Photographing Protests

[KHA]

1 hour ago, The Blinking Eye said:

I have photos of young black kids getting out of their cars, their license plates, their faces. I shot them from the roof of my building so they didn't see me. Minutes later, a huge sporting goods store was looted.

By them? I feel like this story is missing some pertinent pieces.

[KHA]

1 hour ago, MarkK said:

I take care of my elderly parents who are 77 and 84......this has been my main concern and was why I worried about going down to the protests to take photos. This is why I still feel I made a mistake by going down there.  Cleveland has had 259 deaths and nearly 5000 cases so as the crowd got tear gassed consistently for well over an hour, this meant masks (if they had them) were pulled down, people were yelling, etc.. When I leave the house whether to take photos or otherwise, I am always thinking of my immunocrompromised parents and what the potential is that I get them sick.  Lastly, I no longer use cameras with zoom lenses but instead use my Fuji X100t meaning I have to get much closer to people then when I used my other cameras in the past....not a good thing when the coronavirus is still pervasive.  The Fujix100t is not the best in times of social distance and the types of photos I generally take.

Sounds like you're doing what's best for your situation in stepping back. Other stories will be out there for you when this pandemic passes, and I'm sure there are ways to be a photographic voice for Cleveland without even leaving your property.

[KHA]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

Secondly, Covid-19 spreads very effectively by touch and can last some days on surfaces which is where all the stuff about hand washing comes from.

I haven't been keeping up with everything, but the last I read was that some sources were saying it was actually more difficult to get it from surfaces than originally thought. I think part of the problem is when experts try to represent what are merely theories as fact, or people interpret it that way. The bottom line is that scientists are still learning about this disease, so some things probably shouldn't be prematurely presented as absolutes only to be rescinded at a later date.

[sooth]

speaking of coronavirus, the USA still has a pandemic going on.  In nyc specifically, healthcare workers have held firm wearing masks out in public, and the general public have continued to obey government advice to wear masks in public when social distancing is not possible.

 

 

however, with the latest string of American police killings, I've been reading how some people are trying to shame and discredit the protests, and protesters by saying in 2 weeks a covid spike will occur as a result of "irresponsible people" not social distancing and outside protesting, despite wearing masks.

 

what right wing garbage bs.    yesterday i've taken a photo of about 3 dozen police detectives just clustered tightly together outside a 99 cent pizza store socializing perhaps it was a shift change, who knows, but nobody had any masks on.   which group is likely to spread disease?  

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by sooth

[The Blinking Eye]

4 hours ago, KHA said:

By them? I feel like this story is missing some pertinent pieces.

 

We watched them get out of their cars, about nine kids in two cards and walk over to the mall area which is a block away. Lots of other cars were roaming and parking around our building, a large van also. Lots of kids walking over to the mall in groups. I decided to check out what was happening because it was clearly an organized gathering. The city knew about it from social media. So when I walked over there to check out the situation, there were already about 30 police officers standing in a row. I saw the crowd, everyone. Maybe 50 people. All kids who just seemed to be out on the town to party and get wild. They began gathering in a row to face off with the cops. It felt dangerous to me, so I left. The moment I was on the side of the store, I heard some kind of shots and could see the crowds scatter back within my view. I kept walking away to get out of there. Minutes later my friend who was walking her dog called me and said she saw people carrying clothes etc. So they looted the place just after I left. Those kids who got out of their cars were definitely there. What part they played exactly, I do not know. The evening continued with absolute mayhem as they moved to the mall behind my building. A couple hours of looting is all captured on copter cam and it's quiet a sight to watch it on YouTube.

[The Blinking Eye]

3 hours ago, KHA said:

I haven't been keeping up with everything, but the last I read was that some sources were saying it was actually more difficult to get it from surfaces than originally thought. I think part of the problem is when experts try to represent what are merely theories as fact, or people interpret it that way. The bottom line is that scientists are still learning about this disease, so some things probably shouldn't be prematurely presented as absolutes only to be rescinded at a later date.

 

Yes, I saw that too about the virus, from yesterday's update from my hospital. That it MIGHT be transferable via surfaces, but mostly it's through particles in the air. That's their stance right now, at least.

[sb photos]

13 minutes ago, The Blinking Eye said:

Yes, I saw that too about the virus, from yesterday's update from my hospital. That it MIGHT be transferable via surfaces, but mostly it's through particles in the air. That's their stance right now, at least.

 

My approach when out and about is to take all possible precautions, especially distancing, and avoiding hand contact with any surfaces outside the home unless wearing gloves. Last Saturday I walked past two youths sat on a bench around 30 feet from me, and could strongly smell the grass they were smoking. That made me think, if you could smell it and they had COVID-19,  and the smoke had been inhaled into their lungs, then were you at risk? The better N95 masks are expensive and still as rare as hens teeth, but even if wearing one you are still at risk through your eyes. We can only do what we can.

[The Blinking Eye]

9 minutes ago, sb photos said:

 

My approach when out and about is to take all possible precautions, especially distancing, and avoiding hand contact with any surfaces outside the home unless wearing gloves. Last Saturday I walked past two youths sat on a bench around 30 feet from me, and could strongly smell the grass they were smoking. That made me think, if you could smell it and they had COVID-19,  and the smoke had been inhaled into their lungs, then were you at risk? The better N95 masks are expensive and still as rare as hens teeth, but even if wearing one you are still at risk through your eyes. We can only do what we can.

 

I am compulsively  overcautious in that I hardly leave the house and haven't seen my friends in three months. I don't think I can hold this up much longer so trying to figure out how to navigate and stay safe.  Beware of N95 masks. I heard droplets can get out of the holes, so they're not as safe for others as they are for yourself.

[Chuck Nacke]

My first response to the headline of this forum

"If you need to ask, You should not be out there."

 

That is a bit harsh, but these are difficult times

and people are more than stressed out.

 

My only response, I have covered protests around

the world and one of my good friends was killed in

front of me in Russia, is to treat people out on the

street like you are a guest in their house.  Treat them

with respect.  I have also covered groups in the past

that made that impossible, but.....

 

P.S. I hate the word "dystopian"

 

Chuck

[MDM]

5 hours ago, KHA said:

I haven't been keeping up with everything, but the last I read was that some sources were saying it was actually more difficult to get it from surfaces than originally thought. I think part of the problem is when experts try to represent what are merely theories as fact, or people interpret it that way. The bottom line is that scientists are still learning about this disease, so some things probably shouldn't be prematurely presented as absolutes only to be rescinded at a later date.

 

I have not seen that but I think I would be inclined to wait and see this stated categorically as a result of several peer-reviewed scientific studies published in reputable medical journals. All advice I have seen up to now is that transmission through touch, directly hand to hand or on surfaces is a major means of transmission of corona viruses. 

[MDM]

4 hours ago, sooth said:

speaking of coronavirus, the USA still has a pandemic going on.  In nyc specifically, healthcare workers have held firm wearing masks out in public, and the general public have continued to obey government advice to wear masks in public when social distancing is not possible.

 

 

however, with the latest string of American police killings, I've been reading how some people are trying to shame and discredit the protests, and protesters by saying in 2 weeks a covid spike will occur as a result of "irresponsible people" not social distancing and outside protesting, despite wearing masks.

 

what right wing garbage bs.    yesterday i've taken a photo of about 3 dozen police detectives just clustered tightly together outside a 99 cent pizza store socializing perhaps it was a shift change, who knows, but nobody had any masks on.   which group is likely to spread disease?  

 

 

I would say both are likely to spread the disease. The masks the protesters are wearing are next to useless for personal protection. 
 

Unbelievable the cops standing around that close together with no protection at a time like this though. Maybe they know something we don’t. Have they been drinking disinfectant perhaps or stuffing themselves on hydroxchloroquine? 
 

In my opinion the biggest right wing garbage being propagated right now is that it is safe to go back to normal and get people back working in situations that are clearly dangerous with regard to spreading this highly dangerous disease. 

[meanderingemu]

7 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

 

Yes, I saw that too about the virus, from yesterday's update from my hospital. That it MIGHT be transferable via surfaces, but mostly it's through particles in the air. That's their stance right now, at least.

 

 

what i've read is you need a certain level of absorption of virus in order to get infected (can't remember the number), so this is more probable from air, especially with rigorous hand washing.  So you would still need to have care on surfaces- or as chief medical officer in Quebec said, paraphrasing, "don't go licking park benches"

[KHA]

18 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

Those kids who got out of their cars were definitely there. What part they played exactly, I do not know.

As long as there's no jumping to conclusions without facts, that's good.

[The Blinking Eye]

42 minutes ago, KHA said:

As long as there's no jumping to conclusions without facts, that's good.

 

Agree!

[KHA]

18 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Treat them with respect.

I agree with this.

 

And sometimes even people who approach you aggressively just need to vent. A couple women approached me when I was photographing in the neighborhood of the Sandy Hook shooter in the days after the attack. One of them just went off on me about how she was sick of the media harassing them, and said that her neighbor wouldn't appreciate me taking a picture of their house. (I had mistakenly been taking a picture of a house next to where the assailant had lived because of incorrect address information I had, and was just figuring this out as she came up.) I asked her which was the correct house, and she hesitated in telling me. After she continued to vent about media having overrun the neighborhood and being pushy and intrusive over the previous days, I calmly explained to her that it was important for journalists to document history, and if atrocities like this didn't get covered, humanity couldn't evolve and try to find ways to improve things. (Although the irony was not lost on me at the time that despite her complaining that the media wouldn't leave THEM alone, SHE was the one who walked over to ME, not vice versa.)

 

After my explanation, her manner softened and she seemed to calm down and understand a little, and eventually pointed me to the correct house.

[Harry Harrison]

I absolutely don't put myself in harm's way and am not a News photographer so I can't comment but this seems like it might be relevant to this discussion:

 

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2020/should-journalists-show-protesters-faces/?fbclid=IwAR1tOPmFVvk_PQPWEoMbpByukUFio776-1UFAH_qAJvwap_cZhaNdvOjyug

[sb photos]

2 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

I absolutely don't put myself in harm's way and am not a News photographer so I can't comment but this seems like it might be relevant to this discussion:

 

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2020/should-journalists-show-protesters-faces/?fbclid=IwAR1tOPmFVvk_PQPWEoMbpByukUFio776-1UFAH_qAJvwap_cZhaNdvOjyug

 

An interesting article. I can agree with the end part.

 

Shortly I will be photographing a local Black Lives Matter protest. It's likely to be small, but you can never tell. I was going to drive to a much larger event but overslept until 9:30, most unusual (very late night). It should be peaceful and everyone should be masked.

[Harry Harrison]

50 minutes ago, sb photos said:

It should be peaceful and everyone should be masked.

Well I know from your previous comments that you're cautious but I would worry at a protest where the passionately held principles of the demonstrators might overcome their ability to 'keep safe' in terms of this virus, I imagine that you'll be keeping your distance though. As Michael Ventura I think said earlier, suddenly working with a 35mm or 50mm doesn't seem quite so attractive. Personally I just hope that the supermarket will be peaceful later this afternoon but I know only a handful will be wearing masks. I hope it goes well.

[sb photos]

On 06/06/2020 at 12:59, Harry Harrison said:

Well I know from your previous comments that you're cautious but I would worry at a protest where the passionately held principles of the demonstrators might overcome their ability to 'keep safe' in terms of this virus, I imagine that you'll be keeping your distance though. As Michael Ventura I think said earlier, suddenly working with a 35mm or 50mm doesn't seem quite so attractive. Personally I just hope that the supermarket will be peaceful later this afternoon but I know only a handful will be wearing masks. I hope it goes well.

 

Most participants wore masks, around 1000 took part. As they gathered social distancing was good, but got worse as time passed. Was certainly better than at many the the UK's beaches, and some supermarkets once the shoppers were inside. I photographed it from start to finish as I had no deadline to meet. Ended up walking 11km. The march finished in the town centre, and ended with thunder, lightning, hail, sheet rain and the drains struggling to handle it. Good job I took my chamois leathers to wipe my cameras over afterwards as rain was forcast. Drying out and editing now. Very few photographers covering it. Spoke to a Getty photographer there, found out she lives in the same town as me.

 

Edit - images from protest now showing in my port.

Edited June 8, 2020 by sb photos

[Colblimp]

I'm shooting a BLM protest tomorrow - don't know what to expect, although I don't think there will be scenes like those we've seen in the US and UK.

[Lynchpics]

I would have been in Bristol today but had to stay away due to having vulnerable family members at home with me and i could not take the risk of going and bringing the virus back into the house. Really gutting to watch the footage on the news and seeing what i missed.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Lynchpics

[sooth]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/2020/06/what-protest-pictures-can-reveal-history/

 

a good read 

 

"A photograph can show a truth and yet contain within it a monstrous lie."

 

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by sooth

[Mr Standfast]

12 hours ago, Lynchpics said:

I would have been in Bristol today but had to stay away due to having vulnerable family members at home with me and i could not take the risk of going and bringing the virus back into the house. Really gutting to watch the footage on the news and seeing what i missed.

 

 

I stayed home for the same reason.

 

Some excelent pictures in the papers today.

 

Still, better to regret not going than regret going.

 

Cheers 😷

 

[Lynchpics]

2 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

 

I stayed home for the same reason.

 

Some excelent pictures in the papers today.

 

Still, better to regret not going than regret going.

 

Cheers 😷

 

Agree 100% with all of that. Hope you are keeping well, we will have to meet up at the next protest after this outbreak ends.

[meanderingemu]

4 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

 

Still, better to regret not going than regret going.

 

Cheers 😷

 

 

thank you.  will probably have to use this with my own thoughts as i am hitting a wall currently