theft

Watch a Thief Steal a Photographer’s Camera at a Wedding

If you're ever shooting a photography gig with strangers around, it's always important to make sure your pricey equipment is safe from harm and theft. Here's a 3-minute video that shows why: a thief was caught on camera stealing a camera and lens while the owner was busy shooting the wedding.

Nat Geo Photog’s Rare Animal Photos Lost in Airport Luggage Theft

Photographer Joel Sartore, founder of the National Geographic project The Photo Ark, has suffered a devastating loss and is asking the public for help. He had a luggage stolen at the airport in Bali, and among the items lost were three hard drives containing three weeks of photos and videos Sartore shot of some of the world's rarest animals in Indonesia.

Veteran Photographer Steals $15,000 of Gear from Fellow Photogs at NYC Studio

Earlier this year, a group of well-known professional photographers was robbed... by another photographer. Approximately $12-$15K worth of gear was taken from their studio by a peer almost three months ago, and they were only able to recover the gear earlier this week, though they still don't feel they've received anything resembling justice.

I Found All of My Stolen Camera Gear in the Nearest Pawn Shop

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just know that there’s something amiss? On Saturday, June 22nd, I woke up with a knot in my stomach as I realized I had left my camera outside in my truck. I wasn’t positive I’d locked the doors.

Thieves May Be Selling Your Photos on Shutterstock

While looking at my own images on Shutterstock, I noticed the Shutterstock algorithm was suggesting my photos as “similar” images. I thought it was a bug on the Shutterstock website until I noticed that others had downloaded my photos from other sites then uploaded them to Shutterstock. Shutterstock’s similar photos algorithm then noticed this and suggested the stolen photos along with my photos.

Award-Winning Photographer Lisa Saad Accused of Stealing Photos

Lisa Saad is considered one of Australia's top photographers and has won numerous prestigious photo contests both in her country and internationally. But Saad has now come under fire with serious accusations of stealing other people's photos without credit for her prize-winning photos.

Man Can’t Explain Why Prize-Winning Photo is Identical to Another Photog’s

In September 2018, the Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus announced the winners of a #ShotonOnePlus photo contest in India to celebrate the best photos captured by its phone cameras. One of the winning shots was a shock to photographer Aman Bhargava: it looked strangely similar to a photo he had captured two years earlier on his Canon DSLR.

How I Lent My $4,500 Camera Kit for $95 and Had It Stolen

I first heard of KitSplit about a year ago and thought it was a great idea. Especially living in New York, everything is so accessible. Browsing through the site and seeing what type of equipment was available, I saw that there were a lot of high-end RED Epic cameras and digital cameras, but there wasn’t a lot of film equipment. I have such a big collection of film photography equipment that I figured why not -- I could possibly corner the film camera rental market on KitSplit.

Man’s $650 World Series Ticket Stolen Through Instagram Photo

Heads up: you should never post photos of modern event tickets online. A Boston Red Sox baseball fan just learned this lesson the hard way. After sharing a photo of his $650 ticket to Game 2 of the World Series on Instagram, he was later shocked to discover that someone had used it in his place.

How This Venmo Scammer Got Caught by the Photographers He Targeted

Scammers are increasingly using the payment service Venmo as a way to steal camera gear since Venmo doesn't allow sales and will cancel the transaction after you've already handed over your possessions to the scammer. But one Venmo scammer in NYC was just caught and identified by photographers after he stole a $3,800 DSLR camera.

Artist Stole Photos for $15,000 Public Art Installation

Here's a tip for the digital age: if you're commissioned with $15,000 to create a public art installation in a large city, don't steal photos from the Internet and pretend they're your own. That's the mistake one well-known artist in Canada recently made, sparking a good deal of controversy and embarrassment.

Photographers, Register Your D*mn Copyright

Photographer Max Dubler struck a nerve last week with an article documenting the theft of one of his downhill skateboarding images. After finding a skateboard brand using one of his photos without authorization, he did as he always does: he contacted the offending party and requested a payment of $25 for social media usage.

3 Ways to Find Your Stolen Photos on the Web

If you're posting your images online with any sort of regularity, they're probably being stolen from time to time—it's an unfortunate reality of the digital age. And so, photographer Anthony Morganti decided to create this video and share 3 basic ways to search for and find your stolen photos online.

Razer Had Two Prototypes Stolen from Their CES Booth

Razer made headlines this week with a couple of cool prototypes, including the world's first triple display laptop codenamed "Project Valerie." Unfortunately, what seemed like a great week with some great products and press ended badly when two of their prototypes were stolen off the showroom floor.

Oi! Don’t You Understand Copyright?

A long time friend and photographer, Gavin Evans, had the good fortune to be commissioned to photograph David Bowie in London back in 1995.

The State of Photo Theft in 2016

The folks over at the image tracking service Pixsy have released an infographic about the state of photo theft in 2016. As 64% of you have personally experienced, photo theft remains a serious and widespread problem in our digital age.

Photographer Finds Her Backup Drives Stolen on Christmas Eve

Christmas is often called "the most wonderful time of the year," but for one Canadian photographer, this year's holiday season has been anything but. On Christmas Eve, Johany Jutras returned home and found that burglars had stolen her precious backup hard drives and photo archives.

Film Student Let Thief Steal His Phone, Tracked Him to Create This Short Film

We've seen our fair share of strange, voyeuristic, and sometimes ethically questionable photo and video projects, but this one tops the list. After having his phone stolen, film student Anthony van der Meer hatched a plan: he had another phone stolen on purpose, and then followed the thief around for weeks using a hidden app.

5 Tips for Music Photographers to Stay Safe at Festivals

Strapping thousands of dollars of camera gear to your body and navigating large crowds of intoxicated fans can present unique risks to professional music photographers. Never is that risk greater than at music festivals.

Olympic Photographer Robbed in Rio, $40K of Gear Stolen in 10 Seconds

The opening ceremony hasn't even kicked off yet, and olympic photographers are already having a hard time in Rio. Case in point: News Corp photographer Brett Costello recently had $40,000 worth of camera gear stolen... in broad daylight... in a crowded cafe... in 10 seconds flat.

Trump Sued for Using Iconic Bald Eagle Photo Without Permission

Highly controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is in the news a lot, but today he's making photography news. "The Donald" is being sued by two photographers who claim he has used their iconic image of a bald eagle on campaign materials for sale on the Trump website without asking permission or appropriately licensing the image.

Camera Catches Thieves Stealing $5,700 in Gear from a Camera Store

Clifton Cameras in the UK is asking for help this week after a CCTV surveillance camera caught two thieves stealing £4,000 (~$5,700) worth of Sony cameras and lenses from the company's camera store in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

The edited 1-minute video above shows one of the suspects handing a $2,000 Sony a7 II and 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 mirrorless camera kit to his accomplice, who then shoves it into his jacket.

Richard Prince legal saga continues

Photographer Sues Richard Prince for Stealing His Instagram Photo

Artist Richard Prince sparked huge controversy last year by taking Instagram photos without permission, making extremely small edits to them, and then selling them as fine art for up to $100,000 each.

Now, one of the outraged photographers who had his photo used by Prince is suing the artist for copyright infringement.

How to Safeguard Your Camera Gear in the Trunk of Your Car

In a recent post about "How Camera Gear was stolen in 2015," it was reported that 31% of gear theft victims had their gear stolen from their car. The good news is that a $30 dollar fix can leave you feeling a little less worried to leave your equipment in the trunk.

This is How Camera Gear Was Stolen in 2015

The anti-theft gear registry LensTag just provided us with this new look at how camera gear was stolen over the past year. As you can see from the pie chart above, car and home break ins are still the biggest way thieves are targeting cameras and lenses: they accounted for over half of all thefts reported to LensTag in 2015.

What Do You Do When ISIS Steals Your Photo?

The Internet is teeming with copyright infringement these days, and there are various ways for photographers to get stolen photos taken down and paid for by the offenders. But what happens when the offender is a UN-designated terrorist organization?

That's a real situation that photographer Brian McCarty found himself with earlier this year. Known for his photos involving children's toys, McCarty found that ISIS had stolen and repurposed one of his toy photos for their propaganda.