A Brief Chat With New York City’s Counter Terrorism Police About My Photography
Thoughts on street photography, responding to authority figures and the right to free expression in the Age of Donald Trump
I’ve been engaged in a little project for several weeks now where I stop and take photographs of the goings on outside Trump Tower on 5th Avenue here in New York. I’ve dropped by several times to take photos for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or so. I’ve done it when I’ve come into Manhattan from my wife’s bakery in Queens and it wasn’t out of the way to my next destination. I’ve done it after photographing protests nearby in Times Square. I’ve done it when I knew protests would be taking place right there. And I’ve done it when I’ve just had some time to kill and thought I’d see what was happening among the supporters and protestors who file by Trump’s golden residence on any given day.
That’s what I was doing yesterday. Killing some time in Manhattan before joining my wife, my brother and a friend for beers at a Jersey City brewery. Pretty pedestrian stuff in a way. Taking street photos in New York City. But these aren’t pedestrian times.
I had been taking photos for 15 or 20 minutes on the block and immediately outside the Tower when one police…
