Rebuilding My Photography Life
Donation protected
My name is Rey and on Instagram I'm known as @thephotographer . Photography is my passion, my life, and a creative endeavor that I feel is embedded in my very soul, but due to recent events, it feels like a piece of that soul has been ripped out.
My entire set of camera gear was recently stolen from a hotel I was staying at, at the beginning of a trip where I was supposed to be doing some paid shoots. The collection of equipment was worth up to $20k from years of saving and building just the right set to fit my needs. I've done everything I could to try to recover my stolen equipment, including working with the police, but as time goes by the chances of recovering what was mine are becoming pretty much impossible.
Normally if I'd lose or break a piece of gear, I would be able to save up for replacements by using the funds from paid shoots, but now that the only camera I have is the one that comes with my phone, I don't know how I'd possibly be able to restart my career as a photographer again without taking a long hiatus or temporarily retiring from photography, which is why I am starting this GoFundMe campaign.
Every little bit would be appreciated, if only a dollar, or sharing with others that might be able to help since I am starting over completely from scratch. Even if I can't reach my goal of being able to restore my kit back to the way it was, if I can at least get enough to start me on the path to buying some old cameras and lenses and starting somewhere then that would be a jumpstart in the right direction and at least let me start shooting again.
I know my situation isn't as tragic as some of the other personal emergencies on this site, but still for me photography is my whole world, and a photographer without a camera is like a chef without even a knife.
To show my thanks to any prospective models that may be donating, I would be more than happy to provide photoshoots with extreme or even complete discounts of my rates as soon as I am able to start shooting again. Regardless of your reason for donating, though, please know that you will forever have my thanks.
My entire set of camera gear was recently stolen from a hotel I was staying at, at the beginning of a trip where I was supposed to be doing some paid shoots. The collection of equipment was worth up to $20k from years of saving and building just the right set to fit my needs. I've done everything I could to try to recover my stolen equipment, including working with the police, but as time goes by the chances of recovering what was mine are becoming pretty much impossible.
Normally if I'd lose or break a piece of gear, I would be able to save up for replacements by using the funds from paid shoots, but now that the only camera I have is the one that comes with my phone, I don't know how I'd possibly be able to restart my career as a photographer again without taking a long hiatus or temporarily retiring from photography, which is why I am starting this GoFundMe campaign.
Every little bit would be appreciated, if only a dollar, or sharing with others that might be able to help since I am starting over completely from scratch. Even if I can't reach my goal of being able to restore my kit back to the way it was, if I can at least get enough to start me on the path to buying some old cameras and lenses and starting somewhere then that would be a jumpstart in the right direction and at least let me start shooting again.
I know my situation isn't as tragic as some of the other personal emergencies on this site, but still for me photography is my whole world, and a photographer without a camera is like a chef without even a knife.
To show my thanks to any prospective models that may be donating, I would be more than happy to provide photoshoots with extreme or even complete discounts of my rates as soon as I am able to start shooting again. Regardless of your reason for donating, though, please know that you will forever have my thanks.
Organizer
Rey Trajano
Organizer
Cerritos, CA
