[LargeFormat] Rites of passage

[largeformat@f32.net]

I have now gone through initiation as a View Camera Photographer.

I spotted a potentially good picture of a few huge green tanks.  The 
viewpoint would be from a highway at the height of the tanks' tops.  This 
would be ideal for a view camera since the top of the tanks form a horizontal 
plane.

Last Friday, October 31, I set up the tripod and as I mounted the Linhof, 2 
police cars with three policemen approached me, lights flashing and all.  
They didn't really arrest me but they did hassle me for about two hours.

They told me that the subject matter was the problem.  If I were taking 
pictures of trees, they wouldn't have bothered.  Nevertheless, their 
investigation quickly moved from the photography (they didn't even examine 
the camera) to me: was I a terrorist or a danger to society?  Fortunately, 
after calling my doctor and who knows who else, they concluded society would 
be safe despite my presence.  My ethnicity worked in my favor.  No trace of 
Islam. I think it was wrong of them to consider ethnic background.

This must have been the most exciting event of their day.

By the way, they told me they were grateful for how cooperative I was.  I 
didn't give them any opportunity to say I was impeding their investigation.

So I've gone through a rite of passage.  Now for some safer urban subjects.  
Flowers?  Buildings.


--
Dan Kalish
kaliushkin@att.net
Flushing, NYC, USA