Summary
- An Australian photographer lost two cameras and lenses ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
- The equipment was valued at approximately $30,000.
- Kym Illman describes two men who appeared to be working beneath the desks.
He left his camera bag in the media area, stepped away for about five minutes and returned to find it noticeably lighter. An Australian photographer identified by his first name, Ryan, lost two cameras and lenses valued at roughly $30,000 ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Photographer Kym Illman describes the incident in his video from the event:
The thieves appeared to be installing cables
The theft happened on Wednesday while the room was still being prepared. According to Illman, security footage showed two men crouching beneath desks as though they were working on cabling. Instead, they transferred the equipment into another bag and left. Ryan initially thought his colleagues were playing a joke.
Contractors were moving through the facilities, with additional work following a flood in the upstairs press conference room. Illman also recalls earlier thefts at Le Castellet and the Hungaroring. After the incident, colleagues began putting their laptops in lockers before leaving the room.
Accreditation alone cannot keep equipment safe
The theft of a photographer’s equipment at the Copa America also happened in a media working area. For a photographer on assignment, losing the main bag can mean being unable to finish the coverage, even if replacing the equipment later is possible.
A practical routine is to agree with a colleague who will watch the bags when someone steps away, use the designated secure storage and keep a record of serial numbers. For incidents in Greece, PTTL Lost & Found Gear allows lost or stolen equipment to be listed and searched by serial number.
What we think
We all know how easy it is to leave a bag beside a desk when other photographers are working around us. Having to carry every piece of equipment even during a short break makes an already demanding assignment harder. That is why we would like organisers to provide controlled access and effective security from the day crews start arriving.
On our side, it is worth having a plan for continuing the job if the main camera disappears: an available backup body, a contact for rentals or loans, and copies of the files stored separately from the bag. That preparation could save the assignment without making the photographer responsible for the theft.
