Here’s a photo of the remains of Ricky Adams’ Leica M6 after he got mugged a while back in Brixton while on a photo shoot.
Ricky also sent us the story of how this happened which he wrote in response to a question from a magazine:
Q. As with any professional photographer, I’m sure you have had to shoot in some sketchy scenarios (bad neighborhood etc…). Is there one situation that stands out as the worst that you would care to share?
A. I hate shooting photos in sketchy neighbourhoods, but oftentimes that’s where the good photos are to be had.
The one that stands out happened in Brixton, London about 9 or 10 years ago. I was walking around taking a few pictures when I turned into a side street and felt someone gripping my camera & wrist. I turned around and came face to face with this massive guy. He took a bunch of swings at me as I dodged & wrestled him for which seemed like an eternity. He was holding the camera & I was holding the strap.
He got me good in the face so I decided to avoid the inevitable and gave up the camera. Two women pushing a pram caught the end of what just happened and started yelling at the guy. He stopped running & started swinging the camera around by the strap, smashing it off the ground 7 or 8 times before hurling it 40ft. up the street. Then, he ran off.
I picked up the wreckage and walked back to where I was staying with a swollen cheek.
No insurance either.
To add insult to injury, I sent it to Leica to see if it could in any way be repaired. All I got back was the camera and a two word letter stating that it was: ‘beyond repair’.
…Ouch!
Fortunately though this didn’t put Ricky off photography and he still shoots now, his website can be found at rickyadamphoto.com.