Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Even mediocre photographs and a cheapy Web site can gain some attention if it deals with a salient topic. I have gotten over 3500 hits since Monday to my protest photo site: <http://tristantom.com/berkeleyprotest/> Also, <http://sf.indymedia.org/>, a San Francisco area independent media organization, linked to me on their front page. My goal in striving to be a good documentary photographer was never to allow my political views to color the photographs. I aimed simply to cover the event and to do it truthfully. It has pained me that I have received several comments thanking me for showing more supporters of the U.S. bombings than protesters of it. This pains me because the plain truth is that the anti-war protesters outnumbered the supporters at this event. I know this, I was there. However, the U.S. supporters were more militant and loud, and gained more attention because of that fact. However, in an effort to better portray the event as it really happened, I have re-edited the web presentation. I did not remove any photos, but added a few such that it overall better represents the reality of the event and who was present, etc... What is most difficult about having documented this, is the fact that I am human and naturally have my own beliefs and feelings about the situation. Putting that aside, striving to capture the event in a pure fashion, and then editing and portraying my photos likewise has been difficult for me. Strangely, I have the power to color my portrayal of the event by choosing which photos to show and which to hide. But I was witness to both sides of the argument and wish to portray that... - -- Tristan Tom <http://tristantom.com/> - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html