plateshow:

I’m doing you a FAVOR! (via shawnblog)

I take a LOT of vanity plate pictures. Last year, I decided to start a web based radio show that would be loosely centered around exploits and randomness occurring as I find and document my mild obsession.

I have not yet become wildly popular because of this show and am reworking the format and name because people got a little too hung up on needing to come up with something vanity plate related. The tagline of the show (borrowed from the article that finally motivated me to start the show) was “Life, vanity plates and the meanings behind them”, but the folks I was interviewing seemed to go into deer-in-headlights mode when they had nothing to say specifically about vanity plates.

When I take the pictures in parking lots, I will usually avoid a car if someone is getting in or out of the car. This is not because I don’t want to meet them or explain what I am up to… in fact, that will eventually be part of the show once I get it started again. I avoid active parking  vehicles because I am usually in a hurry to go somewhere when I notice the vanity plate and take the quick shot as I walk by with my camera phone and I really don’t have time, nor am I set up to do an on the spot interview with someone who might be interested in talking about their plate.

In traffic, I take these pictures on almost every drive I take around the DC area. Of course, drivers will sometimes notice. I’m sure it freaks some people out a little that someone is taking a picture of their car if they happen to notice. I would estimate that about 5 or 10% seem to notice. Until today, none of them seemed to care-or at least, not enough to give me any signal that they were concerned.

1DREAMR in her BMW was the first person to ever give me the hairy eyeball about my plateparazzi activity. Seen here, 1DREAMR is just opening her door. She continued to lean way our and look back with the most foul expression. Because this has never happened, I didn’t realize why she had opened the door until she got scared and quickly leaned back into her car and closed the door again.

I couldn’ stop laughing at her. I mean, if you have a VANITY PLATE on your car, you want people to notice you. I couldn’t seriously listen to any argument to the contrary. Of course, privacy concerns might be a valid discussion, but you are on the road (public). If a news crew captured your image while reporting on something, you would be on the news. If nothing else, I am a citizen journalist and will blog you if I see fit! :-)