It has been a strange month since I last wrote. On June 12, my beloved mother died. We had been with her in hospice for her last week or so. and as is common in these situations, even in a coma, she waited until we had to head home to cram ten days of preparations into one day before leaving for Europe and our workshops. We left that Friday morning, and by the time we got off the plane in RDU, I had a message from my brother saying that Mum had let go. We all got to say our goodbyes several days earlier.  She is in a better place now, and  I like to think that she is reunited with Dad after these nearly 30 years.  Still, it is sad … the end of an era. I am now the matriarch of our side of the family. I’m too young!  I’ll never stop missing her as I have never stopped missing Dad.

Needless-to-say, we were stressed and exhausted before we got on the plane for the red-eye to Barcelona. It’s a wonder we didn’t forget anything.

We spent our first day in Barcelona. What a great city it is! Evidence of Gaudi, Picasso, and other artists abound. Since La Rambla was so close to our hotel, we ambled along that great, long boulevard with a center walkway for pedestrians.

Being professionals, we are always careful. After all, both Arnie and I have traveled the world, and while we have not visited every country, we have covered quite a few thus far. Neither one of us has had our cameras stolen. We cannot afford it. No camera, no job. There is no forgiveness in the photo industry.

For Arnie, this was a return to Barcelona. For me, while it was a return to Spain, this was my first visit to Barcelona. We knew Barcelona is a hot bed for theft. I put my camera equipment in my trusty old L. L. Bean backpack that has served me so well for decades. Arnie had his in a waist pack. I carried my backpack around front so I could clutch it. Arnie kept his hands on his equipment.

We went through Mercat la Boqueria, the wonderful, extensive, covered market that reminded me so much of any of the large, historic, covered markets in North America and Canada. They have a wonderful feel and are a feast for the eye and camera.

We sampled strange-looking fruits, one of which reminded both Arnie and me of a pig. There were smoothies, nuts, confections, meats, and anything else you might like.

Since we were all so tired from the red-eye, we decided it was half-past wine o-clock and found Plaça Reial, a large quiet square away from the hustle and bustle of La Rambla. We settled around an outside table, mostly away from the cigarette smoke and talked about where we were going to go on this workshop.

We nibbled on fresh olives and other goodies, and generally enjoyed the cool shade while looking out on what was going on in the square. From time to time, we chatted with visitors at tables around us.

Above us, on one side of the Plaça, a man tended the lush plants cascading over the wrought iron on his balcony.

Late afternoon segued into evening, and as a long line gathered at the restaurant, we decided to stay put and eat dinner there, our table now covered in a nice white tablecloth.

I must say, we quickly adapted to the Spanish custom of eating late. Dinner was leisurely and the conversation great, but finally, realizing we had a drive the next day out into wine country, we left and ambled back toward our hotel with the intent of getting a gelato for dessert.

On the way, we were struck by the fountains at Plaça de Cataluna at the north end of La Rambla. Arnie and I both pulled out our long lenses, and as I photographed, I jammed my purse and backpack between me and the fence girding the fountain area. People came close to us, but we were vigilant.

When we were through shooting, we changed lenses and tucked the long ones back into our bags and headed off to the gelato place. The choices were endless, but we finally made our selections and went to sit out on a bench along the wide sidewalk.

As we gather more gray hairs, these cameras and lenses don’t get any lighter. Arnie went to adjust his pack, held in place by both a waist and shoulder belt. He put down his camera for an instant next to our friends. Two young men passed by and said something in Catalan. Our friends were distracted, and Arnie, in spite of decades of travel abroad, briefly looked up. He was exhausted, and it was totally understandable. When he looked back down, there was no camera. It was a classic case of bait and switch.

“My camera is gone,” he said, stunned. The waiter at the outdoor café next to where we were sitting saw what happened and shouted to the thief, the third person in this common setup. There were some young people at the next bench, one of whom also saw what happened. He took off after two of the thieves. I shoved my backback at Arnie and told him to hold it, as I took off, too. When I was young, I was a sprinter. We raced across the street, down the stairs into the subway, across into an alleyway, and finally into an underground garage where we lost track of the thieves. The young man, a Spaniard, rang the bell, and the parking attendant came out. My young friend was far better able to communicate what happened than I. Nothing could be done. The camera and shorter zoom were gone.

On the way back, I met two women who had seen the thieves run by, but there was nothing they could do either. I found Arnie down in the subway, and we walked back upstairs to our friends. Meanwhile, the young people at the next bench had called the police, as had the people in the gelato store. Plain-clothes cops arrived and got all the information that was to be had. The police station for that area was, of course, closed. The thieves knew what they were doing. The theft happened after 11:00 when the station closed down for the night.

Arnie was so frustrated with himself. In all the decades he has traveled, this was the first time he had let down his guard. I reminded him that we had come off of unusual circumstances with the death of my mother followed quickly by a red-eye flight. When we got back to the hotel, I wrote Debbie McQuade, coordinator at Nikon Professional Services (NPS).

We know Debbie from years of being members and having on occasion borrowed a special lens for a job. I asked Debbie if there were an NPS in Spain, hoping against hope that we could get Arnie a camera and lens he could use for the two and a half weeks we were in Europe. I sent the e-mail top priority.

In the morning, I went online, and Debbie had responded that after some digging, she had found Carlos Ormazabal, NPS Manager Spain. As Debbie wrote, “…I can send you by e-mail some pro dealers in Barcelona. It’s not easy to rent equipment, but we can loan [Arnie] for some days both camera body and lens.”

Arnie was still discouraged by the theft and didn’t have the energy to pursue it. When one has been robbed, one feels violated. It saps one’s strength. He wasn’t even interested in photographing. I knew that wouldn’t last, so I encouraged him to let me go ahead and call Carlos who immediately recognized our names. It didn’t hurt that we have both been published internationally. Carlos was both cordial and extremely helpful.

“We have plenty of bodies and lenses. What does he want?” Carlos asked.

I refrained from commenting that at my age, I could use a sleek new body, too! Instead, I cited the model numbers and also told him we had to head to the police station first.

Back down the infamous stairs into the subway we went to the area police station. We were buzzed in through the glass doors. Arnie, being tan, good looking, and white haired got quite a few second glances. The number of people waiting to be helped looked daunting. I figured we would be there not only all morning, but well into the afternoon. Instead, we were ushered into a back room almost immediately. A couple of the policemen had mistaken Arnie for former President Clinton. Hey, we weren’t complaining!

We had a good laugh with Joaquim who was the one helping us. He was one of the upper people in the local station. A nice fellow with a whimsical face and a great sense of humor, he was efficient, thorough, and most apologetic for what had happened to us. He spoke excellent English, as he had lived on the west coast in California with his wife for a few years. I would not have trusted my Spanish for the details needed for a police report, so we were very lucky.

He burst out laughing when Arnie told him I had taken off after the thieves. He and I left the office so that I could show him exactly where the thieves, the helpful young man, and I had run. We were lucky, in that there were surveillance cameras in the subway, so while it was unlikely that the thieves would be caught, it was highly likely that they could be identified. As I said to Joaquim, it is very difficult to keep one’s head tucked down when one is running full tilt away from pursuers.

Our friends played detective, too. They went back to the scene of the crime, took photos of the location, got the name of the gelato place, and added their information on what happened. The photos of Joaquim and Carlos were done by our friend David Enochs, super sleuth!

Joaquim filled out the lengthy report, asking us to repeat details to make sure he got it all right. Meanwhile, he talked about how frustrating it was for him not to be able to catch these people. He used to be a plain-clothes detective in the banks and stores, and he could put people away for five, eight, twelves years. Thefts with a weapon, or thefts done when someone is threatened or hurt carry a Federal penalty of mandatory prison time.

Alas for us, crime does pay. In Spain, if thieves are caught, they simply pay a fine. In this case, they absconded with several thousand dollars worth of camera and lens. A $500 or $1,000 fine is peanuts. As Joaquim said, they probably would sell it on eBay. Occasionally, the police have been able to catch thieves that way, but more often than not, the bands go free.

While Joaquim was processing the report, he showed us piles of mug shots of thieves they haven’t caught. On the wall beside his desk were more recent ones. He said he wished the laws would change so they might have a chance to put these people away and discourage others from cruising the streets in search of pigeons.

The bands mostly operate in threes. Each one has a cell phone, held in the hand for quick access. We are certain that we were stalked from the time we were photographing at the fountain. The thieves just bided their time. It’s a game of patience for them, a lucrative one. Two usually serve to distract the intended victim while the other other one absconds with the goods. It’s effective.

My daughter’s passport was stolen in Chile many years ago. Her friends were watching her pack, and a young, beguiling kid came up and started chatting. Meanwhile, the thief ame up behind and lifted her little bag. Again, bait and switch.

Another method is the three-shell game. You know the one. You are mesmerized as someone quickly shuffles the shells back and forth, and you try to keep track of the one with the pebble or bean underneath.

These bands frequent the tourist areas, the subways, the buses. That doesn’t mean that you should not visit these areas, but one should be doubly on one’s guard.

At our hotel a couple of weeks later, we met a woman who was devastated. She was on the subway and felt a slight tug. She later found that her passport, all her cash, credit cards, etc. were gone. She spent a day at the police station and the embassy getting everything straightened out. She missed her plane back home, but fortunately, the embassy helped her rebook. She told us that the waiting room at the embassy was full of people in the same situation.

I went over the Spanish-written report with Joaquim, and I was surprised that even with my rusty Spanish, I could understand everything in the report and point out a minor correction or two that needed to be made before he printed up the final version. He and Arnie signed all the pages, and he gave us a copy for the insurance company.

Joaquim made a bad situation less onerous. He was delightful, and we traded stories and talked about our different countries. He gave us his card as we left, and said that if we did see the camera on eBay, to call him, as they would send plain-clothes detectives to the exchange and nab the robbers. Do I recommend getting into this situation? No, of course not, but when one hears so many stories of jaded policemen everywhere, it was great to meet someone like Joaquim and some of the rest of the people in his department.

We headed back to the hotel with our friends, an adventure under our belts. I called Carlos to tell him we were ready to head over to the Nikon offices (you’ll see that it’s near IKEA down by the red building). He was ready for us, and we chatted about cameras, the megapixel war, new developments, and photography in general. We looked over the Spanish literature and checked out the latest models in the showcases.

The Nikon loaner paperwork was filled out, and both Arnie and Carlos signed it. Carlos also apologized for what had befallen Arnie. People had been so kind to us. The young folks near us on the bench the night before, the owners of hte gelato place, the waiter at the outdoor café by our bench, the plain-clothed police, Joaquim, and Carlos all helped erase the bad taste we had because of the theft.

And instead of just a few days, Carlos loaned Arnie a new D-700 and lens for the whole time we were in Europe. It was a very nice outcome to what could have been a very frustrating situation. Arnie without a camera for over two weeks was not a combination I wanted to contemplate! And two pro photographers sharing one camera is also not a good scenario. As one might imagine, both would want it at the same time!

That night, I e-mailed our pro insurance company who responded quickly. When we returned home July 3, we again contacted Debbie at NPS to try to locate the lens Arnie needed to replace but was unable to find through his usual sources. In spite of the fact that we came home to a holiday weekend, Arnie should have his new lens and camera later this week. NPS Priority Purchase Program can assist its members with expediting a purchase of hard-to-get items. With a private workshop coming up next week, that was terrific for us. It’s hard to teach without a camera!

Kudos and thanks to Debbie and Carlos at NPS. I don’t know what we would have done without their help. They are what being a member of a pro organization is all about.

For both pros and amateurs, however, there are things you can do to help avoid being in our situation.

Some Hints to Avoid being Robbed

• Leave your passport in a safe at your hotel.
• Don’t carry all your cash with you.
• Men, be sure to put your wallet in a front pocket; don’t take your wallet out where people can easily see you.
• Ladies, carry your purses on a short, strong strap and make sure the opening, zippers, etc. are faced in toward your body and clutch it firmly, holding onto the strap as well as the purse.
• If you carry a backpack, turn it into a front pack that you can hug against your body.
• If you put something down, keep a firm hand on it.
• At an ATM, shield your transactions from outsiders; if you are traveling with someone, they can help do this, too.
• When photographing, twist the camera strap twice around your wrist; that way, thieves cannot grab it from you.
• Get a plain black strap for your camera, or take a thick laundry pen and black out that fancy camera name on the strap; no point in advertising expensive equipment.
• When walking on a busy street, stick to the building side with your purse, backpack on the non-street side; in some locations, thieves ride motor bikes and grab bags away from unaware pedestrians.
• When traveling by car, stop 10 or more kilometers or miles before your destination, and make sure all valuables are stored away in your trunk; thieves love to lurk in parking areas watching for people “hiding” the contents of their car.
• Beware of people in pairs coming up with maps; while there are honest tourists needing help, there are also scammers, more baiting and switching.
• In crowds, try to find some place less congested; thieves can bump into you in a crowd, and you might know what was happening.
• On public transportation, if you are traveling with someone, face each other so that you can see over each other’s shoulders; No one can sneak up on you.
• Try not to look like a tourist; dress, if possible in generic styles that fit in with your destination.

List of Backups for a Trip

• Make two copies of your passport and pack them in different locations
• Carry two extra sets of passport pictures, also stored in separate locations
• Make two copies of your birth certificate, also stored…
• Do the same with your driving license.
• Keep your driving license in a different location from your passport; after all, it is a form of picture ID.
• Make up a list of your camera equipment, along with serial numbers, and store it…

Twenty years ago when I was in Spain with my mother, my passport was lifted at a car-rental company in Valencia. My mother was a bit of a chatter, so my attention was not wholly on what was going on. Frankly, I thought I was safe at a car rental place. It wasn’t until we were on our way to Madrid to fly home that I realized what had happened.

Back in those days, a passport was worth about $3,000 US on the black market. Today, I don’t know what it is worth. I don’t want to find out!

I telephoned the American embassy in Madrid and in Spanish, told them what happened. Curiously, the person to whom I was speaking spoke far worse English than I did Spanish.

I told her that I had copies of my passport, birth certificate, passport photos, etc. I dropped my mother off at the airport with strict instructions so leave on the plane if it was called. It was going to be really tight for me to get to the embassy and back to the airport in time for the flight.

When I caught a taxi for the airport, I told him what happened and said that “my aged mother” (nothing like a little exaggeration in these situations) was alone at the airport, and I need to get back there ASAP. Boy, did he fly. I suspect that he made record time between the two spots. I had him wait for me while I dashed into the embassy. I was discouraged by a very long line, but I was able to catch someone’s attention, and to my great surprise, they had everything ready for me plus a letter for the customs officials at the Madrid airport and another one for US Customs stateside.

After the required signatures, I dashed back outside, had another lightening-speed taxi ride to the airport, and arrived in time to hear the first call for our flight. Mum said she had never been so glad to see anyone!

Back at home, I filled out the paper work to replace my passport and sent in a rather large check for the fee. I was surprised several weeks later to find a refund for all but $20 included with my passport. Apparently, because I had all my backup information, the passsport office waived the penalty fees.

These are only a sampling of the things you can do. There are many other things, but these should get you started thinking prudently and keeping you from being an unhappy victim. Travel is fun, and while there are thieves out there everywhere, there are far, far more nice, helpful people. As I wrote earlier, and in all the hundreds of thousands of miles we have traveled, we have been very lucky. Being aware of what’s around you does make a difference.

Bon voyage!

Workshop Listings Updated

Today, I updated the workshop listing, adding pricing for next year. Because of the economy, we are continuing our 2009 pricing through 2010. Early Bird specials are still in place, and we have already gotten requests from people wanting to sign up for workshops a year out.

As always, if you are contemplating one of our workshops, be sure to make room reservations early. There are a number of locations where rooms will go quickly. Remember, you can always cancel later if necessary and not pay any penalty! If “our” inn or hotel is full, or if you prefer to stay elsewhere, we always have links to other choices.

Remember, too, that spouses and SOs are always welcome to join us. We go to some great locations that they may enjoy, even though they aren’t photographers.

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