I was up on the new hourly parking deck at CLT today for a couple of hours from late afternoon until after dark. Another local spotter stopped by, and we were photographing for a while when two TSA agents came over. The other spotter and I were about 50 feet apart as we tried some different angles, and one agent stopped by each of us. The agent who approached me began with "Great view, isn't it?" He was very friendly, asking about photography, commenting on the beautiful weather, and although I'm sure he was checking me out, it didn't feel that way. He never asked for ID, I gave him a business card, and he walked over to join the other agent chatting with my friend.
As they were leaving, a Charlotte police officer (CMPD replaced the separate airport police force a couple of years ago) stopped by my friend, and after about 5 minutes walked over to me. We chatted a little about the view from the deck - he said "This is your new favorite spot, isn't it?"- and a little about photography. I gave him a card - he said he had been to my friend's site, but hadn't seen mine yet. He did say two TSA agents in the terminal, not the ones who visited us, had seen us taking pictures and told him about it. He told them we were probably guys from the overview enjoying the new spot, but came over just to make sure. He even said "With all the calls we get about you guys taking pictures, the airport should give you some kind of ID, so we know you're good guys..." I told him about some of the airport watch programs elsewhere, which he thought were good ideas. After a few more minutes - he even make a joke about "if you see something, say something..." he headed out.
All in all, a very good encounter, and it sounds like security has already gotten used to having us up on the deck for photography...which is a very good thing:
http://www.moose135photography.com/A...8UW_001-XL.jpg
