dispatches from the new world of work

Who Is That Guy With The Gun?!

Grey sky where the U.S. Embassy would be

I take a picture of the dense barbed wire atop the super-high U.S. Embassy wall; point of picture is to illustrate how Americans must dig in everywhere. Half-block past the Embassy I'm accosted by a running cop. He reaches for my Sony camera, which I hold on to. I open it up, show him the picture, and proceed to erase it; he's not satisfied until I run through, slowly, every one of the approximately 150 pictures in my camera memory. (Later, I was prevented by another cop from taking a picture of a shrine in front of the Thai SEC.)

Tom Peters posted this on 07/31/06.

Comments

I've had a similar experience with a gun-toting guard. It's frightening to have someone brandishing a rifle headed in your direction giving orders in a language you don't understand.

In Istanbul, we stayed across the street from a place with round-the-clock guards. I got one of those guys with guns to smile for a picture once.

Posted by cathy mosca at July 31, 2006 11:51 AM

Shady business!! A friend of mine, who happens to be an art major, was taking some pictures of a bridge in Philly. All of a sudden a police car pulls over, and asks him to get inside. He is taken to the police station where they interrogate him (he obviously was not aware of his rights) and insisted he give them all of the photographs he took of said bridge. The reason they gave him was "Well with all of the terrorism lately, we really have to be diligent. We assume anyone taking pictures of infrastructure must be doing it for terrorism purposes." ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?! Being 25, I am SCARED TO DEATH of what the future may hold. So, when I go to DC, NYC, Chitown, ANYWHERE....I have to avoid taking pictures of what makes those places famous....The White House, The Empire State Building, The Chrysler....

So, long story short, he was forced to delete the pictures he took for art class.

Anyone read 1984? Hold me.

Posted by rachel at August 3, 2006 1:47 PM