Itunes reset my iPhone but can't find my photos

I'm an idiot. I plugged my phone (purchased a month ago) into my macbook and iTunes asked me if I wanted to start fresh or use my backed up files to reset my phone. And like an idiot I thought "oh it would be nice to easily convert my music" and didn't think I'd be starting from scratch (or restoring it only to what my old phone had). I held my breath but my photos that I've taken in the past month are no where to be found. However. If I go into my contacts I will scroll to look for someone I recently added and they won't be on the list. If i search for them, they magically appear. Also, just today I started assigning contacts their own photo ID (before the iTunes restart).. all of those are still saved. From photos that I took before the restart. So what's the deal? Did I lose all my photos (they aren't on iTunes or iCloud but my contact pictures are in tact?

Still holding my breath but I'm assuming that I've lost a few good photos I've taken over the past month.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.