noisycheese
Normal(ish) Human
Here is a video from Photography Bay that bears watching.
A team of thieves in St. Petersburg have developed a method of stealing the lens off the camera that is literally hanging around their prey's neck. It is scary to see how bold and deft these thieves are:
http://www.photographybay.com/2013/...on-his-neck/?awt_l=Dcg1Q&awt_m=Jh0Dzjwpdv62xu
What could the victim have done to prevent this theft? I have looked at this video clip repeatedly and come up with some thoughts and tactics that could have helped -
1: The victim was oblivious to the goings on in his personal space, which made this theft possible. BIG mistake. Situational Awareness and preventive action is critical to thwarting this type of theft.
2: When the group began to approach him, he should have grabbed his camera body with one hand and the lens with the other and backed away from them, saying in a loud voice, "No thank you, I am not interested" or words to that effect.
3: When the group moved to surround him, he should have began yelling loudly to attract attention to the thieves. "NO!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" would have been a good attention getter.
4: Thieves do not want to have attention drawn to their nefarious acts. Thieves are looking for easy prey. The key is to be more trouble than you are worth; if you are, they will most likely disperse in search of an easy score.
5: As they closed the circle around him, he should have charged between them to break free, yelling "NO!! NO!! NO!!" (or words to that effect) and knocking them out of his way if need be while continuing to tightly grip his camera and lens.
6: The victim could not and should not have expected help from bystanders. The truth is that in a situation like this, you are on your own.
The take-aways from tis situation are as follows -
1: Always be aware of your surroundings.
2: Always be aware of people who are in your personal space (0 to 10 feet) and what they are doing.
3: Never allow a group of people to approach you with some sort of "sales pitch" (as the victim in the video did).
4: NEVER allow a group of people to surround you - even in a busy public area.
This is Monday morning quarterbacking, I will be the first to admit. Hindsight is always 20/20 vision. BUT: we have the luxury of watching the video, identifying the tactics used by the thieves and the mistakes made by the victim - and learning from them to avoid being victimized ourselves.
Be careful out there. There are sharks in the waters we swim, photographically speaking.
A team of thieves in St. Petersburg have developed a method of stealing the lens off the camera that is literally hanging around their prey's neck. It is scary to see how bold and deft these thieves are:
http://www.photographybay.com/2013/...on-his-neck/?awt_l=Dcg1Q&awt_m=Jh0Dzjwpdv62xu
What could the victim have done to prevent this theft? I have looked at this video clip repeatedly and come up with some thoughts and tactics that could have helped -
1: The victim was oblivious to the goings on in his personal space, which made this theft possible. BIG mistake. Situational Awareness and preventive action is critical to thwarting this type of theft.
2: When the group began to approach him, he should have grabbed his camera body with one hand and the lens with the other and backed away from them, saying in a loud voice, "No thank you, I am not interested" or words to that effect.
3: When the group moved to surround him, he should have began yelling loudly to attract attention to the thieves. "NO!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" would have been a good attention getter.
4: Thieves do not want to have attention drawn to their nefarious acts. Thieves are looking for easy prey. The key is to be more trouble than you are worth; if you are, they will most likely disperse in search of an easy score.
5: As they closed the circle around him, he should have charged between them to break free, yelling "NO!! NO!! NO!!" (or words to that effect) and knocking them out of his way if need be while continuing to tightly grip his camera and lens.
6: The victim could not and should not have expected help from bystanders. The truth is that in a situation like this, you are on your own.
The take-aways from tis situation are as follows -
1: Always be aware of your surroundings.
2: Always be aware of people who are in your personal space (0 to 10 feet) and what they are doing.
3: Never allow a group of people to approach you with some sort of "sales pitch" (as the victim in the video did).
4: NEVER allow a group of people to surround you - even in a busy public area.
This is Monday morning quarterbacking, I will be the first to admit. Hindsight is always 20/20 vision. BUT: we have the luxury of watching the video, identifying the tactics used by the thieves and the mistakes made by the victim - and learning from them to avoid being victimized ourselves.
Be careful out there. There are sharks in the waters we swim, photographically speaking.
hepcat
Former PH, USN
That's pretty bold alright. Situational awareness is always the first step in ensuring your safety and the security of your goods.
zauhar
Mentor
Those guys are slick, thanks for posting the video and your good suggestions.
Given such a large, coordinated, and clearly determined group, I wonder if the photographer would have been successful even if he kept both hands on the lens? (That said, better to do something rather than nothing.)
Randy
Given such a large, coordinated, and clearly determined group, I wonder if the photographer would have been successful even if he kept both hands on the lens? (That said, better to do something rather than nothing.)
Randy
David_Manning
Well-known
He was basically mugged, as opposed to pick-pocketed. Even if he caught them, I'm sure he would've been assaulted. They were pros, and they weren't going to get caught or arrested.
His only hope was to immediately make a ruckus...lots of noise.
Sad.
His only hope was to immediately make a ruckus...lots of noise.
Sad.
I find that perps are bold like this when the people that live in the area are scared of the perps or also hate the tourists in that area (therefore not caring what the perps do to strangers).
This is why it may be good to go to areas that are infamous with a few other people who can watch your back.
This is why it may be good to go to areas that are infamous with a few other people who can watch your back.
zauhar
Mentor
He actually WAS assaulted in the course of this, receiving at least one hard shove.
I guess the stories I read/hear about the FSU being a lawless place may hold some truth.
(Not that something like this can't happen in the US or Europe.)
Randy
Only about two seconds between the thief taking the lens and the photographer noticing it missing, and he still lost it. Wow...
KenR
Well-known
Of course the obvious question here is - who shot the video? Was this done by the thieves as part of their ongoing quality improvement seminar? Perhaps it was really done by the Police as part of a public awareness seminar with actors?
finguanzo
Well-known
The video was from a bus/car parked there.. It said it somewhere in the article, most cars there have dashboard cams, youtube russian car accidents, a lot of dashcam camera crashes....
pepeguitarra
Well-known
Beware of Russia, specially the police. A friend of mine went there on business and was received at the airport by his business partner (a Russian). Outside of the airport, they were surrounded by about six children (gypsies) age 8-13. As soon as they got closer, the partner started kicking the boys very hard until they went away. My friend was surprised with this abusive behavior, but was explained that those kids were going to steal their pockets and luggage.
k__43
Registered Film User
My lesson would be to use a Zorki-4 in St.Petersburg
shootar401
Unregistred User
As much I love going to Russia to visit, I stay far, far away from the cities and stick to the small towns. Not only are the people nicer but sometimes they invite you to their homes for a meal.
Some people travel with valuable goods looking like a chicken ready to be plucked. I have worked with some of the top still photographers around and their gear normally looks like it is ready for the Goodwill Store. There is a reason for that -- just look at the video. You never want to look like a dumb tourist or like you have all kinds of great resale ready camera equipment on your person. Remember the saying, ''It is immoral to let suckers keep their money."
Tony Whitney
Well-known
So how do you stop people surrounding you unless you're Jason Statham? It happened to me once in Florence - they didn't get my Leica and didn't seem interested in it, but they did find a couple of hundred bucks in my jeans pocket.
muser53
MUSER53
Besides displaying some some street smarts (90%of the battle) which this guy obviously does not possess perhaps something as simple a tethering the lens (if it had a tripod collar to the camera itself would have changed the outcome.
35mmdelux
#Represent
street rule #1: don't take expensive gear into desperate areas if you don't want to get shagged.
muser53
MUSER53
lynnb
Mentor
Good advice.
Sounds like a good reason to shoot LTM rather than bayonet mount.
Sounds like a good reason to shoot LTM rather than bayonet mount.
kxl
Social Documentary
No guarantee but:
1) Act crazy and start screaming "POLICE" in the local language.
2) Bring a whistle and use it.
3) Air horn.
I don't think the above would have helped in this case since they seemed determined and they outnumbered him. It WAS a robbery not theft. NO telling what kind of harm they could have done to him if he tried to fight.
The victim is an imbecile.
A gigantic zoom and expensive camera around his neck. A bright orange "sucker" jacket. And an enormous backpack which marks you as a goon.
I'm not sure, but I think they grabbed something out of his backpack as well.
If you want to make yourself a target, you have to expect this kind of trouble.
I would never have displayed that camera in an unfamiliar place, and I would not dress like a clueless tourist.
A gigantic zoom and expensive camera around his neck. A bright orange "sucker" jacket. And an enormous backpack which marks you as a goon.
I'm not sure, but I think they grabbed something out of his backpack as well.
If you want to make yourself a target, you have to expect this kind of trouble.
I would never have displayed that camera in an unfamiliar place, and I would not dress like a clueless tourist.