Photography in the Police State

Get a brain! morans

And now a small break from the regular Nikon D800 bashings to bring some important matters to your attention. The Lord of the Speedlights did a blog a few days ago on the TSA and how photographers now have to be extra careful not to be taken for Al Qaeda operatives in public. Apparently they’re now encouraging the public to report anyone with a camera that’s taking photos of objects in public. The Lord of the Speedlights posted about this here:

BTS photo of Al Qaeda on a commercial shoot

Are you a photographer in the US? Congratulations. In the eyes of some of your more dimwitted fellow citizens, you are now potentially a member of al Qaida.

Thanks to ridiculous government posters like the one above, people are now conditioned to be suspicious of photographers. And photographers using flashes on location are all the more noticeable to people who are predisposed to phone in anything out of the ordinary, just in case.

Don’t think so? True story: I actually had an interaction with the police for photographing … a maple tree.

You should visit the blog for the full story.

David Muhamed Saleem al Hobby, was questioned by the police while photographing a tree in public

But this fucking pisses me off. Because just like he said, any fucking moron on the street can now report you for absolutely nothing at all and ruin your whole goddamn day. I’ve actually had such an experience myself not too long ago. I got my pre-production 1DX a few weeks ago and was busy testing it in my office here at Canon USA, going over the new features and trying them out, when all of a sudden I saw two cops standing in the doorway. So I’m like what the fuck? I let them in and next thing you know they start questioning me about what I was doing standing here in my office taking photos of random objects for no apparent reason. Turns out someone in the building walked by my office, saw me taking photos and dialed 911 to report me. I just fucking couldn’t believe what was happening. I mean, do I fucking look like Al Qaeda to you? I’ll tell you what though, if this happens to me again, I’m going to fucking become Al Qaeda!!

And what’s with terrorists becoming photographers now? As if the photography market wasn’t already saturated with amateurs, now even the fucking terrorists want a piece of the pie. Don’t be surprised when you start losing more and more jobs to Al Qaeda. First they’ll start with the simple shoots like couples, models and weddings, and soon even the commercial market is going to suffer. It’s economic terrorism if you ask me. They’re taking all of our jobs. I understand why the TSA wants to fight this, but this is no reason to start harassing everyone with a camera in public, for fuck’s sake. We still have our first amendment, don’t we? Never mind, don’t answer that.

I didn’t want to say anything for fear of the TSA putting me on their goddamn “increased scrutiny list”. But seeing as how others are suffering the consequences too right now, I have to speak up. If we all keep quiet about this, this situation is only going to get a lot worse for all of us.

This country is going down the drain. We’re so fucked right now. The American dream went down the fucking toilet long ago. We’re losing more of our civil liberties every day.

You should all watch the above documentary and get informed on what exactly is going on. We need to put a stop to this, or else we’re fucking going to end up like the Roman Empire. In the coming elections, vote Ron Paul if you know what’s good for you.

As many of you undoubtedly know, I’ve already done a post about Ron Paul before. Check it out for more details. I fear that we may not get another chance to vote Ron Paul. Do whatever you have to do to actively promote and support him now.

P.S. This is post #100 on the blog. Congratulations.