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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
No Pix of the Door
Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 11:13 PM on 02.18.10 |
->> I was preparing to cover a basketball game the other night, at a National Guard Armory. This facility is usually not used for sanctioned games, and the local youth league stopped using it a year ago. The gym is in great shape and well maintained. The school that is using it this year is having their own gym renovated. I was the only pro there, and there were not even any GWC's...oh the good old days!
Any ways, as I am firing some test shots with my D700 to get a whte balance, one of facility folks comes up and tells me I can not take any pictures of a certain door, and if he sees me taking photos of this specific door, he will have to confiscate my film. I informed him (he was in street clothes-not military garb) that I was shooting digitally,and storing the images on a CF card. He then said he would have to confiscate that, whatever it was.
I asked if there was something wrong with the door, like a saferty thing they had not gotten to yet. He said no, that I could not take a picture of the door because of what was behind the door. The door was not glass, but a brown set of double doors in plain view of the entire gym. There were some signs on it to the effect of no entrance to unauthorized persons.
I offered to shoot from the other side of the court, which would place the doors out of any backgrounds. He was fine with that and we parted ways. He went back to his chair by the main entrance and continued to spit into his Mountain Dew bottle the rest of the evening.
The whole conversation was about 2 minutes, and very cordial. But if you do not want photos of your sercure door, why not just cover it in black plastic?
BTW, this is a MP unit. |
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Steve Ueckert, Photographer
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Houston | TX | | Posted: 11:23 PM on 02.18.10 |
| ->> Was that perhaps door #3? |
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Danny Munson, Photographer
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San Dimas | Ca | United States | Posted: 11:53 PM on 02.18.10 |
| ->> Sounds like an episode of the Twilight Zone. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 1:16 AM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> I the few Guard facilities I've been in, the only specifically secure area is the armory. I'd imagine it's SOP to discourage anyone from recording details of it's location or construction. |
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Kirby Yau, Photographer, Assistant
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San Diego | CA | USA | Posted: 2:37 AM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> I say ninja training room. |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 3:30 AM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> It's where Elvis has been living for the past 30 years. |
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Mike Morelock, Photographer
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Greenwood | AR | USA | Posted: 3:40 AM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> One word "Hoffa." |
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Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
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| | | Posted: 7:49 AM on 02.19.10 |
->> Sam,
A while back I was assigned to photograph a 'technology-unit' being built by General Dynamics' C4 Systems division. When I arrived I was escorted to a medium sized conference room, all four walls were identical (black), two of the walls had chrome General Dynamics logos.
When the ugly tan box (I meant the 'technology-unit') was brought to me to be photographed I was told I could only shoot it from two sides, and not show more than a 30ยบ angle deviating from either side (like I carry any instrument to measure angles when I shoot...).
I placed the tan box on the long end of the conference table and started to put up two light stands when I was stopped. I was told that I could not shoot the walls with General Dynamics logos on them, I could only shoot in the direction of the two walls without General Dynamics logos.
Let me tell you...that was a fun shoot (not!) and I made some great photos (OK, the photos sucked). Sometimes shooting in military and defense facilities, even when invited, or open to the public, is tricky and makes little sense. |
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Wesley R. Bush, Photographer
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Nashville | TN | U.S. | Posted: 8:38 AM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> What good is not letting people take a picture of a door if they're going to keep telling people there is a secret behind it? |
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Bill Vaughn, Photographer
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Butch Miller, Photographer
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Lock Haven | PA | USA | Posted: 10:26 AM on 02.19.10 |
->> I've always found it to be gracious as a guest in any facility I work in.
It was after all a National Guard installation and not a normal venue for HS sports ... there are far greater security concerns for those who work in that facility. What was behind the doors is irrelevant. The fact the host chose to allow the doors to be in view is also irrelevant. The request that the doors not be documented is well within their rights and they need not justify those reasons. It is after all a military post.
Try taking photographs in any bank where the vault could be in the frame ... I am sure the good folks that work there, whether they could be labeled Barney Fyfe or not, may object to their security systems being documented.
Even though the request was uncommon, complying with the request made didn't result in any detriment for anyone involved ... and shouldn't have caused concern that the request was unfounded or over reaching.
Sam did the right thing in moving to the other side of the gym. He chronicled the event he was sent to cover while keeping the security concerns of the host at a level they were comfortable with. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 10:41 AM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> I have two words for you...."military intelligence" |
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Eric Isaacs, Photographer
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Santa Barbara | CA | USA | Posted: 11:11 AM on 02.19.10 |
->> "Sam did the right thing in moving to the other side of the gym."
Yes, but in posting this info we now all know there is a door in a military installation. As a result, the world is less secure. At least Sam didn't specify which door it was.
EMI (maybe the guy had swallowed a bit too much of his chew?) |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 12:34 PM on 02.19.10 |
->> Sam,
So where are the pictures of the door?
--Mark |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 12:43 PM on 02.19.10 |
->> I think I'll start carrying around an old 35mm film canister to hand over in the event I'm caught taking any photos of secret doors.
Dave Prelosky is probably right. Although there was certainly a bit of Barney Fyfe Syndrome involved as well. |
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Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 4:33 PM on 02.19.10 |
->> Mark, there are no pictures of the door! Seriously! Barney was in da house, but he was nice and was just doing what he thought was his job. I have talked to some other shooters who have been there and they were give the "company" line as well. My only concern was if it is so secure, why have it in plain sight? My father-in-law used to run an Armory, I will check with him on this.
Chuck S., I have some OLD Kodak green and yellow cannisters, they look real CIAish. Is CIAish a word?
It is a nice place, and the folks running it have been gracious enough to open the doors to a private school in need of a gym to play their games. Overall, the door thing was just more funny to me than anything else. Oh well, at least I was not strip searched and probed. |
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Jim Comeau, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 4:38 PM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> That's the closet where they keep all the confiscated film. |
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Christopher Anderson, Photographer
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Machesney Park | IL | U.S.A. | Posted: 6:01 PM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> Did this guy look like Rod Serling by any chance? |
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Todd Shurtleff, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Cameron Park | Ca | El Dorado | Posted: 6:16 PM on 02.19.10 |
| ->> You must have found the door behind which all the "Area 51" stuff is stored! |
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Jayne Oncea, Photographer
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Saugus | CA | USA | Posted: 1:25 PM on 02.20.10 |
| ->> I think Drew Carey should use this material for a stand up routine..instead of his desire to "become" a sports photographer!! |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington/Normal | IL | United States | Posted: 9:06 PM on 02.20.10 |
->> "My only concern was if it is so secure, why have it in plain sight?"
If it needed to be so secure, why invite in a crowd of spectators? |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 4:03 PM on 02.21.10 |
| ->> They were brown, not GREEN huh? |
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Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 8:47 AM on 02.22.10 |
| ->> I can not comment on the color of the doors, as I did not take a photo of the doors, and I have no memory of the doors. Come to think of it, I am not sure if I even saw doors...but I may have seen Drew Carey in the crowd....maybe this was all some sort of mind control experiment! |
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Steve King, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Ann Arbor | MI | USA | Posted: 8:35 PM on 02.22.10 |
->> Eric,
... as long as he wasn't behind it... :-D |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 8:51 PM on 02.22.10 |
| ->> Steve just wondering how many >40 members got it ;) |
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Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 1:32 AM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Alice in Wonderland or Clock Work Orange? Ya, 1:30am and just finished putting about 1k images on online from this evening's championship games. |
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Jay Adeff, Photographer
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Salinas | CA | USA | Posted: 2:36 PM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Having worked on a Navy base for 21 years (I'm a research engineer for the Navy), I can tell you from first hand experience that there is probably nothing behind that door, and the guard doesn't know it. All he knows is that he's been assigned to guard it. His supervisor probably assigned him to guard that door because they had to give him a job to do so they made something up to keep him busy and out of their hair. Trust me, I've seen this happen many times. |
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Dave Breen, Photographer
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Somerset | PA | USA | Posted: 3:43 PM on 02.23.10 |
->> Eric, You mean < (under) 40? I did some checking to make sure I was thinking of the same song (I was), and found The Green Door, a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco.
(Isn't it fun to hijack a thread and take it in a different direction?) |
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Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
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McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 5:20 PM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Where are the pictures of the damn door? |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 5:27 PM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Ya know Dave I could live to be >100 and I'll still screw up those stupid symbols.... |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 6:07 PM on 02.23.10 |
->> Dave,
There's an old porno called "Behind the Green Door."
--Mark |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 10:50 PM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Hey easy on the "old" comment and yes I was talking about Ms. Chambers movie. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 11:36 PM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Young people just have no respect for the classics... |
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David Manning, Photographer
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Athens | GA | | Posted: 11:59 PM on 02.23.10 |
| ->> Whats wrong with the Ivory Snow girl? |
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N. Scott Trimble, Photographer
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Lake Oswego | OR | USA | Posted: 1:32 AM on 02.24.10 |
| ->> besides the fact she's dead? |
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