Photography is a profession that can send you in a lot of unique directions depending on your interests. Perhaps one of the most unique of those directions is being a police photographer. This neat video takes you behind the scenes on the job.
Coming to from Auckland Police TV, this video takes a look at the role of the police photographer. Certainly, if ever there was a photography job at which you'd almost never see the same thing from day to day, this is probably it. Whether it's being up in a helicopter or at a crash scene, the police photographers certainly see a wide range of scenarios. The department uses a combination of 5D Mark III and 5D Mark IV cameras and keeps a staff of 11 photographers (with five working on a given day), a number I was surprised by. The photographers often have to take special precautions, such as wearing designated gear to avoid contaminating a crime scene with their DNA. As you might guess, very little editing is done to the photos beyond basic global adjustments. It's certainly quite the interesting job; check out the video above to see what a typical day is like!
Thats awesome! I love cops.
I was a volunteer fire fighter in a small town for 8 years. Everyone knows everyone so the cops also knew I was a photographer which came in hand a few times. Had to evacuate our town due to a forest fire once which was cool because I was the only one with a camera and able to capture some interesting images of the fire. I also did crime scene photos for them a couple times when they didn't charge their camera including my own neighbors suicide which was awkward, but interesting to say the least. I felt like CSI right up till he asked me to take a picture of the gun he used which was obviously "dirty". I took the photo from a few angles, and without missing a beat he said thanks and picked up the weapon with his bare hands. Gotta love small town investigation protocol. About six months before that same neighbors wife had died unexpectedly which I was a part of the response team on that as well. When the cops searched his house they found a letter to his Sup which he detailed how when he figured out his wife wasn't gonna make it, he was going to come out with a loaded 45 and shoot all of the fireman, but had decided against it when he saw me respond to the call because he liked me. Moral of that story is always be nice to people, even the weird ones. Sorry for the long post. too much coffee.
Great video. We often forget the many different types of photography. It's refreshing looking at something so different than what we do.
@ Alex - Why did the number of photographers surprise you?
I laughed a lot in this video - I live in Auckland and she's so very Kiwi. Good to see some nice PR vids for our cops.
I was surprised to learn that the photographers are sworn officers - Makes me respect them a little more.
Really great video!