So, I got stopped by some cops for taking some pictures.

The pictures were of these beautiful (to me at least) smoke stacks in town. I was driving by and thought the light was just right and decided to go ahead and snap some shots.

I was out there for about 10-15 minutes at the most. Around the time I was going to walk over and take a last shot of this peacock made out of flowers a cop car showed up, and from what I’d read on Boing Boing in the past about cops harrassing photogs I had a good idea of what to expect.

First there was one cop, officer Garcia. He opened with a general “why are you taking pictures,” and I explained that the smoke has this wonderful texture to it and I’m attracted to industrial looking buildings and structures, later referencing pictures I’d taken of abandoned buildings in Detroit. He talked about how in “this day and age” people get concerned when they see someone taking pictures of energy sources — and I thought, so that’s what it does!

Unfortunately, it was really really cold, and I accidentally put my hands in my pockets one too many times, which led the officer to frisk me. Yep, hands behind my back and legs spread apart, the real deal. All taking place along Neil street near that horrendously named new restaurant Buttitta’s. Maybe you saw me?

The officer didn’t like it when he found my iPhone set to record audio — oops. ( ^ _ ^ ) I told him it was for my own protection. Either way I didn’t do it right and the phone wasn’t recording anyway. He tried to tell me that it would have been illegal for me to be recording, and I’m familiar with the laws he was referring to, but it doesn’t apply to a public situation like that, especially where you’re talking to an officer, does it? I also found it odd when the officer started reading through my various little sets of notes and notebooks. That isn’t legal, is it?

Eventually two other cops showed up, one of whom repeated the line about “this day and age” and whether I understood why they stopped me, while the other amused me by asking if I was part of any ecological student groups on campus.

Overall, I didn’t mind. I’m pretty docile in those situations, and it felt like fieldwork more than anything else, where I was observing them as much as they were observing me. I tried not to be too creepy when I was taking my pictures, and it was right by a park of sorts with a sidewalk nearby, so I hadn’t been too concerned. But I wasn’t completely surprised when things went down the way they did.

After all that, I hope you like some of the pictures I took. I almost got arrested for them. Unfortunately, I never did get a shot of that peacock.