Almost Gentle Fuck You Hear The Cries Whisper Give Get Him Out Now
Do Not Center
My 1990s Olympus point-and-shoot has been on the brink of caput for years, with the slightest wrong knock activating disturbing mechanical hiccups. Sometimes it takes a while to wake up. Yet, it persists. I like this camera best for rallies and protests and the like, since it’s not heavy and can freeze motion with its fast shutter and flash. Color gradients are reduced to indistinct blocks and anything reflective glows in the final image. I sometimes look through the viewfinder but more often I’ll hold the camera askew, higher than my line of sight, or experimentally over here and over there. In the exact opposite methodology from my portraiture, this freedom of motion and release of control seems to match the nature of the event at hand.
Gentle
Get Him Out Now
Fugitive human motions, asymmetrical juxtaposition of form and angle. Hands, phones, and text litter the frame. Faces, unique identities obscured by the congestion of layered figures. Demonstration signs and street signs orient us viewers towards context to some degree, but not fully. I enjoy reading the messages in these images. Lacking context, these signs can be reinterpreted as ominous personal communications. DO NOT ENTER, ONE WAY, DO NOT LOOK AWAY, GET HIM OUT. I let the camera pick up on details that I can’t dwell on while swept up in the current of a massive, dynamic gathering. I appreciate the way the camera’s perspective teaches me deeper truths in retrospect.
Hear The Cries
San Francisco
Whisper
Give
Does my desire to take photos during an action somehow detract from my effectiveness as a participant? Since I’m still not clear about the answer, I choose a photographic stance somewhere in between flippant and focused.
Almost
And then the question- to share on social media or not to share? Here are some other Questions For You That I Ask Myself.
Do you feel critical when somebody makes a post with a photo, showing where they’ve been and what they’ve been doing? Does this critique become more acute when it related to social justice activism? Do you engage in a meta-critique about the fact that the post was made, or the tone or subtle implications of the post? Do you judge certain posts as performative? What makes a post on social media performative on one hand or genuine on the other hand?
Does one’s social media represent that person? How much weight does that person’s social media presence carry in your assessment of them?
How one approaches the act of photographing or recording- first of all, are you photographing or recording? Are you an artist making work? Are you not an artist, instead taking photos to remember the moment and to share your experiences later? Are you some combination of the two? Do you deliberately consider the choice to photograph during an action?
Do you feel that sharing on social media naturally follows your attendance? Do you belabor the choice? Do you include an image of yourself? Do you include text? Why do you share? Why don’t you share?
Self Explanatory