Two cameras, laptop stolen from photo shoot in Schine
After the senior portrait photo shoot Wednesday, no one was smiling.
Photographers from Herff Jones Photography had at least $7,000 in equipment stolen on campus, said Sarah Hopkins, a senior photographer at Herff Jones.
The company had equipment set up in Room 126 in the lower level of the Schine Student Center. Photographers were shooting senior portraits for the Onondagan, Syracuse University’s yearbook.
Hopkins said she and another photographer stepped away from the set-up to smoke a cigarette and when they came back around 4 p.m., two cameras and a laptop were gone. The laptop contains lists of student names and phone numbers.
‘I’m flabbergasted, I’m beyond – it’s beyond comprehension,’ Hopkins said.
Hopkins said Herff Jones has shot portraits at SU for 20 years. This is the first time they’ve had equipment stolen.
Along with the equipment, all 50 of the senior portrait shots taken Wednesday were on the stolen cameras. An additional 50 students who were scheduled to get their photos taken were turned away after the theft, Hopkins said.
The lower level of Schine is surrounded by student group cubicles, many of which had students working in them at the time of the theft.
‘They literally came down within that half hour in front of everyone and took everything,’ Hopkins said.
Students in the cubicles were questioned by SU’s Department of Public Safety. DPS has since turned the case over to the Syracuse Police Department, given the high value of the stolen items and felony level, DPS Chief Tony Callisto said.
The company is trying to get additional equipment shipped up to continue with shoots Thursday but said students should look out for e-mails or instructions on how to re-sign up for senior portraits in the next few weeks.
Mary Wilson, a senior political science major, was scheduled to get her portrait taken Wednesday and was turned away.
‘It kind of sucks,’ she said. ‘I curled my hair for a good hour, I did the makeup thing and I rushed here and paid for parking. But, I mean, I feel bad for them. It really sucks.’
Published on October 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm
