Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/03/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]David Mason showed some very interesting photos Subject: Re: [Leica] Iraq occupation protest - Chicago 3/19/05 Hi Dave, Sorry I had intended to answer your post with the pictures on the screen, unfortunately it went with a bunch of deletes. :-( Yours not intending to disappear. :-( However, I do re-call some of what I was going to post that I found interesting on your series given I've photographed demos, violent and other wise. I thought it very interesting you'd ask to take their pictures. Actually under the circumstances of most anti-war or break head type demo, the last thing I'd do would be to ask a person, "May I take your picture?" Why? Absolutely for fear of being punched out or camera smashed. Mainly, camera smashed! ;-) But good sir, some of the frames you captured the moment rather well! Actually surprisingly so. But what I did re-act to almost immediately on an overall basis was in many your people appeared they knew you were shooting them. If I had the photos before me I could point out those I felt it was obvious. Or certainly that's how I felt about the expression on the face of the subject.. Certainly compared to the in-depth feelings usually shown in a typical banner waving anti-war demonstrator not knowing you were shooting them. I would say on an over all basis of shooting in the manner you did, it worked rather well. Even though as I said, I found some of them with an almost posed kind of look to them. Possibly posed is too strong a word, maybe they simply looked like you had broken into their demo world for a brief moment by asking, you shot the picture, then they went back to their real world as soon as you turned away. Obviously this is reading an awful lot into the picture moment. However, it certainly was a different way of covering a demonstration by asking. I also feel it's due to your good luck than good management that you didn't get punched out or some other kind of abuse. Some demonstrations are "cool" and fun to shoot, others I will say, we stopped taking expensive cameras to shoot them and bought "Canon Sure-Shot" point and shoot happy snap machines to avoid some idiot smashing a Leica, Nikon or expensive Canon and lenses. May I give you some advice for what it's worth? I'd not do this approach again simply because you break into their spur of the moment expressions and they tend to become a "snap shot of a person" and not what I'm sure you went their to capture, even if it wasn't the loud mouth screaming fanatic. But really? More from the point of your safety, just in case you get some hopped up idiot who'll bang you to the ground, smash your camera and or physically injure you on the premise he simply believes you are a police officer or some type of security person gathering faces in the crowd. And you as an amateur shooter, no picture is worth getting your face kicked in for some demo pictures. Leave it to the pros who get paid big dollars to get involved. ted.