Stolen Equipment
Help us find our STOLEN equipment!
On Halloween night – October 31, 2009 between 7:34PM and 9:15 EST someone stole THREE Canon Lenses from our Tamrac bag. The bag was behind/under the stage next to the service entrance, hidden by linens in the background. This was at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, GA
At 7:34PM EST the cake cutting commenced and I moved the 70-200 and 24-70 from my person into the bag. I did not use the 100mm today. I used the 50mm and 20mm the rest of the evening for dancing pics (the 28mm broke earlier at the church). At 9:15PM we packed up and I noticed the first lens gone, then one after another after another. It was reported to Hyatt security, banquet staff, and called in to the police.
At one point in the evening a banquet staff person approached me asking me about my camera and lens. I answered his questions and let him feel the weight of the lens. Mike positively identified this staff person in one of my blooper pics taken of them cutting/serving the cake. The theft happened after that.
Here are the serial #s of these lenses in case you’re in the market and happen to find these stolen ones on eBay, Craigslist, or other site:
24-70L 2.8 USM – 304827
100 2.8 Macro – 12403450
70-200L 2.8 IS USM – 337936
These babies have been with me for a while – I used to shoot whole weddings with the 24-70! 
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I’m so sorry this happened to you, Liana. I know the feeling of helplessness it brings. Praying that everything is recovered!
Thanks for listing the serial numbers… I’ll pass them around to some friends who are on craigslist and ebay all the time.. Hopefully you can recover them in good condition.
Wow, I saw this on Twitter this morning and my heart just sank. This is such an awful thing to have happen!! I hope you are able to get them back. What is so aggravating about something like this is that whoever stole them thinks they just got some easy valuables – but for you, those are part of how you make your living. I hope you can get them back, or at least have insurance that will help you get new ones.
Thank you all for your support. Indeed – when this happens it strikes you not only financially but really hits home because they didn’t just steal lenses, they stole tools, and essentially took a piece of our livelihood. My insurance has changed since I moved, but the statement I have shows I AM paid up on Business Insurance for Jan 2009-Jan 2010. I will find out for sure if Insurance will do anything about it when I can call the claim in Monday. The police file these things on the phone and have a call due to me in the next 48 business hours. They sure do take their time.
I saw it on twitter too and immediately retweeted! This is scary especially because I hid things just like you and thought everything was fine. Keeping a closer eye on them these days. I’m so sorry and hope that we can find them!
Thanks for retweeting!! Someone seriously needs to invent a locking camera bag and locking mechanism to strap it to something secure!
Liana,
I’m so sorry.
RT’d this and will also heads – up it on the forums.
JC
Ouch! That hurts not only the bottom dollar but, faith in humanity. I hope you recover your equipment but more importantly I hope we all learn from this.
just reposted, and added on twitter for you. I am SO sorry!
So sorry to hear this, I Tweeted this for you. Praying for the best outcome for you. Police will usually cross-reference S/N’s with pawn shop databases if they go that route, and MANY pawn shops use eBay too.
Liana,
Sorry to hear this happened to you. I hope they find your gear, and the loser that took it.
On the whole “Someone seriously needs to invent a locking camera bag and locking mechanism to strap it to something secure” ThinkTank does! We have the airport security for them and it has a lock and a built in security cable.
Steve
So sorry to hear this – I like your work and follow you on Twitter. I posted this on Facebook and will retweet. I really hope you get your lenses back and whoever did this get what they deserve!!
Your problem popped into my twitter feed this AM – I posted it on the DWF – you never know – hope it helps you.
ej
So Sorry to hear about it. We were at a wedding reception last night and had a laptop sitting in open with a camera for self portraits and I was feeling “What if someone walks with it” . Biggest nightmare for a Photographer
Hi, Liana. Someone linked to your post on DWF. There are several options for securing one’s camera bags while on site. I bought a ThinkTank Airport International rolling bag earlier this year for a destination wedding, but I’ve been using it at all my local weddings too. It not only has the capacity to hold all my gear (two large bodies, two speedlites, five lenses, radio triggers, etc., etc.), but you can lock the front panel closed and it comes with a built-in security chain and lock. It won’t stop a determined burglar with bolt cutters, but it will deter someone from quickly grabbing whatever equipment they can in the 15 seconds nobody is looking. I also find it much more comfortable having 30 lbs of gear in a rolling bag rather than in a backpack!
http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/airport-international-v2-roller-camera-bag.aspx
Hope the cops are able to catch the buggers who stole your equipment!!!
Wow! So sorry to hear this! I’s a good thing you had written down the serial number’s. I hope that will help locate them. I should have done it already but, I’m off to write down mine.
Thanks for the reminder, I hope you find yours!
Candy
Any chance it was in view of a security camera? But I am sure that someone thought of that already.
Oh that is just horrible! I can’t believe people would do that at a wedding, I hope you find the person who did this and get your babies back
lianna i’m soooo sorry. this really sucks.
Was anyone shooting video at the wedding? Either a pro or a guest? Even though the theft occurred between 7:34 and 9:15 the theif might be seen on video watching you take/replace lenses at say 6:00 or even earlier than that. Theft of over $500 is a felony in Georgia.
The person who asked you about the lens could have been working with an accomplice. Are the police going to talk to him or other members of the hotel staff?
You might want to notify keh.com or vendors if there is a local photo equipment show or swap meet.
Oh boy, I feel your pain. Boy do I feel you pain. I had my entire bag stolen with $9k in lenses and a body. All happened 2 days before a wedding! I do want to tell you I bought the greatest bag ever. It’s called PacSafe Duffel. It’s bulletproof. It’s large enough for me to dump my entire Think Tank belt with lenses in, laptop or whatever. You can lock it to anything you can loop the cable around. It cost me $200 and worth every penny and piece of mind.
http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=detail&id=23
Good luck going through the insurance fiasco, it took like a month before I got my stuff replaced.
That’s a bummer girl !
In Canada, my insurance company just requires a police report and then I’m good. I just need to pay my deductible and they will replace everything.
The important thing is that they didn’t steal any of your cards. (gotta love my Boda Bag). Bodies and lenses are easily replaceable. Good thing for back-up gear right ? I have my ‘OH SH*T’ bag in my car at all times. Back up camera and lenses ready to rock and roll in case something horrible like this happens.
From experience, the likelihood of a guest stealing the equipment is highly unlikely. Most of these are ‘inside jobs’, which I’m sure you can conclude with the timing of the banquet staff approaching you and the time of loss.
Locking this stuff behind the stage or under a table won’t prevent a theif from finding ways to cut the bag open to snatch the goods.
I hope everything works out at the end and the perp gets what s/he deserves.
What a hassle there. Sorry what I’m sure was a great event get marred by this. I hope all goes well with the insurance transaction and you’re back up and running quickly. Have RTed your message to spread the word.
Extra camera theft insurance for only $17: http://bit.ly/1wP74D See, i use it on ALL my photo gear: http://pic.gd/9cd344
Ah! I am SO sorry!! This is every photographer’s worst nightmare. I hope that everything works out! I’m sure it will
I’m really sorry to hear this. I hope this works out in the end.
Hey Liana, so sorry to hear this! I retweeted and put on facebook for you.
oh this makes me sick. sorry to hear about it. insured or not insured it just plain stinks. i am now bringing an assistant to every gig to stand and guard equipment if nothing else. good luck. hope it comes up. keep an eye on ebay/craigslist and the call the pawn shops in the area and report them stolen if someone comes in with them.
Good luck catching whatever creep grabbed your gear!!!