20D: SO GOOD IT'S CRIMINAL !

I'm from Canada and I find what is happening with our friend down south is
sad, we can't go and visit you guys now without passports even my kids needs
them, what happen to the Berlin wall coming down and how good that was. What
happen to you guys happen to all of us and I find it sad that you are
putting barrier and building wall around. Sorry here I don't want to start a
debate, just my 2 cents.

Alain

"Annika1980" wrote in message
ps.com...
I'm bored this afternoon so I go over to the dam to try to get some
pics of the herons flying (they were very uncooperative). I'm also
shooting a few ducks, some cardinals, and the lone falcon that lives
there. The light is terrible, it's about to rain, but hey ... I love
a challenge.
Anyway, I'm minding my own business when I notice there's some rookie
cop standing there beside me asking me what I was shooting. "Birds,"
I told him without even looking up from my 20D and the Forgotten 400 f/
5.6L.

"Show me," he demands. So he makes me scroll through the entire CF
card showing him the photos to make sure I'm not shooting a picture of
little kids or the bridge ... you know, like terrorists always do. So
I'm narrating the pics as I scroll, "Great Blue Heron, duck, falcon,
duck, Presidential Motorcade, me flipping off the Pres, another duck,
me and the old lady doing it ..... "
You know, the usual stuff.

Just kidding about the Presidential pics. Thankfully, I deleted them
from the card before today's shoot. Otherwise, I might be typing this
from Guantanimo.

I was very polite with the flatfoot (since I don't really like jail),
but the more I thought about it after he left the madder I got. At
what point does having a nice camera make one a terrorist suspect?
When did that happen? (I know it must've been in the last 6 years.) I
know Bush (and his gang of crooks) wipes his ass with the
Constitution, but I must've missed it when photography became a crime.

I'm just glad my pal, Kamran, wasnt with me. He's from Pakistan and
he's got a quick tongue. Can you say, "Taser?"

This isn't the first time this has happened to me, either. I think
the next time it happens I will politely ask the officer for a list of
things that I may and may not photograph. If he can't provide such a
list I shall politely ask him to go **** up a rope.

Anyway, here's a crappy pic from today's crappy shoot.
http://www.pbase.com/image/74796772

On 24 Feb 2007 16:58:58 -0800, Annika1980 wrote:

I was very polite with the flatfoot (since I don't really like jail),
but the more I thought about it after he left the madder I got. At
what point does having a nice camera make one a terrorist suspect?
When did that happen? (I know it must've been in the last 6 years.) I
know Bush (and his gang of crooks) wipes his ass with the
Constitution, but I must've missed it when photography became a crime.

Heh heh. That was no cop. It was a Rent-a-Nikonian all uniformed
up. Next time you're out birding do it in disguise. The
Rent-a-Nikes have been given your mug shot and would like to ask you
some more questions. g

Annika1980 wrote:
I'm bored this afternoon so I go over to the dam to try to get some
pics of the herons flying (they were very uncooperative). I'm also
shooting a few ducks, some cardinals, and the lone falcon that lives
there. The light is terrible, it's about to rain, but hey ... I love
a challenge.
Anyway, I'm minding my own business when I notice there's some rookie
cop standing there beside me asking me what I was shooting. "Birds,"
I told him without even looking up from my 20D and the Forgotten 400
f/
5.6L.

"Show me," he demands. So he makes me scroll through the entire CF
card showing him the photos to make sure I'm not shooting a picture of
little kids or the bridge ... you know, like terrorists always do. So
I'm narrating the pics as I scroll, "Great Blue Heron, duck, falcon,
duck, Presidential Motorcade, me flipping off the Pres, another duck,
me and the old lady doing it ..... "
You know, the usual stuff.

Just kidding about the Presidential pics. Thankfully, I deleted them
from the card before today's shoot. Otherwise, I might be typing this
from Guantanimo.

I was very polite with the flatfoot (since I don't really like jail),
but the more I thought about it after he left the madder I got. At
what point does having a nice camera make one a terrorist suspect?
When did that happen? (I know it must've been in the last 6 years.) I
know Bush (and his gang of crooks) wipes his ass with the
Constitution, but I must've missed it when photography became a crime.

I'm just glad my pal, Kamran, wasnt with me. He's from Pakistan and
he's got a quick tongue. Can you say, "Taser?"

This isn't the first time this has happened to me, either. I think
the next time it happens I will politely ask the officer for a list of
things that I may and may not photograph. If he can't provide such a
list I shall politely ask him to go **** up a rope.

Anyway, here's a crappy pic from today's crappy shoot.
http://www.pbase.com/image/74796772

I think it has less to do with Bush, and mostly to do with human nature.
Cops are no different than some other folks in other professions.
If you're a football player, you dream of making the big play in the last
three seconds of the Super Bowl. -If you're a cop, you dream of busting the
guy that would have killed thousands of imagined folk...and see your face on
CNN...where you'd get to say something stupid like, "I'm not a hero...I was
just doing my job" -all the while, fancying yourself not only a hero, but
becoming the manifestation of your life-long-dreams of being admired as one
by the entire country. It's pretty pathetic in one way, but completely
understandable too.

Everyone has a fantasy related to their job. It just so happens that some
of the idiots who are hired as law enforcement officers have a hard time
separating fantasy from reality...and whimsical stabs at herodom from the
law.

Ya, it's a problem, and ya, we need to hold their feet to the fire. Trouble
is, there are so many idiots with an overgrown sense of
one-man-justice...too many Rambos and Eastwoods. There are plenty of guys
who are drawn to law enforcement for no other reason than that they think it
would be "cool" to get to carry a gun around... I know of one such cop
friend of mine who admitted that this was very much in his mind when he
started out down that path.

I hope you'll take him to task next time.
-Perhaps simply asking him why he's "searching" your camera, or "Have I
violated some photography law that warrants your searching through my
personal photos?"

I'm stubborn enough that I'd likely do just that...but laik bilong yu...

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

snip
This isn't the first time this has happened to me, either. I think
the next time it happens I will politely ask the officer for a list of
things that I may and may not photograph. If he can't provide such a
list I shall politely ask him to go **** up a rope.

LOL - Best thing to do is shoot the cop, and make sure they saw you shoot
them..I never have issues..I have had a few officers approach me....
however, they seem to always vanish..once I point my big fat lenz at them.
grin

snip

"J. Clarke" wrote:

The notion is that one can mount a firearm on a photographic tripod
for purposes of sniping. Never mind that it doesn't work.

I have a pro photographer friend who says that if a tripod isn't strong
enough to hold a machine gun, it's not strong enough to hold a camera.

So it does work with his tripods...

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 22:07:59 -0800, "Daryl Bryant"
wrote:

snip
This isn't the first time this has happened to me, either. I think
the next time it happens I will politely ask the officer for a list of
things that I may and may not photograph. If he can't provide such a
list I shall politely ask him to go **** up a rope.

LOL - Best thing to do is shoot the cop, and make sure they saw you shoot
them..I never have issues..I have had a few officers approach me....
however, they seem to always vanish..once I point my big fat lenz at them.
grin

That works better though if you've got an online linkage that they
can't confiscate on the spot.

Having himself doing something stupid and illegal popping up on
Youtube has to be one of every cop's nightmares.

snip

Annika1980 wrote:
Anyway, here's a crappy pic from today's crappy shoot.
http://www.pbase.com/image/74796772

It seems like you get very close to the bird. We have those birds here but
they are almost impossible to get close enough.

Maybe you can tell us about your tricks?

--
Jørn Dahl-Stamnes
http://www.dahl-stamnes.net/dahls/

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:43:20 +0900, "David J. Littleboy"
wrote:


"J. Clarke" wrote:

The notion is that one can mount a firearm on a photographic tripod
for purposes of sniping. Never mind that it doesn't work.

I have a pro photographer friend who says that if a tripod isn't strong
enough to hold a machine gun, it's not strong enough to hold a camera.

So it does work with his tripods...

So he normally uses a tripod that weighs 14 pounds and stands 9 inches
high?

"J. Clarke" wrote:
"David J. Littleboy" wrote:

"J. Clarke" wrote:

The notion is that one can mount a firearm on a photographic tripod
for purposes of sniping. Never mind that it doesn't work.

I have a pro photographer friend who says that if a tripod isn't strong
enough to hold a machine gun, it's not strong enough to hold a camera.

So it does work with his tripods...

So he normally uses a tripod that weighs 14 pounds and stands 9 inches
high?

I don't know about his, but my tripod weights 3.3 kg and can be persuaded to
stand 9 inches high. The pushy salesman at the camera store demo'd it by
swinging his whole weight from it. He also stood on it with its legs spread
for low angle work. So it would probably work fine for a light caliber
machine gun.

It's real nice having a tripod you don't have to worry about.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

Alain's Studio wrote:
I'm from Canada and I find what is happening with our friend down south is
sad, we can't go and visit you guys now without passports even my kids needs
them, what happen to the Berlin wall coming down and how good that was. What
happen to you guys happen to all of us and I find it sad that you are
putting barrier and building wall around. Sorry here I don't want to start a
debate, just my 2 cents.

Alain


I believe that the requirement for passports for those under 15 has been
dropped. They will need birth certificates, however. The problem is
that Canada isn't quite as careful about who they let in as the US has
become (unless you come in via our southern border, in which case anyone
is welcome). sigh.