Before I get into this story I want to set the psychographic stage, because I’ve been through this enough now to know what kind of conversations these controversies stir up.

My 2007 incident in San Antonio [see An Accidental Interview With Lieutenant Phil Dreyer] – which was much scarier and more flagrant than the one I’m writing about today – made me realize how out-of-fashion standing up for your rights has become, and also how much it opens you up to criticism for being a troublemaker (and more).

People like Thomas Hawk and Carlos Miller have famously faced this as well. The assumption (often verbalized) is that we’re belligerent, in-your-face assholes who go to places sticking our cameras (and our laminated, marked-up copies of the First Amendment) in people’s faces, looking and hoping for a fight. Sorry, but that’s just not true. I absolutely hate these confrontations and just want to make my pictures and be left alone. For instance, I had a terribly embarrassing and awkward police / photography incident at LAX a few months back and decided not to write about it because of the rather sensational issues it would raise. So trust me, I am not in this for the fight.

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Some folks at the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office have a very different view of the law than I do, and this “accidental interview” should demonstrate those differences rather clearly. We’ve all heard the myths about Texas lawmen and their, errr.. improvisational legislative interpretations. I’m sure one Lieutenant Phillip Dreyer doesn’t take much shame in this myth – in fact, he seems to be doing his best to live up to that stereotype. But I’m getting ahead of myself, kids … first, despite several weeks passing since the incident, my notes were taken that evening. So, I believe the below to be a very accurate and fair encapsulation.

On the night of February 5, 2007, while walking around San Antonio to get some night shots, I noted the rather cool way one of the canals was being lit on East Nueva Street, so decided to take some pictures of it.
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