Whew!

This past week my hubby Adnan took me out to take photos. Photography is one of my hobbies, and since there's not much else for me to do, going out to take photos around the city has become a treat for me and has become one of my favorite things to do here. There is still quite an aversion to cameras in Saudi Arabia - especially by women. Photographs of uncovered women (with their hair, faces, or some skin showing) have been used to blackmail women for money or to force them to have sex with the blackmailer or other unseemly things. If they were to be exposed, the photos would bring disgrace to the women and their families. When out in public it is perfectly legal here to take photos now, although people are still uncomfortable about it. Taking photos of certain areas, like government buildings and the place where public executions are carried out, is prohibited. It's a shame because many of the government buildings are really beautiful. I don't quite understand why a photo of a building is a problem, but that's the way it is.

I had asked my husband to take me to an area of the city that has some sculptures that I haven't been able to photograph yet because it is so far away and we don't get down there very often. So we left the house bright and early at 7am on a weekend day because traffic would be lighter at that time. Many of my photos are taken from a moving vehicle because it's just about impossible to pull over and take time to lay up my shots when traffic is heavy. Adnan pulled over so I could get out and take some photos of some nearby sculptures. I told him that there was a sign that said "No Photography!" but he just said to hurry up and get my shots and get back in the car. As I was taking my last shot, a police car drove by. Damn! I got back into the car and Adnan pulled out into the street headed for the next set of sculptures. The police car slowed down, let us pass him, and then he put his flashing lights on and used the loud speaker to tell us to pull over. Uh-oh!

"Oh S#!T!" hubby said as he veered over to the right and came to a stop. When the officer approached our car, Adnan and he exchanged cordial greetings and shook hands. (I had never seen anything like this happen in the states before, that's why I am mentioning it.) My husband showed the officer his driver's license and vehicle papers, and the policeman asked Adnan to step out of the car. After they spoke for a minute, I was asked to get out of the car and show the officer the last few photos I had taken on my digital camera screen. Apparently there was a government building that I wasn't aware of, across the street beyond the sculptures I was photographing. I showed the officer the last dozen or so photos I had taken. Luckily that government building wasn't in any of the pictures. The officer smiled and sent us on our merry way when he saw this one: