Photographing Protest Marches
I certainly have opinions about what’s going in our country lately (but you won’t hear them here, or really anywhere online). I do try my best to attend protests when they are close by though. Rather than making signs of my own, I’m much more likely to grab my camera and photograph other people’s signs.
Here are few shots I’ve taken over the past couple of years (in Austin Texas and here in Arizona) that I think were interesting.
I think this gentleman’s sign carries a message that too many who are too caught up in what they see and hear on TV and the Internet have forgotten.
Sometimes protests are in vain. This abortion rights march in Texas didn’t stop the changes that were already in motion. But showing up to tell the government what you think about various issues is a right literally enshrined in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution.
This shot below was one of the more interesting scenes I captured at that first protest in April. About a half-dozen or so Trump supporting counter-protesters showed up. They stayed for about 30 or 45 minutes. During that time, various people with very obvious (based on their signs) differences of opinions stood next to them quietly chatting. Even when they left, they simply walked across the cross-walk and went to their cars in the parking lot. No muss, no fuss.
Especially with the often inflammatory rhetoric surrounding more recent tragic events, I’m not entirely sure this scene would be possible today.
I’m pretty sure we’re going to see quite a few more marches and protests over the coming months … and I will be there with my camera as often as I can.
Photography is recording history in real time … and that’s important.
When I was still in the military I used to say that if could have done anything other than weather I would have liked if it had been combat camera.
Hopefully I don’t get to experience anything like that on the streets of America. But if it does happen, I will likely be there taking pictures.
Your turn:
Have you captured any iconic images of historic (or at least significant) events?
Til next time,
~ Todd
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Emotion is fun to shoot. It might be uninformed or even misplaced, but it's still fun to experience. I respect and support their right to make themselves and appreciate their passion.
Great photos!