Craigslist ad:
WEDDING PHOTOS STOLEN!!! REWARD IF RETURNED - Mac Pro - Nikon Cameras - $3000
My business was broken in to on Nov 13th in coquitlam on schoolhouse st. My MacPro and Camera gear was all stolen which includes a wedding that I photographed last weekend. If you have it, I really don't care at all about the gear, it can be replaced, but that wedding cannot. Please email me if you have the stuff, even just getting the SD cards back is enough. Please drop them off in the mail slot of the building where you stole it from. If you have the stuff I would even buy it back from you, keeping the police totally out of the picture. You can email me with whatever plan you have for dropping it off.
thank you
stolen gear:
Mac Pro Tower (images saved on it)
Nikon D300, D90, D80
Nikon Lenses 17-200 vr, 70-200vr, 18-105 vr
Panasonic DVX-100B
other items ...Show more →
Ric L. wrote:
Yeah, this would be my nightmare. Hard to say but maybe the guy backed up files onto the mac so that wasn't the problem.
That's the problem. Do not keep all your archives in one place. If the building had burned down, all the images would still be gone. Back up multiple copies. Be sure to have copies at a different location. What a horrible way to learn this lesson.
LKeithR, good post. There can never be too many reminders of this.
Insurance in Canada is BIG$$$'s ...it won't do you any good if you come home on Friday night .....all your gear gone..... and a shoot Saturday... I went for the bolt it to the wall and concrete floor option....
I think I will e mail this poor guy see if he needs assistance.... my my
So terrible...that is pretty close to me too. I also have a fire-proof safe that's a beast...but hadn't considered putting my back up stuff in there until now.
I'm also in Vancouver an it is pretty easy to Google and see who this is. I sent him an email with a link here... maybe the locals can help him out in some way.
Thanks for all of your concern, I've actually had many photographers offer to help out in many ways, I really appreciate it.
The horrible part is that I have 3 backup stations for this exact purpose, but this week was so busy I didn't get around to backing the wedding up on my 3rd backup. I have an external hard drive that I backup everything to and then leave in a locked cabinet, they broke into that. I also backup onto a RAIDed hard drive in my Mac as well as my main working hard drive. Then I have a Hard drive that I bring home with me, that's the one I didn't get a chance to backup to. I actually still even had the wedding photos on my memory cards in my bag, gone too.
I've been thinking of options on how to "make it up" to the bride, even though my contract states that if anything like this happens I am only liable to paying the full amount back. I know how much it would suck to not have your wedding photos though so I am going to try to go above and beyond just returning money.
I did also have a videographer do the wedding, and we have that video, we also did a photobooth and we have those photos. So I've offered to stage a new wedding at the church and pay for the tuxes and flowers. I've also offered to do a wedding party session and bride and groom session so we get those.
I can't believe people would be so clueless and need money so badly that they would steal this kind of thing, obviously stealing people's memories as well as a few bucks in gear.
The total amount lost for insurance coverage was $19,000.
I definitely will be getting a fireproof safe instead of just a locking cabinet, if they can bust down through a steel door with their foot they can bust into a locked wooden cabinet. You should have seen the steel door...this guy must have been huge
Thanks for all of your concern, I've actually had many photographers offer to help out in many ways, I really appreciate it.
The horrible part is that I have 3 backup stations for this exact purpose, but this week was so busy I didn't get around to backing the wedding up on my 3rd backup. I have an external hard drive that I backup everything to and then leave in a locked cabinet, they broke into that. I also backup onto a RAIDed hard drive in my Mac as well as my main working hard drive. Then I have a Hard drive that I bring home with me, that's the one I didn't get a chance to backup to. I actually still even had the wedding photos on my memory cards in my bag, gone too.
I've been thinking of options on how to "make it up" to the bride, even though my contract states that if anything like this happens I am only liable to paying the full amount back. I know how much it would suck to not have your wedding photos though so I am going to try to go above and beyond just returning money.
I did also have a videographer do the wedding, and we have that video, we also did a photobooth and we have those photos. So I've offered to stage a new wedding at the church and pay for the tuxes and flowers. I've also offered to do a wedding party session and bride and groom session so we get those.
I can't believe people would be so clueless and need money so badly that they would steal this kind of thing, obviously stealing people's memories as well as a few bucks in gear.
The total amount lost for insurance coverage was $19,000.
I definitely will be getting a fireproof safe instead of just a locking cabinet, if they can bust down through a steel door with their foot they can bust into a locked wooden cabinet. You should have seen the steel door...this guy must have been huge ...Show more →
It sounds like you took every precaution and did everything that most people recommend. Unfortunately for you, it seems like you just are a victim of bad luck. Sorry man!
Glad to hear of all the things you've offered the couple. Hopefully they take you up on it and realize it wasn't your fault.
Very terrible that this has happened to you Matt. it is a strong reminder to all of us. of course it would be nice if the thieves would return the images.
I just wanted to share with you all how amazing people can actually be. I got what I consider a great response from the bride:
Hi Matt,
wow I don't know what to say..
I know that it must be pretty brutal for you to hear as well. Don't feel to bad about it, you can't really do to much about being broken into. Did your gear have any police traceable chips?
We're thinking we'll leave it at trying to get the pictures back for a couple weeks before we do anything else.
If we did do anything else it would most likely be just ****** and I in the pictures, but we'll have to let you know later about that I guess.
When could I pick up the video and photobooth pictures? Are they both on a cd?
Here's hoping the pictures show up. My dad was joking about putting an ad in the paper saying whoever the idiot was who stole my wedding pictures, give them back and we won't judge you. haha.
Let me know about the video and photobooth pictures.
Thanks,
*******
Sorry to hear about this. it makes me a bit sick to think that people do stuff like that to others...
Just out of curiosity, why don't you go to your local news agent.. maybe have the bride go on TV pleading for the pictures. It might work, it might not, but it might be publicity... and I have always thought that any publicity is good publicity.
poor guy, it's for this reason that when i get home from a wedding in addition to doing local backups I stick my SD cards with their small jpegs in my computer and ftp them to a server that is housed in a datacentre. I can only really sleep easy after thats done.
I just wanted to share with you all how amazing people can actually be. I got what I consider a great response from the bride:
Hi Matt,
wow I don't know what to say..
I know that it must be pretty brutal for you to hear as well. Don't feel to bad about it, you can't really do to much about being broken into. Did your gear have any police traceable chips?
We're thinking we'll leave it at trying to get the pictures back for a couple weeks before we do anything else.
If we did do anything else it would most likely be just ****** and I in the pictures, but we'll have to let you know later about that I guess.
When could I pick up the video and photobooth pictures? Are they both on a cd?
Here's hoping the pictures show up. My dad was joking about putting an ad in the paper saying whoever the idiot was who stole my wedding pictures, give them back and we won't judge you. haha.
Let me know about the video and photobooth pictures.
Thanks,
*******
Also something else you might consider is if th ere were a lot of folks with point and shoots there, or in this case somehow maybe a lucky uncle bob, round up all the photos you can get, get permission to do any changes needed and see if you can salvage a day. Those point and shoots are getting better and better, the S90 for example is quite amazing.
If anything postivie can come out of this, I think it is that we can never do enough backing up before anything else, immediately after the ceremony. Having multiple backups in multiple locations. Backup first, be busy with life second. You NEVER know what will happen.
Ric L. wrote:
Man, that thing only weighs what... 300 lbs? And it screams, "I contain firearms - please steal me!" written all over it.
Two strong backs and you're screwed. (But FWIW... were one of those backs mine I'd pass out in agony and just leave it be).
It weighs more than 300 lbs when it has four - six inch concrete screws going into the floor and eight - four inch screws going into the studs on the wall behind and beside it
