22 Clicks from the Sea

While there has been lots of media coverage about the BP oil leak, there has also been a lot of talks about the journalists/photographers being detained, questioned by both corporate security staff and government authorities.

Although, sensitivities around the oil refineries along the Texas Gulf coast has been around long before the leak. I set off on a project (22 Steps to the Sea) along the gulf coast 2 years ago and I was stopped on numerous occasions, by the police, the fire department, the Coast Guards, the Homeland Security, all citing national security for the reason that I am getting stopped and moved on, even though I was photographing on public areas. 11 incidents later, FBI alert was mentioned, I had enough and abandoned the project.

However, with all the recent talks, I have decided to revisit the project. Since all the images from the project were taken along public roads, I was curious to see if I could take the same pictures on Google Map. Of the 25 images I chose for my edit, 21 were found on Google Streetview and the remaining 4 were available on satellite view. (Images will be uploaded to my website soon.)

Maybe I should finish my original project and continue along the coastline in the comfort of my own home. (before they switch Google off too...)