as we know every city has their worst parts, poorest areas and hours that you cannot walk alone and so on, etc there isn�t a place where you are 100% safe.. we don�t live in a perfect world, if so we wouldn�t get a cut every year by agencies..

if we are going to think about robbery, why not talk about car accident or a bus running over you.. and then all the diseases we can get.. getting off topic yep but to say that we cannot think of all that all day or we would live alone and on a cave perhaps

wow - lots of responses here. I wasn't suggesting Italy and France are riskier than the US (or Canada). I don't always bring my equipment on North American travel either. I always keep my equipment with me when I travel (I wouldn't be able to do that on this trip). I enjoy taking photos at night and always plan my shoots. The sight seeing with the kids would be during the day and I wouldn't even use my camera during midday because of the harsh lighting. I've been to Italy several times - last time was a couple of months ago for a short trip. I did bring my equipment then but didn't get to use it at all. This is different - we would be out sight seeing during the day. The equipment and luggage would remain either in in the car or in a hotel.  I wouldn't leave the equipment in the car here in Canada, even in a relatively safe city such as Ottawa. I had a work vehicle broken into just a couple of years ago. I'm a bit paranoid now.

Thank you for all the responses. I think I've made up my mind. Looking on istock, all the sites I will be visiting seem already very over saturated with stock images. I would just be producing images similar to those that are already there and my images would get buried somewhere on the last pages. I'm not going to bring the equipment.

John

The most dangerous place in my opinion is still south america and especially Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
Plenty of people there who would kill somebody for a DSLR.

Agreed __ and you can add Panama to that list too. Totally different level of criminality.

It's hard to see how can one get a decent return on investment traveling in expensive european cities like London or Stockholm.

The most dangerous place in my opinion is still south america and especially Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
Plenty of people there who would kill somebody for a DSLR.

Yeah best not to travel anywhere. Its expensive and full of killers just waiting for you to turn up with things they can rob.

...have you never watch a Michael Moore film? When I speaks about the politics of terror...may be...is it true?

I've never been to South America,I heard some great and some not so great stories relating to security.

The scary thing is almost all south americans after they finished telling me how good south america is they recommend
me to not even think walking alone with my camera on my neck in their own cities.

Said that, never had troubles so far nor robberies or aggressions.

even on tours there are opportunities

first, there's the free models of "tourists looking at Taj Mahal"

i usually trail the group, keeping an eye on the guide, but it lets me take more time finding the images i want.  evening sound & light shows are particularly useful this way -- you can usually wander the ruins with only a coupla other like minded photographers

another handy trick for any market is to walk behind the stalls, looking out over the sellers at the customers; often a good way to start conversations and end up with more candids of the vendors after you take the required "here i am holding my prize zucchini shot " of them

Yeah best not to travel anywhere. Its expensive and full of killers just waiting for you to turn up with things they can rob.

Traveled in more than 50 countries so far and still alive, thanks.

There are dead tourists almost every day in south america, but maybe you only stick to the safe touristic areas ?

Quote from: Black Sheep on May 31, 2011, 01:12

There are dead tourists almost every day in south america, but maybe you only stick to the safe touristic areas ?

Is that an official statistic or something that just popped up in your head? I spent about 12 months in Latin America - including 3 months in Colombia, 2 in Peru and one in Brazil. Obviously there are dangerous parts of each country, but its no different to anywhere else in the world. Colombia in particular has a high homicide rate, but its mainly related to the drug trade, not tourists who have DSLRs.

If you want a better picture of how and why people die of non-natural causes there's always the US state department website. For example in Brazil (which receives the most visitors of any South American country) they only list 10 US citizens that have died of homicide between Oct 2002 to December 2010 (58 deaths from other non-natural causes such as vehicle accidents, suicide & drowning). Compared to well over 600,000 US tourists each year to Brazil its not a particularly significant number.

http://travel.state.gov/law/family_issues/death/death_600.html

Anyhow... sorry for continuing this thread way off topic.

++++++++++++++++



Really, I thought that it was very sad if a Brasilian or a south american read this treadh and read that he can kill someone for few dollars. Terrible. Sometimes would be a nice thing to put themselves in the shoes of others. 

Last April i decided to spend some days in Barcelona. I buy a airoplane passage to 27 to 30 of May.
Last week in the TV i saw some news of riots and police charging people that occupy the Catalunya square.

And I read in the internet that i pay special attention in Barcelona for robbery and crime (special in crowded places)

Guess what... the bus let the tourist in Catalunya square when we get out of the aeroport. The square as full of smelly people, rastafari, tribal and people considered "normal". First thing i do when i get from the bus... mingle with the crowd and take some shoot of the square occupation with my DSLR.
Next day Barcelona FC win the champions and people get crazy in the streets with lots of party and drunk people party. Shakira was in town for a concert (more people crazy and drinking)

Problems that i have during this days... 0. Always with my DSLR in my hand.
You will find some poor bustard that need money for food or drug all over the world. The bad luck is if they see you as a potential fix for there problems, but this can append in your street or home town.

Life is the primary cause of death But death is the only thin that we all experience sooner or latter. Don�t think much in death because you will not live life.

I live in Portugal and i never had any problems with my DSLR. A very safe place. And i never had problems in Portugal, Spain; France; Netherlands; Italy; germany; Switzerland; Republic Dominican; Tunis; Marrocos and all the places i visit.

My opinion is, take the machine and enjoy the trip and get family photos. If you get lucky you will take some photos for stock that help you pay the trip. In the worst case scenario you will get some great family pictures

I think the greatest danger in southern Europe is bag theft in crowded places rather than from hotels. A few years ago I was in a tourist information office in Nice when a couple of young lads breezed in and, without even breaking stride, grabbed my day-sack from the floor and walked out with it. Fortunately my girlfriend saw them and when I gave chase they quickly dropped it and ran off. They probably weren't in the office for more than 2-3 seconds in total.

A friend was on a business trip and was waiting at Barcelona airport. He had his luggage on a trolley in front of him whilst he viewed the Departures board where a number of flights had been delayed. A bloke tapped him on his left shoulder and started speaking loudly in Spanish whilst gesticuating wildly at the board. When my friend turned towards him to explain he didn't speak Spanish ... someone nipped in from the right and stole his laptop from on top of his luggage. It was a couple of minutes before he realised what had happened by which time the thieves were well away.

Crime usually happens when you least expect it.