The Scream

Me at the Emirates Stadium with my Canon 7D, Tamron 170-50 and my 580mk2 flash.

Three hours after this photo was taken of me screaming pitch-side at Arsenal's Emirates Stadiums, in North London, I kissed goodbye (and screamed for real) as over eight grand of my "sports" equipment was stolen right off the doorstep just outside my house, on returning home after covering a charity football match. That was the last time I saw this:

1.Canon 1DMk3 Body
2.Canon 7D Body
3. Canon 70-200 L F2.8
4. Tamron 17-50mm
5. Sigma 1.5 Lens Extender
6. Canon 560EX Mk2 Flashgun
7. Godox External Powerpack
8. Various accessories including spare batteries.
9.  Eight CF Cards of various sizes and speeds. 

 

................But that wasn't all because the scumbags also managed to grab this:

My beloved Sigma 120-300 F2.8 HSM OS Mk1 Telephoto Zoom

It was the first time in more than 30 years of professional photography, that I had been the victim of such a crime and let me tell you, it hurt like a bitch but it didn't hurt nowhere near as bad than the day the life of my wife, was taken from me. Gear can be replaced. Human beings can't! Alas it was still a painful lesson learned. In Tottenham, (or anywhere in the capital for that matter) you NEVER let your guard down. I did and in less than 90 seconds, it was GONE, the only thing "they" left behind being a Manfrotto monopod. It is times like these when you find out who your friends are and my very best friend and neighbour, Charlotte, set about calming me down and sorting things out, like the insurance and here again it was Sharon who came to the rescue. Before she died Sharon had insisted that both the house, it contents and all of our event photography equipment be fully insured and placed on a rolling direct debit. In all the commotion of her passing and me loosing the plot in the aftermath of her death, I had plum forgotten about this. It wasn't until the morning and a call to my insurance broker, Adduki and a visit to my bank that I confirmed to my immense relief that this was indeed the case. So panic over,  I set about, over a space of almost nine weeks and the help of Ray Flitchett (Sigma UK) and Donal Ogilvie (Fixation), replacing all of my stolen kit and first up, was the Sigma 120-300 OS Sport which Ray managed to source for me at DPB Photographic in Brighton. Apart from a Think Tank Airport V2 Roller Case (again from Ray) all the rest of my gear was sourced either via Donal at Fixation or my online friend, Ebay. And here it is:

Finally done and dusted! My "sports" kit which now includes a Canon 1DmkIV instead of my Canon 7D and a Canon 17-40 F4L & Nifty fifty instead of the Tamron 17-50 F2.8.

Since the robbery, I've had a state of the art CCTV system installed and my home alarm system renewed because these days it is better to be safe than sorry. This hasn't been a pleasant experience and it really did knock me back but with a little help from my friends (which includes three members of the Metropolitan Police), I managed to get through it but NEVER AGAIN! Has for the lowlife scum who did this to me, I sincerely hope that what goes around comes around and that they get theirs.