Paul Mison’s random stuff that doesn’t go elsewhere. Is it microblogging, or microactivity? (Previously known as ‘tumblr is my sock drawer’, for reasons that are somewhat unclear.)Tumblr (3.0; @blech)http://notes.husk.org/<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxjs66n12T1qz4vjro1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><span>Q. This is the much-talked-about photo, on Page 91, with a man in a red jacket holding a gun up to someone’s head …</span><br/><br/><span>A. New York magazine called me, and they were doing a story on a series of subway undercover detectives, who dressed themselves and behaved in certain ways to entice muggers.</span><br/><br/><span>And one detective was dressed as a rabbi with a beard, and he wore a gold chain. Of course, rabbis don’t wear chains, but the robber probably didn’t know that. I volunteered, since I had been mugged previously when I was alone… . I volunteered to be a decoy so, I acted in such a way to get mugged. Now, I always had my camera out around my neck when I took pictures because I can’t just hide the camera and then approach people. It has to be out there, in the open. I took a subway map out and pretended I was lost.</span><br/><br/><span>The robber came into the car, robbed the sleeping rabbi/detective — took his chain right off his neck — and came towards me at the end of the car. He said, “Give me that camera!” And just at that moment, I lifted my camera and photographed him. And as I photographed him, [the detective] Billie moved in with the .38 and arrested him, so it was a simultaneous thing. One frame.</span><br/><br/><span>Q. So what we’re seeing, the gentleman in red is actually a police officer.</span><br/><br/><span>A. Yeah, he’s an undercover. And you see, he’s sitting there in the middle of the train with a boombox and dark glasses in that kind of hip-hop clothing, and the robber [thinks], “Oh, I got a brother. He’s going to help me. He’s not going to say anything.” And that was his fatal error.</span><br/><br/><span>The group was disbanded after awhile because the bait was too good. Sometimes the cops looked so good, I was going to rob them myself.</span><br/><br/><span>Q. What happened afterward? Are there other images from the incident?</span><br/><br/><span>A. He was arrested, and I felt sorry for him. As soon as he robbed me, they took him out and cuffed him. They took him right off the train at 42nd Street.</span><br/><br/><span>Then, I felt I couldn’t photograph him being arrested at that moment. I didn’t feel comfortable doing that, because he was cuffed and helpless.</span><br/><br/><span>— Chicago Tribune interview with photographer Bruce Davidson</span></p> <p><span>(Originally posted to mlkshk by <a href="http://mlkshk.com/user/zarate">zarate</a>)</span></p>http://notes.husk.org/post/15632309365http://notes.husk.org/post/15632309365Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:59:00 +0000bruce davidsoncopgunimagenarrativenew yorknew york citypolicemansubwayphotographphotography