Two days ago, someone broke into our home and stole these items: D3, D700, 17-35mm & a Powerbook. I was scheduled for a shoot in Penang which I eventually canceled. Even if I could borrow these equipment, I wouldn’t be in the right state of mind to do the shoot. I felt angry, violated and heartbroken.

For the last 48 hours, Jasmine and I went through an emotional roller coaster ride. “Was there an inside collaborator?” “How long have we been watched?” “How did they get in?” “Are we still safe here?” Stressed out & frightened, we consoled each other and prayed. Eventually fatigue knocked us off and we fell asleep.

48 hours on…I realize there are many silverlinings in this unfortunate event:

1. Love & Friendship
Thank you so much for the outpouring of support, prayers and love. There was an explosion of love at Twitter. There were soooooo many emails, tweets, smses. Someone offers me a immediate personal loan to buy new gear. Another offer to loan me his entire gear system for 2 months (including a D3)! If I could weigh your love in gold, I would be richer than Bill Gates! THANK YOU!

2. Police Efficiency
I’ve had my fair share of criticising law enforcement in our country. We always harp on their glaring mistakes but rarely credit them for job well done. The investigating officer was in contact with me until 11:30pm. These guys probably work 18-20 hours a day when they are at the verge of solving a case. They were friendly, informative and fast. The main suspect was nabbed in 18 hours! I am grateful.

3. It could have been worse
I’ve lost things, which are temporal and replaceable. Jasmine and I weren’t in the house so we weren’t harmed. Our passports were not touched! PHEW! Imagine if they were gone…our NY trip/shoot that we’ve planned for so long would have to be canceled. Imagine the horror on my bride’s face!

We’ve spent the last two days improving the security measures in our house, going through evidences, etc. I felt like a CSI. FYI, pixelated CCTV footages cannot be “zoom and made clear” like they did it in the CSI tv series. I was stupid enough to try that!

Thank you for your prayers & support.

p/s - the best part of my day was calling Shen to congratulate him on winning 1st place in his first WPPI print competition entry. Shen took my 3-day workshop last year.