Photo by Andrew Cichowski

When will photographers learn to take their stinking artsy photography someplace other than public?!

In San Jose this past weekend, photographer Andrew Cichowski writes on his blog  how he was stopped for taking photos of a fence around a train station. The police wanted to know why he was “suspiciously photographing industrial stuff for.” Despite admitting that nothing about what Cichowski was doing was illegal, the two police officers ran his ID, got his social security number and took photos of him. Eventually – and after two more squad cars arrived -they determined Cichowski was not a terrorist threat, but they still copied his CF card and two flash drives onto a laptop.

Cichowski calls this a waste of time and taxpayer dollars, but we call it a scary infringement on his rights. Those cops were way out of line, and they broke so many laws with that detainment it’s mind-boggling. But, hey, always gotta be vigilant about terrorists shooting in daylight.

Also this weekend  in California, blogger Mojoey writes about being told to stop taking photos of an Arco gas station in La Mirada. Which is just puzzling because what’s the reasoning behind prohibiting photos of a dumpy little gas station in So Cal? Are they trying to claim terrorism or trademark infringement or private property, or what? For good measure, Mojeoey included the Google Maps photo with his post. Yep, the photos are already out there, folks. Protesting is futile.

Articles from Redesign the World (via Photography Is Not a Crime) and Deep Thoughts