a day before Republican National Convention

Anti-Bush Protest before RNC in NYC August 20,2004<div></div>

that's August 20, 2004<div></div>

August 29, 2004 of course.

classic

oops, i meant cliche ;-)

Excellent work, Maria. I'd give my eye teeth to be out there right now. There was a rally here in Chicago today but it was totally pathetic. I doubt if 200 people showed up. There's a scary, sad level of apathy sweeping the country, I'm afraid.

Andy, I seem a little lost and am just wondering what makes these two shots excellent? The first one might be an OK shot with some work and the second one has absolutely nothing in my eyes.

Cliche or not, it takes a certain level of courage to be out there in

the chaos. Be safe ok;O)

<i>it takes a certain level of courage to be out there in the chaos.</i><p>

 

Looks a lot safer than a mosh pit from what I can see.

I know you're good at this stuff- glad to see you're there keeping an eye on things for us. I'd like to see more and hear your verbal take on it all.

yeah but you can't get shot at by rubber bullets, gased or strike by

baton in the pit plus you just don't feel the pain as much with

Slayer or say Black Sabbath blasting:O)

yea im sure she was in grave danger.....

<p>

<p>

these are far from excellent both technically and in context. theres nothing that says what this is or whats going on cept a few people are gettin arrested....id like to see more of your shots, theres gotta be something in there thats gonna change the world...

...and I rather get hit on by chicks in the pit than some 200 pound

man in blue.

what about a 200 pd woman in pink?

I was supposed to shoot a show last week but missed it...someone got tossed through the window. Cops never showed for some reason. Last death metal show I shot, 2/3 of the people went in one mass into the bar, the barmaid was grabbing stuff everywhere to keep things from flying. I thought my gear was going to get trashed and spent the rest of the show from the stage side. Good thing the band spent half the time pushing back into the crowd.<p>

 

<center><img src="http://www.spirer.com/images/pioneer15.jpg"><br>

<i>Carniciera, Copyright 2004 Jeff Spirer</i></center>

nothing other than the same old , same old , in these shots, It's truly hard to get a different eye-arresting street protest image.

2nd shot's very dynamic, a lotta motion. Camera movement adds to the scary factor.

you guys all really need to get outta the stix sometime and pick up a paper...

punk show a long while back.<div></div>

I'm glad she's out there, even if she fails, but she's gonna come up with something.

I think I saw some interesting protest shots at the Magnum exhibit at Museum of New York earlier this year. If I remember correctly, they were shot with a wide angle lens, some from very close up, and in color.

 

To be honest, the use of black and white and a normal-ish lens seems to rob the pictures of a contemporary immediacy. The pictures look like they could be from the 60's, since it looks so similar to many photos from that era. It doesn't hit you as something in the here and now.

To the person who spoke of the apathy "sweeping" the country. I'm 18 and am working for a 527 which is working across the nation to change the president. I don't find nearly as much apathy as i did a few months ago, its fantastic. And to Grant(whose portfoilo greatly outmatches mine) who evidently doesnt see the validity in those images. Fine, they arent great technically, or compositionally. They play an important role in American street photography. This is what our role should be in pressing times like this in our country, we should be documenting the Orwellian changes happening in our country. As nice and cliche pretty landscapes are, a few ugly not so technically correct photos maybe what could change jumpstart a(at least from my view) "masterless" photography crowd in the US.

I find the second one great. Cliche or not, it has a lot of drama and all the semantics are there. Thanks for sharing, Maria.

Mike there are probably half a dozen people outside the States who know what a 527

is.

 

Boy are you guys hard. Maria's pics are good solid reportage. They don't pretend to

be anything they are not, which is more than can be said for a fair swag of stuff seen

here.

 

C.

Mike, if you lived in a truly Orwellian society you would have a camera in your TV recording your every move, your neighbours and wife and children would feel it their national duty to grass you up to the authorities and this thread and website could not exist.

 

Try North Korea or Burma (Myanmar) or Syria. They ARE Orwellian. You and I live in democracies that fail to give everyone what they want or need or aspire to. Breaking news.... They cant. No democracy can.

 

Michael Moore, for example, is allowed to produce films attacking his Government that go out worldwide and win major awards and earn him millions of dollars. He will not get arrested, tortured or put on death row for this. In Burma many journalists have been killed and tortured for speaking out. The democratically elected leader has been under house arrest for years and supporters just 'disappear'.

 

Tony Blair and George Bush make my skin crawl but I am never going to be arrested for writing that, even if I were able to have it published as a banner headline in tomorrows newspapers (or on TV) with my photograph and address printed next to it, no-one from the state would harrass me or my family or torture me or my family. No-one would get arrested as a result.