Photos

Alternative title "Camera Assault on Police Officer".
The month of June was unusually rainy last year in Alberta, and we saw the worst flooding in 30 years. This has to be put into context, the province of Alberta is hidden behind the Rocky Mountains that catch most of the humidity from the Pacific winds, and its climate is quite arid. “The worst flooding” didn’t mean all that much, except of course for those unfortunate ones who lived in the close proximity of rivers and had their houses flooded.
I took the camera to document such rare event in Calgary, and found a massive police presence. Small areas near the Bow River were evacuated because of the imminent flood, and in every intersection there was a police cruiser blocking the access in order to prevent… potential looting. It’s pretty embarrassing that looting was a possibility in this town, but this is not the topic of the image.
The officer in the image turned me around, and that’s when I noticed that she didn’t look exactly the way you’d expect from your average traffic cop (unless you’ve watched too many Hollywood series). And so I thought she’d make a nice subject, asked and received permission and was offered the very official but still quite charming pose you can see in the workshop. A large camera seems to be able to intimidate even a cop on duty, and after a few shots the official pose was replaced by shy gestures and girly giggles indicating that the modeling session has ended. Here I was, standing next to a police cruiser and creating some serious flustering inside. I found the situation to be much more amusing then the reverse, when I am sitting in the drivers’ seat and the cop is standing outside, explaining to me how illegally fast I was going…