Ten feet. That’s all it took. A UK-based photographer who runs the YouTube channel My Photo Journey stepped away from his camera bag for a matter of seconds while setting up his tripod, and when he turned back, the bag was gone. No suspect, no scuffle, no witnesses — just an empty patch of pavement in the English city of Lincoln.
David, as he identifies himself, calls it his “worst camera experience ever.” And the sting is sharpened by how out of character it was. “Normally my camera’s never more than arm’s length away,” he explains. “For some strange reason I placed my camera down and walked over about 10 feet and started setting my tripod up.” By the time he remembered it, the gear had vanished — presumably swept up by an opportunist who strolled past at exactly the wrong moment.
The haul was substantial. David lost an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II along with three lenses — a 17mm, a 25mm and a 45mm — plus the bag itself, filters and battery packs. He jumped on his bicycle to comb the area, but the chances of spotting a thief in a crowd were always slim.
The follow-up was equally deflating. Police told him there was “not a lot they could do” without evidence, and when he asked the local council whether he could review their CCTV footage, he was refused on the grounds that it isn’t for the public. “If it’s not for the public, it’s not for crime, what’s it there for?” he asks — a fair question that a lot of city dwellers have muttered at some point.
David is refreshingly honest about his own role in the whole thing. “It’s all my fault,” he says, branding himself a “massive fool” for breaking his own golden rule. “The lesson I’ve learned is to respect my equipment and to never leave it out of my sight because you cannot trust anyone.”
There is, at least, a silver lining. His insurance paid out, and he’s now shopping for a replacement. His plan: pick up the OM System OM-1 III if it lands in September, and fall back on the OM-1 II if it doesn’t.
He’s also weighing up something a lot cheaper than a new body — an AirTag or two tucked into the bag. It’s a small habit that has paid off dramatically for others; one photographer reportedly recovered $25,000 of stolen gear thanks to a well-placed tracker. For the price of a coffee round, it’s the kind of insurance that works even when your own attention slips for those fateful ten feet.
