The Team, a photo from Quebec, Central

Photographer's Note

Second shot of the Swat team. This one was taken just after they got down from the helicopter .

A Police tactical team (SWAT) is a highly trained, highly mobile, well-equipped team of police officers employed in situations, which require specialized skills, equipment and training. The word SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics and was the acronym for the original police tactical teams first seen in Los Angeles, California in the early 1960’s.

Members are chosen from veteran applicants who must pass stringent physical, psychological and firearms proficiency tests.

Aegean, nwoehnl, avigur_11, Michael_Gan, jp80, orme, quegardens, mdchachi, phi729, saintclaude, sunny, premels has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

virginia (502) 2004-10-18 12:09 [Comment]

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Aegean (2571) 2004-10-18 13:15

Nice action capture Paul. The rail in the foreground adds depth in the image and you did capture very nice the feeling of movement of the team...

nwoehnl (122) 2004-10-18 15:09

Great action shot, Paul, slightly menacing-looking in the way the guys are running towards your direction, weapons in their hands. Good use of lines and the handrail in front to establish some depth. Did you blur the background building visible in the upper part in post-processing? It looks just slightly odd. Well done though on this interesting catch of "the team".

avigur_11 (22535) 2004-10-18 16:35

A very good action shot, Paul, like it was taken from a movie. They look like the are tryimg to hunt you. I find the grainy aperanace (caused by cropping?) quite interesting. Could work nice also in b/w. Well done. I hope that you have more.

Michael_Gan (2776) 2004-10-18 17:39

Interesting subject and nice action shot Paul. I wouldn't like to have these guys chasing me! I like the way how you filled the frame with these SWAT members. But - personally - I don't like the blue rail in the foreground. I agree with the others that it adds some depth, but I don't think that is really necessary in a picture like this.

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poulinp (4528) 2004-10-18 22:51

Spectacular shot! However, I would like to know the context of this catch!

quegardens (1469) 2004-10-19 7:30

It looks like you should move out of the way Paul...and fast! :-) Very good depiction of the SWAT training exercise after their drop from the helicopter.The only thing a find a little out of place in this photo is the woman officer heading in the other direction...I find her casual wandering steals some of the authentic mood one would feel in a real situation.
So what is your next shot....these guys walking over you with you shooting from the ground? :-)Bonne journée Paul.

orme (7219) 2004-10-19 21:35

A great action shot, Paul. It look like a 'dangerous' POV. I like the strong colours and the shadows on the ground. A tighter cropping might also work well here. Well seen.

Motrem (2392) 2004-11-01 13:11

En pleine action, les membres du SWAT sont impressionnants et vous en danger certainement! LOL
J'aime bien la dynamique qu'il y a dans votre composition et ce qui m'a fait sourire c'est celui a la tête tournée à l'approche des marches (très dangereux!) et celui qui s'éloigne, on dirait qu'il boîte. C'était tout un exercice. Travail bien fait!

joseelias (0) 2004-11-08 8:34

Hi Paul! Welcome back!

Very interesting photo of an unusual theme! They're body position is very good as well the capture of details. Only that rail disturbes me a little.

This could work very well in BW.

flydragon (0) 2004-11-08 10:31

hello paul
i try to understand ?
what is interresting here
to see some police man or soldier
with machine gun ?
you dont think we see this kind of picture
to much on tv, news paper
i am really surprised some people like
to see this kind of picture, that make me so sad
it was for the subject
now for the picture,
this picture have a bad qualité compression
the dark are grey, the floor is over exposed
and te rail in the middle ?
sorry i dont understand why u sent this picture
••simon••

mdchachi (1612) 2004-11-08 14:38

Nice composition and pose of the "team". I also thought that the background looked like it was blurred unnaturally.

phi729 (2101) 2004-11-10 15:49

Bonjour Paul,

Excellente photo d'action! Les Policiers du SWAT, le pas de velours et l'arme pointé vers le photographe ;-) ont l'air vraiment menaçants. L'homme de dos en arrière plan et la rampe d'escalier enrichissement bien la composition en suggérant des éléments d'informations sur le contexte (obstacle de l'escalier, départ de l'hélicoptère). Sur le plan technique la photo bénéficie d'une bonne clarté et les couleurs sont naturelles. Bien réalisé, Paul.

sunny (3069) 2004-11-28 16:20

Great action shot with a lot of power in it, Paul! :-) The close angle of taking and the pointed weapons increase the strong feeling of them holding everything under control, while moving in a perfect team. The diagonal lines of the ground under their feet increase the dynamics. Excellent job!

ps:..wow! I just read the long discussion... First of all, I think people should carefully read the notes, before commenting, as this way a lot of confusion could be avoided. Second, the training of policemen is part of their job and through it they keep up with the hard tasks sometimes they have to do. Guess somebody took this shot for a proud army one, which it definitely is not! And what is more, when something in our daily life gets in a big messs, we have nothing against exactly these polocemen to come and fix it back in the good way...:-) I am one of those who appreciate your job, Paule, and congratulations for the way you presented the training here - I find the title really fitting perfectly! Thanx for sharing it with us!

Kenny10pin (19301) 2005-01-07 8:14

I like the group here, they have the same pose, very good dof and also the framing is goo too, well done

premels (2400) 2005-01-23 7:36

Une composition puissante avec d'agréables rappels de couleur. Le groupe parait plutôt menaçant et l'image pourrait être tirée d'un film d'action.
Je n'ai pas de tabou quant au sujet même si j'ai tendance à regretter qu'on doive cataloguer cette image dans la catégorie 'vie quotidienne'.