Re: red dots and thieves

[Robert Hudyma <rhudyma@netcom.ca>]

At 06:40 PM 7/30/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Every time I read about people covering the red dots on their cameras 
>to avoid attracting the attention of thieves, I find it a little 
>bizarre.  The snatch-and-run thieves I've encountered or heard about 
>do not seem to be brand chauvinists -- usually they're not very good 
>at fine distinctions like Leica vs. other brands.  One sees Leicas so 
>infrequently that it seems unlikely it'd be worth a thief's time to 
>learn about this particular obscure brand, especially because stolen 
>examples are not worth much more than top-end Canon or Nikon hardware.
>     
>Of course, my experiences with snatch-and-run thieves have mostly been 
>in North Africa and the Americas.  I haven't encountered them in other 
>parts of the world.  Perhaps snatch-and-run thieves in other parts of 
>the world are better educated?  Maybe the whole cover-the-red-dot- 
>with-black-tape thing is a relic of an earlier era when Leica sold more 
>cameras?  Or possibly it's just inspired by a fantasy of the special 
>value of Leicas as compared to other brands?

I think that there *is* a brand-name recognition amoungst thieves, which
reminds
me a of story told to me at a dinner I had with a New-York photojournalist
about 20 years ago.

He told me that he had a month-long assignment to photograph the New York
subway system.
As a consequence, he needed to ride the entire system, day and night.
Took his favourite leica and camera bag and was mugged on the subway in a
few days.
He tried that again and was mugged again.  He was mugged twice in one week.

I think that most people would have given up at that point, but he went out
to the grocery
store and bought a bag of Purina Dog Chow, emptied out the Chow,
and put his equipment in the bag.  He carried his bright green bag of Dog
Chow with him on
his lap for the reminder of the assignment without further incident.

On a more personal note:

It just goes to show how important Brand-name recognition really is. So
many bags and 
equipment shout: "STEAL ME!".  You will find me with my sneakers, no rings
or watch and
*small* dirty canvas bag (former war surplus gas mask bag)
with me when I crawl around in the urban danger zones.  I try real hard to
blend into
the background and to stay alert at all times.

I can recall two or three occasions when those sneakers helped me avoid
some tense situations.
I was assaulted once, last summer, surprisingly in London England on Oxford
street. Seems
I stayed a few seconds too long in one place with my Minolta CLE draped
around my neck and
some tough blokes took an instant dislike to my camera and before I knew it
I my Minolta 
and I were flying.  They saw a *camera* and it was an invasion of their
space: it could have
been *any* camera: with red dots, green dots no dots or polka-dots; it
wouldn't have mattered.
If I muster enough courage to go back there again, I'll bring my Dog Chow
bag with me.

I was lucky that I only received some bruises (body and ego).
It could have been a lot worse.   

Robert Hudyma, e-mail: rhudyma@netcom.ca or rhudyma@aol.com
Semi-Tech Corporation, 131 McNabb Street Markham Ontario Canada L3R 5V7
Phone: (905) 475-2670 ext: 228