I was surfing anarchists websites when I found a link to The War on Photographers. I clicked the link and got a chill. A picture very much like one I took a few years ago was staring back at me. It seems that on April 17, 2005 Jim McKinniss did the same thing that I had done. He stopped his car, stood on a public sidewalk, and photographed a moving industrial landscape. Only he was arrested.
Now, as my friends know, I am usually the one to be arrested, or at least hassled. But not this time, it looks like a dodged a bullet. What did McKinniss do that was so wrong? I dunno – maybe his picture, or the thousands of others just like it, could be used by some terrorist hell bent on damaging some oil equipment. It all seems so absurd.
There is a difference between Jim McKinniss and myself. I know my rights. I would have given the cops hell, been beat down, and then have an even better story to tell. Oh well, a missed opportunity I suppose.
A couple of notes: I took this picture in the afternoon during peak traffic times. The picture is taken from a sidewalk near a bridge. I was standing in the City of Carson, not Torrance, when I took this shot. The picture was taken 11/23/2004 and published on Deep Thoughts in January of 2005. I had often thought about shooting a picture of this structure at night, but opted not to because the area is unsafe.
Technorati Tags: photography, WOT, Terrorism, Carson
