June 19, 2008 - Seattle, Washington - Control Tower at SeaTac Airport
Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security Doesn’t Want You to Have a Picture of THIS.
I was on my way to the airport to pick up a friend in from Denver. I arrived about 15 minutes early, turning off at the exit for cell phone waiting lot, thinking I might grab a couple of images of airplanes - which are some of my favorite things to photograph. Instead of stopping at the cell phone waiting lot, I stopped at the next (public) lot and parked my car. I stepped out, aimed my camera toward the far end of the airfield, and started taking shots of airplanes as they took off.
About 10 or so images in of various aircraft, a uniformed man in dark glasses approached me from across the parking lot.
“What are you doing,” he asked?
“I’m taking pictures of airplanes.”
“Why?”
“Because airplanes are one of my favorite things to take pictures of,” I responded.
“Can I see some identification?”
“Why do you need to see my identification? Am I breaking the law?”
“Sir, I need to see some identification. From the view of our cameras, it looks like you are taking pictures of buildings.”
“Our cameras, I thought?” I offered to show him my pictures as I returned to my car. I presented my ID and again asked if I was doing anything against the law.
“Do you have a business card?”
At this point I was a little nervous, primarily from disbelief. I handed him a business card and asked him if he wanted me to either stop taking pictures or leave. He said no, gave his pitch on the Department of Homeland Security’s cautious bent, took my card, and left.
So I turned around, pointed my camera at the building that was apparently watching ME, and got this shot. In my opinion, the best one of the lot. And the one I never intended to shoot.
Nice profiling job, fellas.
More photos of the day here.
