Jus' a few more Protest shots

Not what I think?!

Who are you dude, a copper too?! Was you there? Jus' 'cos you go to a poxy rugby match don't mean to say you know everythin'. If you was there then you can comment, but you certainly wouldn't be comin' out with comments like that if you were.

I get what shots I can, I don't have an endless supply of cameras if one gets broken and I don't have any cellphones or intelligence as to whats goin' on. This is my first time in shootin' anythin' like this.

You'd look good right alongside 'em I think. They don't serve us, they control us.

BTW, shouldn't you be quotin' me fully, or are you jus' tryin' to make me sound like a whinger?!

What is this carefully contrived and punctuated street-speak?

No, I'm not a copper. I'm a resident. And given the choice, I'd rather have a few uniformed blokes faking an aggressiveness to control several hundred times as many pissed people that could turn into a thuggish crowd of yobbos in a heartbeat, given the right sort of provocation.

How would you go about organising the keeping of the peace, Mr Street-Speakin' Apostrophe-usin' photog-dude, when outnumbered hundreds to one?

Thats good of you to highlight how I construct my words on screen, it jus' looks like a pathetic attempt at antagonisin' me, really.
If you look carefully you'll see that every comma is quite rightly placed too.

OK, you don't corral people when they're marchin' on a protest, you let it move or guide it, but you certainly don't use strongarm tactics indiscriminately and corral people for hours upon hours on end literally, without a means for a toilet break or any way of obtainin' water and food.

I am a diabetic, but even that wasn't good enough for 'em to let me out! They didn't believe me, probably.
Bein' corralled like a herd of cattle is enough to make anyone angry.

So do me a favour, your views don't even count 'cos you weren't there.
Your beginnin' to remind me of a 'troll'.

You are totally unbelievable in all what you say! I think you are a 'troll' really.

I don't have any agenda to misrepresent.

This shot was taken quickly 'cos the police started to rush us in an attempt to clear the road. Some people have reacted quickly and some have not, do you expect everyone to react at exactly the same time?

You do not even take into account that some people may or may not be more fearless than others, or may have a propensity to resist the police in they're questionable actions.

I cannot wait to see what else you come out with next!

You’re misunderstanding me… I’m not intending to troll at all, nor am I accusing anyone of intentionally misrepresenting anything.

A series of photographs within a news report is one thing – it’s clear what the reporter/photographer saw and is intending to convey. This may or may not contain an intention to sway the reader towards a particular agenda, but that’s a separate issue that I’m not concerned with.

Without narrative reporting, though, the same series of pictures is intrinsically interpretable in a variety of ways, and all I was pointing out is that from the individual shots, it’s only the imagination that can fill in the gaps.

Monochrome photographs in particular tend to have a ‘darker’ look about them, and often look more dramatic than reality. Therefore without the reporting to go with them, it’s not possible to know whether that, and the tilt/blur effects are genuinely reflecting the reality of the moment, or are just photographic techniques.

This is why I said ‘they may or may not reflect reality’ - it’s impossible to tell just by looking at the pictures.

If you say they represent the reality you saw, and now describe, I have no reason to question it at all.

the protests were just down the road from me, so it's interesting to see these shots and the streets i walk to work on in a different light.

as for the police... you're both right in your views of them. i have been on peaceful protest marches that have remained that way despite the (Met) police's intentions. I have been on a protest bike ride accompanied by Met and City squads where the latter shook their heads at the former's behaviour. Their attitude towards a large event and a protest is very different and shouldn't be confused. Try and talk to a policeman at a protest and you won't get anywhere (except hospital, maybe). their tactic is to herd everyone and then deal with any dissent with as much force as possible. if you want to leave a protest, then they won't let you - quite how this is meant to help i have never understood. At an event they shepherd people to transport and look bored - the old style of policing at those events has changed to a softer one

i admire you for braving the protests with an expensive camera. i've been threatened with s44 for snapping wildlife, i tend not to uncover the pentax in a public place now.

there... that's my take on things!

Yeah, glad to see someone else who has been in the same situation as me!
When we were corralled, the police were as ignorant and indiscriminate to anyone and everyone. They're attitude stunk, and in all reality really, they acted jus' like pigs!

Frankly, if I suffered from a serious medical condition, I would eschew the dubious pleasures of a protest march.

And having witnessed at first hand the appalling behaviour of (some) protest marchers, I have to say that my sympathy is with the police. Their attitude is born of bitter experience.

Finally, might I ask you why you have adopted this extraordinary affectation concerning apostrophes (not commas)? Is it meant to be witty? Is it a cry for help? For attention? A written form, perhaps, of multiple facial piercings, or other kinds of self-harm.

Whatever the reason, it's rather tedious. But perhaps that is the point.

G

Too inane for me, sorry!

I've jus' seen the video footage on the BBC news tonight of the police batonin' and pushin' over the newspaper seller who died on April 1st at the G20 protests. He wasn't even a protester!

He was amblin' along and in my opinion looks ill, when the police came up from behind him and batoned him, and pushed and strongarmed him to the floor. A few minutes later he died of a heart attack on the street.

This is even worse than what I thought. I am so angry and sorry for this guy! The police are literally scumbags for doin' this!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090407/tuk-g20-victim-assaulted-by-policeman-dba161...

Just to return to the photographs for a moment - the second one does seem to have captured what is referred to as a 'decisive moment' on another forum.

It does portray tension and energy as well as confusion and as such seems a good photograph to me any compositional merit is an added bonus.

Mike

Thanks Mike, that is the same street where the newspaper seller died.
The police were clearin' the street with the very same tactics that were used on that poor fellow, in my link.

I've seen this video too, and I would agree, in isolation it does look completely unprovoked.

If so, then of course it is inexcusable by any civilised measure.

Not for a moment denying your right to have any opinion you choose, but I don't think this is clear from the footage alone. It may be true, of course, and in retrospect it's easy to interpret it thus, since he clearly had a pre-existing heart condition.

But just out of curiosity - does any normal person just amble along, in a highly charged situation like this? I sure as heck wouldn't intentionally go anywhere near something like this.

Well, if what we see in the video is as clear as it seems, then certainly that specific policeman's actions appear to be much more than was required. But I sense an undertone in the generalisation.

Be clear though... normally healthy people do not die of a heart attack as a consequence of being pushed over, even roughly as in this case.

Still, it's unfortunate; tragic, even - and the aggression of that policeman should be investigated, and punished if it turns out that it was as it looked. We don't want a police service in this country that's allowed to do the things you've alleged.

Coming back to the photographic topic, though, I still think it is the duty of any photographer taking pictures of this kind of thing, to either report what they see, as well as publishing the pictures, or alternatively to understand that without such supporting narrative, the interpretation of the pictures is not necessarily as obvious as their memory would lead them to believe.

I give up! Your jus' fencesittin' or playin' devils advocate one or the two!.
I think if this was your son or relative you wouldn't be comin' out with these type of statements.

Where is your humanity?!

I am intrigued by your literary style paulyrichard.

It's not an abbreviation as it takes just as long to type playin' as playing, so what is the function of the very consistent use of the apostrophe? Is it to mimic a regional accent of some sort?

Do please elucidate...: