Taking pictures for no apparent reason can draw the ire of pigs
Paulo got a new camera along with some wide-ish lenses. Along with a blistering hot day and clear skies, I thought this would be a good time to try and take some photos of scenery and wide-ish shots in general. I had to use the lens that came with the camera, so I didn’t expect much, but I was hoping.
We started off in Narellan and moved out from there. We eventually ended up in a place called Cobbitty, which isn’t that far from where we live but it’s still a small town, based around one road named “Cobbitty Road”. Sydney uni has some veterinarian centre nearby. In any case, we saw some nice landscapes and couldn’t find a good place to park so we could take pics.
Eventually we got to a cul-de-sac and decided to park there (well, I did. Nathan’s basically a wuss who’s not happy with parking anywhere). We walked up and started taking pics (except Nathan who stayed in the car looking emo). As I was parking another car drove by into their drive-way, and paused briefly. I didn’t know the town was that small...
As we were taking pics, a cop car drove by. After taking a few more pics we decided to go back to the car and leave. As we returned Nathan (the lazy one) informed us that the cop had spoken to him. I didn’t believe him. As we were getting ready to drive off the cop walked up to the vehicle. The following is a dramatisation of the conversation that took place:
Me: Pigs... Cheese it fellas!
Harpy: take a chill pill, we ain’t done nothin' wrong yet.
Me: Good point.
Copper: Hi fellas, can I see your license
(license transfer takes place)
Copper: Now tell me what y’all are doin' in mah town.
Me: Leave off, cat. What we’re doing is our business.
Copper: You tell me here or in jail1.
Me: Ease off, we’re just snappin' some happies.
Copper: What of? Nothin' t' see here fer miles.
Me: I’m an artist, man. You can’t keep me in your boxes.
Copper: If there’s nothing here what’re you taking pictures of?
Me: Whatever catches my eye.
Copper: Whatever catches your eye?
Me: Yeah.
Copper: I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but in this climate
of terrorism you can see how it’s a bit strange for a bunch of
guys, one of who is clearly a lazy fag, to be taking pictures
of random stuff2.
Me: You tellin' me this is illegal?
Copper: I’m tellin' you this is a small town.
Me: You gonna charge me?
Copper: Look, we’re here 'coz a guy got his alarm set off, an d
you boys being in the area is mighty suspicious. If I were you I’d
high-tail it out of here.
Me: I was thinking the same thing...
p.. Climate of Terrorism? I was certainly shocked to hear something like that. Climate of fear more like. Hey, I go to sleep easy. If you’re having trouble getting a good night on account of a couple of third-world retards who hate your guts, that’s your problem. It’s either some sort of shitty justification for interrogating us, or it’s a warning to stop taking pictures like we do in the future.
I vaguely considered asking him which it was, and whether he’d have questioned us at all if we were white. Some people are more afraid of the terrorists, I’m more afraid of the po-lice.
1 In the dramatisation he uses the American spelling of Gaol.
2 He did in fact, say this (except the lazy fag part).