I'm a little rattled. For the last several nights I have been computing the position of moonrise and finding locations with foreground subjects to photograph moonrise. Two nights ago moonrise was a little before sunset, last night around sunset, and tonight it was quite dark. Today I chose a park on a hillside overlooking the city of Denver. It was a nice moonrise but the atmosphere was a little turbulent. There was no one in the park (which looks like a big field) and few lights so quite dark. As I was taking my last images a distant light on a building across the street was turned on and there were two people outside. I packed up my gear (500 f/4 on full wimberly; backpack with 300 f/2.8 and other lenses, 1D4). As I reached my car one of the guys had gotten in his car and turned it on and moved the car with brights on to shine directly at me. There were no other cars on the street. He was clearly targeting me. I moved to get in my car and he started pulling out of the parking lot toward me (I was parked across the street from the parking lot). He started to pull up beside me like he was going to cut me off, but I pulled ahead and started to head home (a couple of miles away). He was following me. I made a couple of turns that would be an unusual backtracking route to see if he was really following me. He was. I made a strategic turn in an area I knew and he followed. I made a U-turn, which he did too, and at that point I made a strategic reverse maneuver to get behind him into a position he could not back up but still gave me an escape route and he had a red stoplight in front of him. I got his license plate number and called 911, and reported I was being stalked. I gave the license number and my location and the car started moving ahead. I started following it, letting it move further ahead of me. I stayed on the phone with 911 and made a turn to lose the vehicle, then another turn and headed home, having lost him. The 911 operator was nice and stayed with me until I was sure I had lost him. I do not know if they intercepted the vehicle.
As an amateur astronomer I am often out at night in dark places (usually away from a city). And as a photographer, I have hiked in bear country, and in lion country on the Serengeti. I have been close to brown and black bears, lions, and other predators. I never felt as unsafe as I do in a city carrying big expensive camera gear, especially alone. Sad.
I do not know if the guy following me though I was a threat (with the idea photographers photographing at night must be planning a terrorist attack) or was intent on robbing me. Either way, what he did was not right.
I think I'll carry my bear spray next time I go out like that.
Have you had any experiences like this, and what do you do for safety?
Time to go download my images.
Roger