Posted July 28, 200519 yr I have been told I can wear things out and this incident was no exception. I should have known I would push revisiting my "new" place to take photos in St. Louis. This was my third visit to the Illinois riverfront west of the levee since I arrived this week and after the rain yesterday it made for some great clear sky’s. I walked outside my hotel to walk to a bar to get some food and have a few beers and looked up and saw the sky and said to myself, "Damn I can't pass this up" so I ran back to my room grabbed my portable tripod and camera, hopped in the rental and drove east. While, there isn't much going on the river of Illinois, it crossed my mind if I was making a mistake because East St. Louis at night is no joke, at least for a white dude. I have no problem going into troubled areas and usually don't sweat those things maybe foolishly since a coworker of mine just got mugged in Venice, IL(another ghetto north of East St. Louis) but I wanted the night shots and with the clear sky’s it was too good to pass up. I drove my rental over the railroad tracks (about 5) in front of the Casino Queen and the Cargill grain elevator and parked it so I could pull right out if I had too. I then took my camera and tripod to the river and enjoyed the view and took 15 or so photos. The sky looked great and there was an orange glow from the sun setting. I noticed a barge moving south on the Mississippi River so I took a few more before it crossed, problem was it wasn't crossing, it was creeping slowly in front of the skyline interrupting my view and my photos. I then noticed that it was actually docking at the Cargill Grain Elevator so I packed up my gear and headed back to the car. When I got to where I could see the car, I saw an SUV with police lights on it parked behind my rental and the lights off. I thought to myself, "OH SHIT" and started to get in creep mode to see where he was at. I thought to myself if I should wait it out and then thought to just get in my car and take off if he wasn't around. I turned the corner through the weeds up the hill and I hear, "FREEZE". I was caught off guard and jumped and he followed with, "So you were trying hide from me, eh?" I replied to him, "I didn't even see you". He started giving me the riot act about trespassing and how there was 10 different signs posted and some even in Spanish. He asked for my ID and rental car agreement and went back to his car and ran my record. After 10 minutes of getting bit by mosquitoes, he finally came out and told me he never wanted to see me here again without permission, blah, blah, blah. Apparently Terminal Railroad owns that property and Cargill and the Casino Queen rent the land from them. So after a long story here are 4 of the 15 pics I took. I think I have officially caught the photography bug. ...And I did eventually get some food...
July 28, 200519 yr holy schnikes how beautiful!!! those shots were totally worth the hassle from the man monte! just excellent. were they digital? if so what size? wow.
July 28, 200519 yr ^ 5MP ;) Thanks all, I agree it was worth it. He ran my record but I guess I checked out fine ;)
July 28, 200519 yr I would've pulled the race card. Then again, you are white ;). "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
July 28, 200519 yr ^lol! one more photo question, what re-size program did you use (if you dont use photoshop?)? and are you happy with it? thanks for helping me overcome my mega-pixel fears!
July 29, 200519 yr For a limited time only, I was able to convince the photographer to produce a commemorative wallpaper addition: ;)
July 30, 200519 yr yes, well worth the run in with the law. hell, nearly would've been worth getting shot at for these :shoot:
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