Old Industry, Feeling Guilty & An Encounter With The Law (021/365)

“When we played softball, I'd steal second base, feel guilty and go back.”

Woody Allen (American Actor, Author, Screenwriter and Film Director, b.1935)

TIME:  10:29 PM
PLACE:  Our town
SUBJECT:  Old grain elevator

I decided to try to take some snowy night pictures.  Luckily for me, DQ was spending the night at a friends, HH was home, SD was ready to go to bed and poor MB was in his bed trying to make it through his turn with the stomach virus (I picked him up from school at 1:30pm – he decorated the school sidewalk on the way to the car.)  I borrowed HH’s window mount tripod, picked up a coffee at Quick Trip and off I went.  At first, I felt kind of paranoid, like someone was watching me and thinking that I was up to no good.  I was feeling guilty like I was doing something wrong, but I pressed on.  After a while, I started to feel kind of stealthy and a little bit more confident...until these photos:

This was at a Pre-K school playground in our school district.  I was taking the photos when a vehicle pulled along the passenger side of the Jeep and a bright light shone into my car.  It was the police.  The officer (younger than me too, *grrrr*) asked me if everything was ok and what I was doing.  I told him I was just trying to improve my photo skills by taking some night photos, was I doing anything wrong?  No, he said, but you are parked on the wrong side of the street.  *gulp*  Sorry officer, I was just trying to get closer for the shot and because my window mount was on the driver’s side…I’ll move along.  He had already run my plates apparently because he asked if I still lived on “XXXX St.” and then he asked me if I was trying to take a photo of the house.  House?  I said…ummm, no, no, no…see that ball playground thingy?  That’s what I’m trying to capture.  I asked him if he wanted to see what I had taken photos of this evening and he said yes.  I un-mounted my camera, exited my car and let him see my shots on the screen.  I guess that was satisfactory enough for him; he wished me a good evening and went on his way.  Gah!  My heart was racing!  These shots were going to be my last ones anyway, so I decided now would be a good time to call it a night myself.  I do wish I would have had more time to compose those shots better…I think they really could have been spectacular.  I know the officer was doing his job; he was polite and respectful and I have no complaint with him or the way he handled our encounter, but, ack! I wish that I didn’t feel so guilty about what I was doing.  And I guess I wasn’t as stealthy as I thought, darnnit.