Photo by Jlhopgood
In early Februray, North Carolina photographer, Faith Massey, heartfeltly photographed the first and last moments of a local couple’s infant, who sadly passed just moments after his birth. The photoshoot was part of the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep project, which offers grieving parents a photoshoot with their sick newborns. Outside of a couple cell phone photos snapped by the baby’s parents, Massey’s images were the only photos documenting the last precious moments of the child’s life. Imagine, then, the pain experienced by the parents and Massey when the photographer’s camera equipment was stolen from her car along with the memory card that housed the only copies of the newborn while the car was parked in Massey’s own driveway.
When a local news affiliate learned of the tragic events, they met with Massey, allowing her to share her story in hopes the thief would see the consequences of their actions and do the right thing. You can watch that news clip, here:
Today, Massey posted on her Facebook page that the memory card on containing the photos had been miraculously returned. She says the card was mailed to the news station in an envelope with no return address. It has been confirmed that the lost images were still on the card. While Massey and, pretty much everyone who has been following the story, is ecstatic to at least have the images returned, however, none of the photographers other equipment has been recovered.
In the comments of her post, Massey noted that her insurance company has denied a claim to replace the equipment. Massey explained to her Facebook following that she parked her car in her garage and left her gear bag in the car while she ran inside her house to quickly do a few tasks. She noticed the bag was missing as soon as she returned. Her insurance company told her they couldn’t replace the equipment since the car was not physically broken into.
The lost equipment includes a Cannon 6D, 50mm 1.2 USM lens, 100mm 2.8 macro, and 85mm 1.8 USM lens, in addition to various other pieces of miscellaneous gear that was inside the camera bag. At the time of writing, Massey could not be reached for further contact.
I hope she was registered with Lenstag. It would make it a lot harder for the thieves to sell the equipment. Returning the photos was the right thing to do, but it still doesn’t change the fact that they are horrible people.
ooh, thanks for the info! I will sign up for lenstag this weekend.
Great that she got the images back for her client, but this keeps happening over AND OVER AND OVER…. people shoot, leave their camera gear in a car and have it stolen – how? Sorry, not to detract from the story – (Udi, you know I hate people like me that comment like this) …but at the VERY least – take your memory card with you! You can’t take those photographs again. Be a responsible photographer. Faith, i’ll ship you a memory card wallet if you PROMISE never to leave your memory cards out of your reach after a shoot again… especially for Now I lay me down to sleep.
I could not agree more. When I was in the high-tech biz if you got your laptop stolen form a car you’d be in for a crap load of trouble. It was “ok” to have it stolen form your work, your home, a restaurant…. but if it was stolen from a car…. you’d better take cover.
that is a mighty kind offer too…..
I also agree. I also feel that she had a lot of high quality gear in that bag to just leave it in an apparently unlocked car. I say that because the insurance company said the car was not broken into. If I am wrong,I apologize. I also know that most professional photographers have “go to” lenses that they know will usually work in a familiar shoot. That was a lot of nice gear. 50mm 1.2, 85mm, 100mm, etc. I guess she felt better safe than sorry. Next time not only take the card but can you lock your doors? I’m paranoid when I just go out to the store with my Pentax MX 1 and that’s just a carry around camera!
The only task she should have gone into the house to do was back up the card.
I’m so glad the couple is getting their photos! As for the photographer, who leaves that much equipment in plain sight in an unlocked car?!
Praise who??? for what exactly??
I consider my camera bag to be in about the same class as the president’s nuclear “football”: Keep it with me at almost all times.