JoeV
Thin Air, Bright Sun
I had an interesting photographic opportunity earlier this week. It seemed a car theft suspect fled from the police and entered our neighborhood on foot. The suspect ended up in a shed in the backyard of a house across the street from mine. The neighborhood was locked down for hours by the police (Albuquerque Police Department) and they instructed us via loudspeaker from their vehicles to stay in our homes with doors and windows locked. I did so, along with my two doggies.
But I had a Canon T5i DSLR with a 100-300mm lens (a crop-sensor DSLR), and had a good view from my front window of the tactical unit doing an entry through the side gate into the backyard of the house across the street. I wrote up a detailed article about this event on my blog, here. But I did come away with several good photos, which I'll share in this post.
First, here's the best image I captured (no pun intended) of the tactical team entering the yard through a side gate. As I explained in my blog article, I had it explained to me, hours later, by television media personnel who were gathering on the street outside my house for a press conference with the Police Chief, that they (and the public) are under to restriction to photographing the police, but usually don't show officer's faces out of courtesy, but aren't legally restricted from doing so. I've selected this photo because I think it tells the story the best, and also doesn't show their faces.
I cropped the image square and did some minor adjustments.
Next was the press conference with Police Chief Medina. This was at 8PM and the light was fading, but one of the TV camera crews had set up a video light, which helped:
I'm normally not a DSLR shooter, and don't usually use long telephoto lenses. But this kit was given to me by my brother, and in this case I found it useful. I was permitted to attend the press conference, as it was on public property and the public is permitted at these events, not just the press.
If you're curious as to the particulars of this event, read the blog article. The TL;DR is the lady borrowed her mom's car without asking, and the mother, not knowing, reported it as stolen. The APD tactical response team apparently only has one response level, which is geared toward violent cartel/car theft rings. The lady was unarmed except for a cell phone, but is now deceased. For background, APD has been under US Justice Department oversight for the last decade due to a similar police shooting of an unarmed citizen. I had Police Oversight Committee members from other law enforcement jurisdictions interview me after the shooting.
This was the first time I've used photography as a de facto "citizen journalist," and though the situation was unexpected, I found the kit I used adequate for the purpose. Having DSLR autofocus that can pinpoint a subject around the clutter of other objects at differing distances was very handy. I also learned a lot about the day-to-day job of television video crews and newspaper photojournalists, as I spent over an hour talking with them before the press conference.
I don't think I'll be using that long telephoto lens much for pleasurable purposes, as I'm not a birder or plane watcher. But it did come in useful that day. As for issues surrounding police behavior, I did comment about that in the blog article. Thanks for reading.
But I had a Canon T5i DSLR with a 100-300mm lens (a crop-sensor DSLR), and had a good view from my front window of the tactical unit doing an entry through the side gate into the backyard of the house across the street. I wrote up a detailed article about this event on my blog, here. But I did come away with several good photos, which I'll share in this post.
First, here's the best image I captured (no pun intended) of the tactical team entering the yard through a side gate. As I explained in my blog article, I had it explained to me, hours later, by television media personnel who were gathering on the street outside my house for a press conference with the Police Chief, that they (and the public) are under to restriction to photographing the police, but usually don't show officer's faces out of courtesy, but aren't legally restricted from doing so. I've selected this photo because I think it tells the story the best, and also doesn't show their faces.
I cropped the image square and did some minor adjustments.
Next was the press conference with Police Chief Medina. This was at 8PM and the light was fading, but one of the TV camera crews had set up a video light, which helped:
I'm normally not a DSLR shooter, and don't usually use long telephoto lenses. But this kit was given to me by my brother, and in this case I found it useful. I was permitted to attend the press conference, as it was on public property and the public is permitted at these events, not just the press.
If you're curious as to the particulars of this event, read the blog article. The TL;DR is the lady borrowed her mom's car without asking, and the mother, not knowing, reported it as stolen. The APD tactical response team apparently only has one response level, which is geared toward violent cartel/car theft rings. The lady was unarmed except for a cell phone, but is now deceased. For background, APD has been under US Justice Department oversight for the last decade due to a similar police shooting of an unarmed citizen. I had Police Oversight Committee members from other law enforcement jurisdictions interview me after the shooting.
This was the first time I've used photography as a de facto "citizen journalist," and though the situation was unexpected, I found the kit I used adequate for the purpose. Having DSLR autofocus that can pinpoint a subject around the clutter of other objects at differing distances was very handy. I also learned a lot about the day-to-day job of television video crews and newspaper photojournalists, as I spent over an hour talking with them before the press conference.
I don't think I'll be using that long telephoto lens much for pleasurable purposes, as I'm not a birder or plane watcher. But it did come in useful that day. As for issues surrounding police behavior, I did comment about that in the blog article. Thanks for reading.
mconnealy
Well-known
Your blog article on the article was excellent, both in regard to the writing and the illustrations. We have given the Albuquerque police an impossible job and it is not surprising that they fail in it regularly.
Last edited:
Retro-Grouch
Well-known
Not to be an alarmist, but... It would only take a small effort, extrapolating from the location of the incident and your angle of view, for someone to figure out where your house is, and also figure that there's some nice expensive photo equipment there. It's easy to forget that there are lots of unsavory folks out there looking for easy pickin's, and they're very savvy at reading the unwitting clues we give them. It's Albuquerque, 'nuff said!
Apart from that, nice job, the equal to or better than much of the professional photojournalism one usually sees.
Apart from that, nice job, the equal to or better than much of the professional photojournalism one usually sees.
JoeV
Thin Air, Bright Sun
Retro: Go ahead and knock on my door, I don’t care.