Where are we supposed to go to get our arty post-industrial post-apocalyptic photos?

Last November we ran a story about security at the Port of Long Beach; specifically, my ability to meander through restricted areas and openly photograph bridge supports and chemical storage tanks. Not only that, my ability to do it day after day after day. There were a few negative responses: several people thought that I had single-handedly ensured our doom by introducing the concept of bombing to terrorists. I didn’t take those complaints too seriously. One person said that I was clearly a poor journalist because I had taken my toddler with me on one of the drives. That seemed pretty stupid; I’m just a bad mother. A few people (one or two of them were writers at The District) pointed out that stories like mine might serve to intensify paranoia, leading to an unnecessary cascade of restrictions at the port, restrictions that would do little to improve security but would permit the harassment of private citizens. Honestly, that gave me pause.

Recently a local photographer spent the day wandering around San Pedro and Long Beach, and after getting some really great shots of the port he realized that he was being tailed rather aggressively by a white pickup truck. A few weeks later two FBI agents show up on his doorstep. It sounds as if the encounter started off as an interrogation, quickly became a polite interview, and then settled into kibbutzing, but make no mistake: these were two FBI Terrorism Task Force detectives, they were following up on a lead, and they meant business.

Two questions:

Am I that powerful? I can’t imagine so; besides, I just recommended some perimeter fencing and a few central entrances, not the banishment of photographers and sight-seers. At the time it just seemed strange to me that I could slowly circle silos in lots that said “Authorized Employees Only” but couldn’t take bottled water on an airplane.

Am I invisible? How is it that I was able to tour the port for hours–taking photos of pipelines and the like–without a single backwards glance? Does one merely need to be (1) white and (2) female and (3) appear to be lost to avoid all suspicion?

Any guesses?

Tags: photography, Port of Long Beach, security, terrorism