p.2 #1 · Ethics/Etiquette - Photography at protests?
Ethically I think it's fine - everyone is in public and the fact that you're asking seems like you're approaching it in good faith.
I don't think I'd do it in the current times because of risk to expensive gear. From the crowd you may have volatile bad actors and from the govt side you have volatile bad actors with weapons and qualified immunity.
p.2 #2 · Ethics/Etiquette - Photography at protests?
argonphoto wrote:
Ethically I think it's fine - everyone is in public and the fact that you're asking seems like you're approaching it in good faith.
I don't think I'd do it in the current times because of risk to expensive gear. From the crowd you may have volatile bad actors and from the govt side you have volatile bad actors with weapons and qualified immunity.
This thread began, IIRC< back during the “No Kings” rallies. There were no reports of any “bad actors” at those, despite the reported participation of several million American patriots.
I attended on that attracted thousands, and it was entirely peaceful and well organized. The streets were filled with families, retired folks, kids, veterans… basically a slice of regular Americans.
p.2 #3 · Ethics/Etiquette - Photography at protests?
gdanmitchell wrote:
This thread began, IIRC< back during the “No Kings” rallies. There were no reports of any “bad actors” at those, despite the reported participation of several million American patriots.
I attended on that attracted thousands, and it was entirely peaceful and well organized. The streets were filled with families, retired folks, kids, veterans… basically a slice of regular Americans.
I'm not alarmist by any stretch, but, any big protest can turn violent. It's highly unlikely (less than 1% chance of occurring), but it does happen. In any case, better that the gear is insured and protected -- good advice for any time you use it!
p.2 #4 · Ethics/Etiquette - Photography at protests?
Let's be realistic. If one injects themselves into a volatile "protest" environment, there are times and places were it's entirely possible that things will turn violent. One might attend as an exercise of free speech or free press reporting, etc. But there are places were bicycle group rides or soccer/football celebrations, or car club street rides and post ride store lootings will break out, entirely out of nowhere.
Actually there were reports of "bad actors" in Los Angeles. Mayor Bass said they didn't align with the goals of the peaceful demonstrations and would be held accountable.
The smashed windows and graffiti at City Hall and other downtown buildings, graffiti on the former Los Angeles Times building, looted businesses like an Apple Store, Adidas store, CVS drug store several dispensaries, jewelry store, and five Waymo driverless taxis set on fire, blocked freeways and streets were entirely coincidental or outside agitators or something. As were the $20-$30 million dollars of costs incurred by L.A. city. This was all on tv, social media, widely reported.
p.2 #5 · Ethics/Etiquette - Photography at protests?
Craig Gillette wrote:
Let's be realistic.
Yes. Let's be realistic.
There have been many thousands of protests across the US this year. The number of major protests that involved even remote danger to participants has been incredibly tiny.
Indeed, in the more extreme situations — such as the military occupation of a small area in Southern California or Nazi demonstrations a few years back — a few outlier protestors (sometimes members of outlier radical groups and sometime agitators from the other side who try hard to provoke something) can engage in radical and potentially illegal activity.
If you want to wade into _that_ stuff, don't be naive.
But the vast number of protests taking place his year have been entirely peaceful — a few people on a local street corner holding signs, friendly people on organized marches with literally no violence, people linking arms, carrying signs, chanting, bringing their ids and grandkids.
Let's not confuse the normal expressions of first amendment rights (more like 99.99%) activities with the tiny number of outliers. You are about as likely to encounter that stuff as you are to get injured driving to the event.
It has been years, but I have been around long enough to experience the .01% where things get dangerous. In that case, the danger came from police officers who drove into a crowd at high speed and from one agitator (who was likely and unsuccessfully trying to rile up a peaceful crowd) who threw something. I saw what was happening and left.
p.2 #8 · Ethics/Etiquette - Photography at protests?
I’m not a photojournalist, but do enjoy street photography, so when a friend (who is a credentialed news photographer) invited me to join him at the BLM protests in DC back in June 2020, I couldn’t say ‘no’. Other than donning an equestrian helmet (in case someone decided to lob an object), we took no other protective gear as we anticipated the activity would be peaceful. (I’m pretty familiar with downtown DC, so ‘escape routes’, in case of commotion, would be easy to navigate.) I believe I was shooting a D850 and Z7 at the time, with a 70-200/2.8 II and I want to say my Voigtlander 40/1.2 VM (though it seems I may have also had a wider VM, such as my 21/1.4 or 28/2) adapted to the Z7. The day was without incident, as expected and I enjoy reflecting on the experience, as well as sharing with friends and family (and this forum!).
