You're lucky they did not detain you for hours without charging you or telling you what crime(s) you committed without a lawyer. Hell, you're lucky you weren't sent on a plane in the middle of the night to Poland or some other European country. Or that they didn't trash your camera or dump your film.
of course. they ( the bad guys ) now use vintage cameras for their intelligence gathering... and not minoxs mind you, big f--k--g sheet film cameras. yes, things are different post 9/11. we are now dumber. kenna , sugimoto etc should all be questioned about their twin tower fotos..
I don't have a hard time with due diligence, although it always seems that the greatest amount of paranoia doesn't actually come from citizens of the cities that have already been hit by terrorism or cities who are the biggest targets of terrorism, but more often from people living in areas that are the least at risk of a terror attack. What really bothers me is that while we allow 30,000 people to die every year from guns in the US, and 50,000 to die in automobile related accidents, often alcohol related, and 400,000 to die every year in the US from tobacco related diseases, no one seems to be too alarmed by that.
We sadly lost 3000 people on 9/11. I had several funeral processions for local firefighters pass before my home, my wife at one point worked in the WTC and was nearby, as was my sister who was across the street. But to really put things into perspective, in the 8 years since the new millenium, we have lost 3000 people on our home soil due to terrorist activity, I am not counting our armed forces abroad who have suffered many losses and clearly are in harms way at all times. In that same period though we have lost 3,840,000 due to the 3 preventable causes I mentioned above. People still have the right to buy and carry guns, to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, however when we point a camera at something, we get stopped and questioned by the police.
Yes, a high resolution digital camera pen stuck in the shirt pocket of a casual looking pedestrian would be out of the question for intel gathering.. Not sure what is more scary, LF shooters under suspicion or the notion that terrorists are stupid enough to shoot LF for intel gathering. There is the excuse floating around lately stating law enforcement doesn't know about our types of gear, but shouldn't that be basic training? A short and simple slide show should resolve this? There is also the notion the images are helping the terrorists, have these guys not seen that pretty much everything is already photographed and accessible online? I haven't been back home to the US in years but am starting to feel paranoid about my street photography next time I visit
There is no problem as long as these guys are polite and do their jobs within the law. If however they start seizing cameras or arresting photographers without reasonable cause, I hope they get sued out of their pants.
I don't see it that way. The problems begin when everyone is under suspicion. It doesn't matter how polite or 'professional.'
Some point to a 'new' reality after 9/11. Sadly that new reality is not one I think is necessary, effective or positive.
As Sean points out when will this end? If it is due to 9/11 and we are attacked again will the next step be a quick DNA sample or a trip to the station? ..and when we're attacked again, and again?
I'd rather be free and 'unsafe', then have my rights slowly removed and still be unsafe.
They also told me that if I ever see anything "suspicious" while out making photographs, that I should take a photo of it, and then call them immediately.
You've now got an effective way to eliminate potential photographic competitors.
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The universe is a haunted house. -Coil
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