Guitar Hero animator finds a new calling: A photojournalist with a badge from the NYPD.

A former animator for Guitar Hero and Amplitude, Antonio Bolfo was looking for something more meaningful in his life. So he became a NYC cop.

“I wanted street-level experience, so I opted to be a cop,” he said recently. “I didn’t want to just ride a desk all day in the F.B.I. right off the bat. It was a really idealistic time in my life. I really thought I could make a difference. Save some people. It was very naïve, but that was my thought process at the time.”

Now Bolfo lugs his camera with him to capture and now works for Getty Images as well, grabbing snippets of his beat. If you thought Grand Theft Auto IV was cinematic, check out the rest of his portfolio here.

-Jamin Warren

[via NY Times]