HOUSTON – Two videographers were devastated to find their hard-earned equipment had been stolen by car thieves in a Galleria-area neighborhood.
Andrew Petersen, owner and videographer with Andrew Productions, and his friend and fellow videographer, Esteban Caicedo, have been shooting and working on videography for years. It is their life passion.
“This is my life. This is what I sleep, dream, think; this is what I do,” Caicedo said.
“Honestly, I’m still kind of in disbelief. It just doesn’t feel real,” Petersen said.
The two have put their hearts in their hustle. They turned their interest in photography and videography into their main work: videos, short films, long-form storytelling and more.
“Anything you see on YouTube, we’ve probably done (something like) it,” Petersen said.
On Dec. 12, their lives would change. The two were working on a project and stepped into a complex in the 5000 block of Ambassador Way. After their meeting had finished around 5 p.m., they came out to find something wasn’t right.
“My heart just dropped because I kind of knew what might have just happened,” Petersen said.
They found that their cars had been damaged and broken into. Their camera and videography equipment was gone.
“They took all my lighting equipment,” Caicedo said.
“Three cameras, seven lenses, the stabilizer,” Petersen said while listing several more items.
Petersen said it was about $23,000 worth of camera equipment, gone.
“That’s literally everything I’ve worked for, for the past couple of years,” Petersen said.
The cost does not include the cost of repairs to their cars. Then there were irreplaceable items, including cards, which held hours of footage.
“You can’t even put a price on some of the footage that was stolen,” Petersen said.
He and Caicedo filed a report with the Houston Police Department.
“People are out here actually working hard, and they’re just here stealing people’s hard work,” Caicedo said.
The two created a GoFundMe page to help them get started again.
“So we can get started and not just sit around ... dreaming to work,” Petersen.
The two said they will find a way to get their work done. Petersen said he did a shoot all on his phone and got creative.
“Bounce back...Just work harder,” Caicedo said.
“Try to stay positive,” Petersen said. “I don’t want this to stop us from pushing and going forward.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Houston Police Department.
If you would like to donate to the videographers’ GoFundMe page, click here.