTime = readAscii(entry);
+    }
+  }
+
+  return toIsoDate(dateTime);
+
+  function readAscii(entry: number): string | undefined {
+    if (read16(entry + 2) !== 2) return undefined;
+    const count = read32(entry + 4);
+    const valueOffset = count <= 4 ? entry + 8 : tiffStart + read32(entry + 8);
+    if (valueOffset + count > exif.length) return undefined;
+    return exif.toString("ascii", valueOffset, valueOffset + count).replace(/\0+$/, "");
+  }
+
+  function toIsoDate(value: string | undefined): string | undefined {
+    const match = value?.match(/^(\d{4}):(\d{2}):(\d{2})[ T](\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2})$/);
+    if (!match) return undefined;
+    return `${match[1]}-${match[2]}-${match[3]}T${match[4]}:${match[5]}:${match[6]}Z`;
+  }
+}
+
+async function getExifDate(path: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
+  const metadata = await sharp(path).metadata();
+  let exif = metadata.exif;
+
+  if (!exif) {
+    const rawProfile = metadata.comments?.find((comment) => comment.keyword === "Raw profile type exif")?.text;
+    const hex = rawProfile?.match(/^\s*exif\s+\d+\s+([\s\S]+)$/i)?.[1]?.replace(/\s/g, "");
+    if (hex) exif = Buffer.from(hex, "hex");
+  }
+
+  return exif ? readExifDate(exif) : undefined;
+}
+
 /** All gallery images, newest file first (like the Gatsby site's modifiedTime sort). */
 export async function getGalleryImages(): Promise<GalleryImage[]> {
   const entries = Object.entries(files).map(([path, mod]) => {
@@ -24,14 +93,15 @@ export async function getGalleryImages(): Promise<GalleryImage[]> {
       .pop()!
       .replace(/\.jpg$/, "");
     // import.meta.url points into the build output, so resolve from the project root
-    const mtime = statSync(join(process.cwd(), "src/assets/gallery", `${name}.jpg`)).mtime;
-    return { name, mtime, image: mod.default };
+    const sourcePath = join(process.cwd(), "src/assets/gallery", `${name}.jpg`);
+    const mtime = statSync(sourcePath).mtime;
+    return { name, mtime, sourcePath, image: mod.default };
   });
   entries.sort((a, b) => b.mtime.getTime() - a.mtime.getTime() || a.name.localeCompare(b.name));
   return Promise.all(
-    entries.map(async ({ name, mtime, image }) => ({
+    entries.map(async ({ name, sourcePath, image }) => ({
       name,
-      date: mtime.toISOString(),
+      date: await getExifDate(sourcePath),
       thumb: (await getImage({ src: image, width: 600, format: "webp" })).src,
       full: (await getImage({ src: image, width: 1200, format: "webp" })).src,
     })),