diff --git a/thumbnailing/u/framing.go b/thumbnailing/u/framing.go
index 5131b326a0f63f0fe8f0b02f43804f4cc16da9dc..cde826dcd56d5296b9d57bf50030c7914519d02d 100644
--- a/thumbnailing/u/framing.go
+++ b/thumbnailing/u/framing.go
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ func MakeThumbnail(src image.Image, method string, width int, height int) (image
 func IdentifyAndApplyOrientation(origBytes []byte, src image.Image) (image.Image, error) {
 	orientation, err := util_exif.GetExifOrientation(ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBuffer(origBytes)))
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		// assume no orientation if there was an error reading the exif header
+		orientation = nil
 	}
 
 	result := src