{"id":2658,"date":"2004-07-09T01:36:36","date_gmt":"2004-07-09T15:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2004\/07\/09\/its-illegal-to-photograph-the-ballard-locks\/"},"modified":"2019-12-10T16:41:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T00:41:16","slug":"its-illegal-to-photograph-the-ballard-locks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2004\/07\/09\/its-illegal-to-photograph-the-ballard-locks\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s illegal to photograph the Ballard Locks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:10623,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.brownequalsterrorist.com\\\/artiststatement&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20190301190410\\\/http:\\\/\\\/brownequalsterrorist.com\\\/artiststatement\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:42&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10624,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/arcterex.net\\\/blog\\\/archives\\\/2004\\\/07\\\/08\\\/dangers_of_photography_in_the_land_of_the_free.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20051218123859\\\/http:\\\/\\\/arcterex.net:80\\\/blog\\\/archives\\\/2004\\\/07\\\/08\\\/dangers_of_photography_in_the_land_of_the_free.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:44&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:44&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10625,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.boingboing.net\\\/2004\\\/07\\\/07\\\/photography_students.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20100114064431\\\/http:\\\/\\\/www.boingboing.net:80\\\/2004\\\/07\\\/07\\\/photography_students.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:54&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:54&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10626,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/seattle.metblogs.com\\\/blog\\\/_archives\\\/2004\\\/7\\\/8\\\/101930.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20040718134906\\\/http:\\\/\\\/seattle.metblogs.com:80\\\/blog\\\/_archives\\\/2004\\\/7\\\/8\\\/101930.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 07:09:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>That is, it&#8217;s illegal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brownequalsterrorist.com\/artiststatement\/\" title=\"Brown = Terrorist: The Artist's Statement\">if you look like a terrorist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  Being a Ballard resident, the Ballard Locks seemed like the best available subject for my project. I knew I&#8217;d be able to set up my tripod and work under fairly consistent conditions. Having spoken with the park ranger in charge of the facility on Monday, I also knew that I had every legal right to photograph from that location. So, I went to the Ballard Locks, in the rain, found the best location I could, and waited for passing trains and boats.<\/p>\n<p>  Within about thirty minutes of my setting up my tripod I noticed a lone security officer coming down the hill to ask me a few questions. Well, no&#8230;that&#8217;s not exactly accurate. He wasn&#8217;t politely asking me questions. He&#8217;d accessorized his ensemble with a ninety-pound German Shepherd, and was talking at me in authoritative and degrading tones. He wanted me to know that he was an authority.<\/p>\n<p>  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>  I gave the cop my ID, and it was quickly whisked away by one officer to the top of the hill. I went on to express my sense of helplessness, shame, humiliation and anger about the confrontation. I insisted that I was a photography student and that I had done absolutely nothing wrong. I acknowledged my constitutional rights. I pointed to curious bystanders, and pointed out that they had cameras, but that none of the police were interested in them. I identified a man with a canvas and easel, standing directly underneath the train bridge, and asked why no one was asking him for his ID. In retrospect, I realize that I still wanted someone to say it to my face.<\/p>\n<p>  The police officer had failed to rebut my arguments, but he was definitely being a lot nicer now (which was quite welcome). He&#8217;d been explaining how the SPD are required to investigate all calls, which I said I understood, but I was still looking for some real accountability. That&#8217;s when one of the three non-uniformed men stepped forward, brandishing his badge, and began talking at me with his own rendition of the voice of absolute authority.<\/p>\n<p>  &#8220;I&#8217;ve listened to this for over five minutes. Look here. You see this?&#8221; Special Agent McNamara said, producing his badge. &#8220;This is a federal badge. We&#8217;re not with the rest of them. We&#8217;\u2019re federal agents from Homeland Security&#8230;&#8221;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Meanwhile, of course, many other people &#8212; residents and tourists alike &#8212; are happily snapping photographs of the locks. But then, they&#8217;re not dark-skinned, so they don&#8217;t look like terrorists, and are safe.<\/p>\n<p>This kind of crap is absolutely ludicrous. It&#8217;s exactly the kind of behavior that Bush and company are encouraging with stunts like Ridge&#8217;s recent &#8220;there&#8217;s a threat, but we don&#8217;t know what, where, or when, but it&#8217;s dangerous, but we&#8217;re not raising the alert level, but <a href=\"&quot;http:\/\/tomburka.com\/archives\/2004_05.php#000532\" title=\"Opinions You Should Have: Certain Higher Terror Threat To U.S., Says Washington; Threat Level Raised From Yellow To 'Yellower'\">something could happen to somebody somewhere<\/a>&#8221; stunt. And it&#8217;s so disturbingly close to Gestapo-style &#8220;let me see your papers&#8221; policing that it frightens and saddens me.<\/p>\n<p>In some sense, I&#8217;m lucky, as a fair-skinned, red-haired caucasian. Much of the racial profiling that has become so apparently popular these days, I&#8217;m never going to have to deal directly with. But that doesn&#8217;t mean that I don&#8217;t see it, it doesn&#8217;t mean that I&#8217;m not upset by it, and it <em>certainly<\/em> doesn&#8217;t mean that I&#8217;m about to turn a blind eye to it.<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/arcterex.net\/blog\/archives\/2004\/07\/08\/dangers_of_photography_in_the_land_of_the_free.html\" title=\"The ArcterJournal: Dangers of Photography in the Land of the Free\">Arcterex<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boingboing.net\/2004\/07\/07\/photography_students.html\" title=\"Boing Boing: Photography student's odd run-in with Homeland Security\">Boing Boing<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/seattle.metblogs.com\/blog\/_archives\/2004\/7\/8\/101930.html\" title=\"seattle.metroblogging: Brown Equals Terrorist\">seattle.metroblogging<\/a>, and others)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That is, it&#8217;s illegal if you look like a terrorist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050,2042],"tags":[27,14],"class_list":["post-2658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","category-politics","tag-photography","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}