2/10 - Interesting night

I really wanted to go out shooting to clear my mind after class got out at 10, so I grabbed my camera and left. I was just driving around shooting buildings when flashing lights appeared behind me.

After a few minutes on the side of the road, the officer approached the car and asked to see my license and registration.

Cop: License and registration please.

Me: What did you pull me over for, officer?

Cop: License and registration, Please. I'll tell you after.

He took my license and registration, told me my headlight was out, and asked me a series of questions.

(Have you been drinking? No. Where are you coming from? School. Where are you going? Nowhere in particular. Is this vehicle insured? Yup. In whose name is the vehicle registered? My dad. etc etc etc)

Cop: "What are you up to tonight?"

Me: "Shooting."

Cop: "Excuse me?"

Me: "Ah. Sorry. Photography" (I gestured at my camera).

Cop: "Shooting what?"

Me: "Everything. I don't know. Anything."

Cop: "I'd like to search the vehicle."

Me: "No, sir."

Cop: "Why not? Do you have something to hide?"

Me: "No. I don't consent to searches."

He took my license and registration and went back to his car for ten minutes, and came back with a ticket for the headlight (wonderful). He really didn't seem happy that I wouldn't let him search the car, though, and threatened a DUI test. My roommate said he was mad because I was being "uncooperative." I'm pretty sure I was just using my rights.




I continued shooting. At some point around 11:30 I pulled into the Xerox parking lot and started driving through slowly.

A silver pontiac started following me. After a few minutes, I got a little worried. I pulled up to an in-lot stop sign, and the pontiac quickly pulled up next to me and rolled down his window. I paused, decided I'd see what was up, and rolled mine down too.

Pontiac: "Whatcha up to tonight?"

Me: "Nothing much."

P: "Just driving around?"

Me: "Yup."

P: "Are you a Xerox employee?"

Me: "No."

P: "Then you can't be here."

Me: "In the parking lot? Why's that?"

P: "Because it's private property."

Me: "So I can't drive around... in a parking lot?"

P: "Nope."

Me: "........ right."

I just drove away. He started to say something, but I didn't really want to hear him threaten me with the cops. There wasn't anything there to make arguing worth it. He followed me out of the lot, talking on a cell phone.

Why does everyone have to be suspicious of anybody without an immediately obvious purpose or designated location? It's come to the point where I'm stopped more often then I'm not while taking pictures in the city. I'm not particularly excited to see what the future has in store for photography. What happened tonight was really not a big deal, but it was a little frustrating.

In my reactive mind, it mirrors what's going on in the UK (photographers getting arrested for photographing "terrorist targets").

I'm not ready to apply for my license to own a camera.



Accident at the intersection of Jefferson and East River Rd. A truck (F-250?) hit this car in the middle. One of the two probably ran a red light. The bar between the front and back doors ended up farther inside the the car than the passenger seat.