Source of Photograph:
http://petapixel.com/2013/08/11/i-left-my-camera-bag-on-a-train/
In the summer of 2013, U.S. Army soldier Alexander Jansen, who is a talented photographer and is stationed in Germany, traveled around Europe with his two sisters, who were ages 12 and 14. In Ireland, he made a major mistake. When they got off the train that had taken them from Dublin city to Clontarf Road, he forgot his camera bag. When he discovered that he had forgotten it, he tried to get back on the train, but it took off before he could retrieve his bag, leaving him behind. In the bag were cameras and camera equipment worth thousands of Euros. Mr. Jensen listed the cameras and equipment:
Pentax K-5 IIs
Pentax DA* 60-250mm
Pentax DA* 16-50mm
Pentax DA 18-135mm WR (yes I know there’s overlap with the first two, but I had an extra slot in the bag and was trying it out as a travel lens)
Pentax FA 77mm Limited
Sigma 8-16mm
Rokinon 8mm Fisheye
Metz 50 AF-1 P-TTL Flash
Sirui T-025 Travel Tripod w/ Arca Swiss L-Plate
Wireless Shutter Remote
Extra Batteries, ND Filters, etc.
Also inside the bag were a few hundred Euros and most importantly — his two sisters’ passports. (And his military orders authorizing him to be on leave.) He told the station master about the lost bag, but only one employee was on the train, and he could not stop the train. All Mr. Jensen could do was to wait and to see if the bag was still there (and not stolen) when the train reached its last stop. The station master told him, “There’s no one on the train other than the driver, and he can’t stop the train. You will have to wait for it to reach the end of the line and then have my guy at Howth [the final stop] check to see if it’s still there. I’m going to be completely honest with you: I don’t think it will be there. That train is passing through some really bad areas.” Good news eventually came. The station master received a telephone call and told Mr. Jensen, “I don’t know how, but your bag has been found. Take the next train to Sutton [the stop before Howth], and see the guy behind the information desk.” The station master allowed Mr. Jensen to get on the train for free. His bag was at Sutton, he provided proof of ownership, and everything was still in the bag. The station master at Sutton told him, “You are a very lucky man. Three girls came right in and said that they watched you chase the train, and that they had found your bag. They held onto it for the entire train ride to make sure no one else took it and got off here on their way to the beach and turned it in to me. They said they also tried calling your hotel because you had the hotel printout in the bag, but apparently you hadn’t made it there yet.” Mr. Jansen wrote this about the Good Samaritans: “I saw those girls. I remember because they were all very pretty and were seated in the seats behind us. But they were very young, about 14, and starting their partying on the train as part of a larger group of about 15 kids. So you can imagine my shock to hear of their level of integrity.” He tried to find and thank them — they were on the beach — but he was not able to. He contacted three Dublin newspapers to see if they would publish an article about the Good Samaritans so they would get some credit for their good deed (and perhaps read about themselves). No newspapers did, so he published his own article on PentaxForums.com — it was later republished on PetaPixel.com. He is very thankful for the integrity of these three Irish girls.
For Further Information: Alexander Jansen, “I Left My Camera Bag on a Train.” PetaPixel. 11 August 2013
http://petapixel.com/2013/08/11/i-left-my-camera-bag-on-a-train/
For Further Information: Alexander Jansen. Photography. Accessed 13 August 2013.
http://www.alexjansenphotography.com
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