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Carmen | all galleries >> Day by day >> Year 1 - 2004-2005 >> August 2004 > August 26, 2004
The Way is Shut
Day 112
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August 26, 2004

August 26, 2004
The Way is Shut
Day 112

The Way is Shut.

In more ways than one.

This road leads to our small town post office, which (the road) is closed now for about a week . (It (the post office) is hidden behind the truck.)
~ Wow. There's a muddy sentence. Anyone care to help me say what I really mean? LOL. ~

To add to the debate of asking people if you can take pictures or not, throw in the spectre of 'National Security'.
I asked the workers if I could take a picture and they said (they were very nice) "No. You know, terrorism."
Which, sad to say, I actually kind of figured might be the answer. I guess we're all hooked into that wavelength, at some level.
Well, whatever.
Sometimes ya just gotta slap yourself and snap out of it.

Another construction worker did offer to take my letter across the tracks with a smile and a "Just don't take my picture while I'm doing it!"

I walked back to my car and took one shot at this distance, and smudged out the license plate. Make of this what you will.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Dad, hope you took my advice and picked up that bottle of wine!


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Dave Beedon08-Sep-2005 22:52
One lawyer's opinion of the legal issues involved with your experience:http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm
Dave Beedon 11-Dec-2004 02:03
How sad that you even gave thought to having to ask to take pictures. As I understand it, if you're in a public area such as a road or sidewalk (that road or sidewalk not being in a private area such as a gated community), you can take pictures of anything you desire, even if the subject of the photo is on private property (people or activities in a yard, a driveway, a railroad right-of-way, buildings, etc.). Sometimes people object to being photographed without having a legal reason. The idea that photography is forbidden because of "national security" or "terrorism" is espoused at times by people who are mis-informed or want to use that excuse for other reasons (camera-shy?). If I had been at this scene, I would have taken pictures without abandon and without asking---unless I had moved onto private property or gotten close enough to interfere with safety practices of the workers. Sometimes it's nice to alert people that you're taking pictures to avoid embarrassing them. Naturally, I would not have photographed anyone doing a favor for me---such as delivering a letter---if he was doing something he wasn't supposed to do. Any lawyers out there who care to comment?
Carmen27-Aug-2004 13:07
Round trip to the post office is normally a little over a mile each way; the detour is 5 miles or so (!!!) But it's supposed to be fixed by Tuesday. The guys looked a little dubious when they told me that, though. And the site is pretty messed up.
northstar3727-Aug-2004 08:17
And how do you get to the post office??
Carmen27-Aug-2004 03:50
Well it is rather funny. There were actually several construction workers there; you can't see them because they've dug down and are in a bit of a hole, plus the barriers are hiding them from this vantage point. I only asked about the photo in the first place because I was right up there talking with them. I actually like this shot better; to tell you the truth there's not a whole lot interesting about a hole in the ground.
Gary Winters27-Aug-2004 03:23
You do realize, of course, that now that this picture has been posted on the internet, the terrorists can use it against us. I can see them now, in some mysterious cell somewhere, huddled over a PC, when someone says Viola! We've got a picture of a road closing near a post office with a yellow truck in it. What say we go there and wreak havoc!



I'm glad you snapped the picture. This is starting to really REALLY get out of hand!
jypsee27-Aug-2004 03:18
This whole town where I'm staying this summer is torn up in bits and pieces and the going is rough...it's a river town so the traffic is all headed for the bridge and so the road is a rutted mess from the big eighteen wheelers; only now it's a mess from the strange process of fixing the road. I had to laugh at Stewart's question about where the workers are....they're having a long lunch!! all afternoon long!! If there wasn't a cop, why ask permission to photograph?
petesie27-Aug-2004 02:51
I'm not sure I would have thought to ask....hasn't come up yet...but I do understand. Must be a bit of an inconvenience to have the road to the post office closed....also, about your sentence...one night I went back and changed the explanation of my PaD several times and it still didn't sound right.....but you did fine.
Stu26-Aug-2004 23:43
Activity? Where are the workmen and women?
Carmen26-Aug-2004 22:25
Paranoid? Of them, I suppose. Or their overseers? I don't know where it came from. But they kind of did that apologetic wince (you know the one I mean?) and said that I could not take a picture. (Of railroad tracks being installed. ???) Wow. Maybe we've improved on the technology loads since the 1800's, but...okay, I'm grasping at straws here.
I had my finger on the trigger -- uh, shutter release, and was only trying to be polite (my bad) by asking since they were standing there. I had no problem taking the picture, personally, but I also have a sense of that national undercurrent. Oh, well, indeed.
Which is not to say that I'm not paranoid, but that's my own business. ;^)
Gayle P. Clement26-Aug-2004 22:12
That's ridiculous! Though I will admit I didn't take two pictures this past week because I didn't want hassle. One was of a really unique airport baggae kiosk and the other was of a local chemical plant's pipes.
Oh, well.
Melanie26-Aug-2004 21:44
Yeah, what Ray asked???
Ray :)26-Aug-2004 21:30
You couldn't take a picture? Isn't that a bit paranoid? Or did you mean of them?
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