War on people is ongoing and intensifying
...so I saw red again. Why? Well, I attracted the attention of the NYPD while taking these shots. I was kneeling with my tripod in front of my car (I was about to leave when I decided to experiment with traffic/night shots on 1st Avenue). I was finishing my last shot, when out of the corner of my eye I see a NYPD Crown Vic pull up across the street and slow. The cop looks at me. I get up as was planned and start getting ready to leave. Wrong idea.
I get in my car, turn the lights on, strap my camera away and start the engine. I see the cops waiting for traffic and surely just as I suspected they come with sirens and lights on and block my exit.
'what were you doing?', 'Get out'. So I get out. 'Hand out of pockets'. I do this, but apparently not elegantly enough. 'Don't show us an attitude we just stopped to talk to you.' I say nothing. They keep asking questions about who I work for (got this 4 times), what I'm doing, why they stopped me. So why did they stop me?
They thought I was suspicious. I had a sophisticated camera with a tripod late at night. I was in a sensitive area. They point to the FDR (a highway) and a ConEd power plant two blocks aways as being the reasons why it was sensitive, and I am silently concluding: power plant and motorway are not that uncommon so most areas are sensitive. My actions were suspicious. I tried to leave when they came.
They ask for ID and for me to show them the pictures. The main cop is somewhat cocky, the other guy quiet and polite. I does not take many pictures to convince them that there is little terrorist activity in what I was doing. "....and I can now see why you take these at night, you want the light effect" the cop concludes.
He then apologizes and jokes: 'we can't have terrorists blowing stuff up, you know, can't be too careful'. 'Yeah, you're right' trying not to sound ironic. He then - in an attempt to be nice - starts asking about stuff like: you are you and what do you do.
Meanwhile the other cop is doing paperwork with my ID so I ask. What is he writing down? Paperwork they say. We just have to document what we are doing. We do it in case someone calls about harrassment and to have a log of events. 'So does my name go in a file or record?' No, no, just paperwork they both say on separate occasions. Somehow I want to believe them, but don't really. The war on terror is simply too imporant.
War on people is ongoing and intensifying
...so I saw red again. Why? Well, I attracted the attention of the NYPD while taking these shots. I was kneeling with my tripod in front of my car (I was about to leave when I decided to experiment with traffic/night shots on 1st Avenue). I was finishing my last shot, when out of the corner of my eye I see a NYPD Crown Vic pull up across the street and slow. The cop looks at me. I get up as was planned and start getting ready to leave. Wrong idea.
I get in my car, turn the lights on, strap my camera away and start the engine. I see the cops waiting for traffic and surely just as I suspected they come with sirens and lights on and block my exit.
'what were you doing?', 'Get out'. So I get out. 'Hand out of pockets'. I do this, but apparently not elegantly enough. 'Don't show us an attitude we just stopped to talk to you.' I say nothing. They keep asking questions about who I work for (got this 4 times), what I'm doing, why they stopped me. So why did they stop me?
They thought I was suspicious. I had a sophisticated camera with a tripod late at night. I was in a sensitive area. They point to the FDR (a highway) and a ConEd power plant two blocks aways as being the reasons why it was sensitive, and I am silently concluding: power plant and motorway are not that uncommon so most areas are sensitive. My actions were suspicious. I tried to leave when they came.
They ask for ID and for me to show them the pictures. The main cop is somewhat cocky, the other guy quiet and polite. I does not take many pictures to convince them that there is little terrorist activity in what I was doing. "....and I can now see why you take these at night, you want the light effect" the cop concludes.
He then apologizes and jokes: 'we can't have terrorists blowing stuff up, you know, can't be too careful'. 'Yeah, you're right' trying not to sound ironic. He then - in an attempt to be nice - starts asking about stuff like: you are you and what do you do.
Meanwhile the other cop is doing paperwork with my ID so I ask. What is he writing down? Paperwork they say. We just have to document what we are doing. We do it in case someone calls about harrassment and to have a log of events. 'So does my name go in a file or record?' No, no, just paperwork they both say on separate occasions. Somehow I want to believe them, but don't really. The war on terror is simply too imporant.