The photographer's plight

James Lileks relates a dream:

An indication you've spent too much time on the internet: you dream you're meeting Instapundit for a beer at Drew Curtis' house. The invitation showed a can of beer the size of a grain silo. I took the bus to get there, and was surprised at how dodgy the neighborhood was, but it had great signs and movie marquees. Naturally, I took pictures of these gorgeously decayed urban remants for the website. People started looking at me in a curious, suspicious fashion. Just like real life. When you can't even take pictures in your dreams we've become too suspicious.

Given the out-and-out paranoia displayed whenever someone pulls out a camera nowadays, the dream is pretty realistic.

As a thought experiment, wouldn't it be amusing if you had a group of photographers dress in traditional arabic garb, drive around in a vehicle marked "AQ Photography", and stop to pray, as ostentatiously as possible, five times a day, all the while blatantly taking photos of urban scenery. Would the police or other anti-photography busybodies dare to treat them the same way other photographers have been treated? (Back story here and here.)

It's possible that they'd be harassed, but I think it's more likely that the authorities would be terrified they'd be accused of racial profiling.