Reader Comment: Photographers should assume they are being watched (by thieves) + Which Insurance for Camera Gear?
At least no one was hurt or even got poop on their shoes.
Reader Roy P writes:
You should probably share this with your readers. This is really crazy. Photographers should assume they are being watched.
DIGLLOYD: Leica M10-R with Leica 75mm f/1.25 Noctilux-M ASPH great for street shooting? Yeah, that’s a double entendre.
Check your insurance policy for how it covers such thefts—it might have limits so low that it won’t even replace your camera. Or it might exclude theft outside the home, etc.
I won’t drive into San Francisco for any reason with my Sprinter van—it would have broken windows and its contents ransacked within a few hours. Besides, cleaning the human feces off my shoes would stink. Gladly, I don’t have to go near that shithole city, which once used to be beautiful. I stick to the Eastern Sierra and other areas which are still nice.
Theft and shoplifting are no longer even prosecuted as a matter of policy in many dystopian California cities. And there’s no point paying rent, since you cannot be evicted and can never have a debt collector collect on unpaid rent—great move for a state critically short of housing.
My wife and daughters no longer feel safe even in gentrified Palo Alto.
Hell, I can’t even go for a bike ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon over on Cañada Road (kids and parents out there too!) without some yahoo firing off a semi-automatic handgun (9mm Ruger) with people including kids up and down that country road. I located the brass casings for the county Sheriff the next day, by happenstance (CCI Blazer ammo).
Civilization is about protecting people from each other. We are witnessing the breakdown of civilization by design, by policy.The ruling overlords of California no longer do things for us, they do things to us.
David S writes:
Camera insurance does vary widely. Policies by places like State Farm usually do not include taking cameras off your premises. Getting professional camera insurance is best from Travelers The Hartford.
Professional Photographers of America (mostly portraits and wedding photographers) has good connections to camera insurance. You have a good forum to spread good info so I gave you this. The Hartford and Travelers both had a 250 deductible for the cost of replacing the gear as new, not depreciated. Something very important obviously.
DIGLLOYD: I use The Hartford, but I cannot attest to how good it is, as I’ve not had to file a claim. File a schedule of equipment to make sure that things are covered to the value you desire.
RP writes:
I read your lament about San Francisco/Bay Area. My wife and I left Mountain View for Iceland after 30 years there. The Bay Area together with San Francisco was a paradise not long ago. I weep at what has become of it today. It is now all about being woke, about cancel culture, and about the Left's identity politics.
In 2017 my car windows were smashed at Twin Peaks in SF. I had taken some visitors there. Luckily there wasn't anything expensive stolen except a wallet containing passports. I went to the SF police station to lodge a complaint. A couple of cops took me aside and told me (off the record) that their hands were tied by the city administration, that there was no point in coming to them. They seemed genuinely perturbed by the state of affairs.
I miss Death Valley. But I don't miss the current Silicon Valley which has become a bad extension of Bangalore. I didn't come to America to experience Bangalore.
DIGLLOYD: there are pockets of safety in the SF Bay Area, but that takes money or luck in timing (I don’t have much of the former).
