Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Dangers of being a Travel Photographer

I was standing in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. when I took this photograph between honking cars and speeding bicyclists. I was arrested by the local police because they considered my tripod a dangerous weapon. I was handed over to the Department of Homeland Security, interrogated and labeled as an “enemy combatant” ready to be renditioned to Guantanamo Bay.

That wasn’t even the bad part.

My poor Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera was scanned, swabbed and fingered by some unsavory guys wearing pink shoes, purple smocks and white gloves.

I finally yelled out from the top of my lungs, “Photography is not a crime!” and handed them a copy of this:

Find out your rights as a photographer by clicking this link

They put a black bag over my face and forced me into some vehicle. After an hour or so I was then thrown out of the vehicle and found myself in some place called Freedom Plaza back on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Yes, it’s tough being a travel photographer.

I also have a wild imagination.

None of this is true (but this could be the next Dan Brown novel) with the exception that I really was on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. taking this photograph from Freedom Plaza.

This is a great location to photograph the U.S. Capitol with a city view. It looks like I’m standing in the middle of the road, but actually Pennsylvania Avenue takes a slight bend where the plaza is at so you have a direct view of the Capitol with the traffic coming straight toward you.

If for some reason when you come back to my blog and it hasn’t been updated for a while, then you’ll know the U.S. government has really temporarily relocated me to Guantanamo Bay!

Happy Travels!

Text and photo copyright by ©Sam Antonio Photography

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