VARIOUS TIME IN LIFE

some may know, and some not, who jeff cooper was. and i say was because he some time ago passed on to that great gun range in the sky. jeff cooper wrote a column called "random shots". and tho, i shall never be in the class of jeff cooper, i shall call mime "a random thought".



a recent look at my new copy of popular photography revealed the power of big brother.

the headline: GRANNY BUSTED/COPS THINK SHE'S A PERV

now you may be thinking what did this 65 year old grandmother do? must have been something gross and nasty, right? well, how is this . . .while her 3 and 8 year old grand daughters were waiting for their bath one night, they decided to do a little dance on granny's bed. only catch was that they were already unclothed shall we say. bouncing and giggling their best, granny thought they were cute. so she did what any grandma might do. yep . . . you got it, snap snap a couple of quick photos for the family album. kinda harmless don't you think?? how many of us have one of those infamous "bearskin rug" photos hidden around the house? getting a little old and faded? thinkin' about getting a new copy made? whoa ! ! ! better not do it at the corner drug store, wal-mart, moto photo 'cause they're all part of the "porn police". that's right big brother has enlisted their help in catching the bad guys. sounds like a good idea, perhaps?

well, ask granny about that. she was arrested when the local moto photo called the cops after seeing the little darlings in all their splendor. the cops even went so far as to go to the girls home and made the parent wake them up with such questions as "did granny get undressed too?, did granny touch you?, did granny touch herself?". to top it all off, they told the parents that they must cooperate and threatened to take the kids away if they did not.

now this woman was an experienced and award winning photographer, claiming that she never had any intention of publishing her grand daughters' photos. her lawyer advised her to take a deal, a pretrial intervention, meaning conditional probation, and no criminal record. a federal judge later found that the photos were "totally inoffensive". of course this came a little too late and at the cost of $30,000 in legal fees.

this is but one case in the article, but i found it to be the most invasive of the lot. all were terrible invasions of family privacy, but this tore at me most.

some might say this all could have been avoided if she had just used a digital camera, but those are the ones who will be missing the point. big brother has to have his limits. he must stay out of our family photos. yes, child pornography is a serious problem, and i might be the first one to say go for it had it been just that. but , c'mon now. children in their innocent play time. there has to be a limit . . . but who is to say . . .?

is it any wonder that i stay with landscapes, animals and storms??