Wedding 'tog's nightmare

I just saw on our local news channel the sad tale of a professional wedding photographer near here.

She had taken photos of a wedding yesterday and was taking snaps of the evening reception when her car was broken into. The thief took her spare camera, a couple of lenses, all her memory cards and her laptop.
Because it was a party, not a formal reception, she didn't take all her stuff in so she could work without being too obvious and get some candid shots.

Of course she is insured for all this gear - but the memory cards and the laptop had that days wedding on them so the happy couple have no wedding photos apart from a few informal shots at their reception.

They have appealed for the thief to return either the laptop or the cards.
Fat chance I fear.

Will she have to compensate them in some way? How do the pros and not so pros here store their photos and gear safely whilst working?

my vehicle is nondescript, no company logos, has an alarm, tinted windows and all gear is packed in coolers.
My wedding contract has a clause covering such an occurrence..
generally we'd opt to refund depending on circumstances....
we won't refund if the theft occurs in an area where it is logical to assume one of thier guests is most likely culprit... eg the theft occurs INSIDE the reception hall, or the function is on private property where the public doesn't have easy access... also if our vehicle was specifically targeted as opposed to multiple vehicle break ins...
I mean if it was targeted specifically (and my van or blazer are not the fanciest) then it is likely the thieves knew it was the photogs car, and therefore was a guest of the wedding couple...

let's be honest.. if there is an ugly older GMC Blazer with factory radio, sitting next to a Cadillac Escalade, and tricked out Hummer, and only the Jimmy gets busted into... you know damn well the thieves KNEW for sure it was full of camera gear.. and only thier guests would know that...

At least they hired a pro so she will be insured for consequential loss so will be able to restage the photos. Not ideal but something to replace. When I am shooting festivals I copy the images to my laptop in the press tent and upload to dropbox just in case...

Oh and the cards don't leave me until copied....

Wherever I am, whatever I am shooting, the cards always stay with me.

When doing weddings, I hardly ever work alone. I might have another photographer with me, or a "go for". I never let the cards out of my sight, and, in the case of a "go for", he actually copy the cards on the computer and another hard drive. That hard drive is always with me or the "go for", so never out of reach or sight. Same goes for the other tog.

It was a bad call when the 'tog in the OP decided to separate herself from her cards.

She earns money from the contents of those cards. The hardware can be replaced, the images usually can't.

I agree with you in principal, but in practice, memory cards keep getting bigger and they've proven reliable... meaning even I who once worshipped the "Don't keep all your eggs in one basket/multiple 2 gig memory cards" goddes, must admit... that is getting harder to do.

last night I had to shoot stills and video for a multimedia mash up for a halloween party at a local nightclub.
juggling 5 cameras plus associated support gear was a challenge.... But even so I single handedly got the job done, without losing any equipment. Now juggling multiple cards would have been another task I did not need... I used big cards... so losing the card means losing the camera the card is in... so either way....

the only solution is to plan and organize to reduce risk of loss. That is all you can do.

My wife and I try and work as a team wherever possible. I back up to the laptop throughout the day but always keep the SD cards on me and do not erase them until after I have multiple backups on; laptop, desktop and external HDD. Later, finished JPEGs are uploaded to a secure online storage provider and a backup DVD is burned with the images as well and kept off-site. I do need an off-site backup HDD for raw files though.

The data is more important than the kit. I can replace any bit of kit. I can't magic up the data again if it is gone.

Hi...
Nice to share your comments you all...i am photographer.
If some one have a suggestion for wedding photography camera or any photography so you can tell me...

THIS is a Wedding snapper's nightmare.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPE9Z8vVfDk


Seen it loads of times and it still makes me laugh. - Classic

He would have been OK if shooting Pentax gear - his cameras would still work!!

Cheers
David

Like Don, my car has no logos and tinted windows. I've never really thought about it but the cards do stay with me all the time.

The only gear I have ever lost was at a wedding was, I'm 99% certain, stolen by a guest.