Photography news for the week

The power of photography to frame a feeling from a moment in time is a foundational element of Art. Today I looked at these photos of Chilean Students rising up for their own rights to education. They are very powerful images and I can only imagine how difficult it was to capture these photos during the swirl of tear gas and flames.

On a lighter note. This is the last weekend for people in New York City to visit the Phillips de Pury & Company photography exhibition before the auction. The Arc of Photography is a wide reaching look at photography over the past century and it is breath taking. There are many iconic images from the greatest photographers in history. The address is 450 Park Ave, NY, NY and is a must see for photographers and lovers of Art. The cost of entrance is Free.

Occupy Wall Street march - Sept. 24th 2011

 And that is the photography news that I have found this week that emotionally moved me.

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Occupy Wall Street Photos

A collection of Photos from the Occupy Wall Street protests going on in New York City. I have had the extreme pleasure to be able to photograph this historic and growing event. A Huffington Post article reports that two more Unions in NYC are supporting the cause with others considering the move. With a 3pm march scheduled for Saturday October 1st the day is expected to be a historic event. Come join us at Zuccotti Park at 3PM.

Council Member Charles Barron

Cornel West Visits Occupy Wall Street

Cornel West Visits Occupy Wall Street

Cornel West speaks at Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street Protest Sign

Occupy Wall Street Protest Sign

Granny Brigade at the protest

Reverend Billy at Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street General Assembly

Officer Bologna making an arrest with a smile

Occupy Wall Street Arrest

Occupy Wall Street In Washington Square Park

Occupy Wall Street March arrest

Occupy Wall Street March arrest

Occupy Wall Street March arrest

These are photos from Day 11 of Occupy Wall Street and Day 8, the march to Union Square. Day 8 became famous for all of the NYC police brutality and really propelled the movement. The following week many dignitaries of the social movement came to Zuccotti Park to speak and voice support. Susan Sarandin, Michael Moore, Rev. Billy, and Cornel West. Visit my other photo documentaries of the protests.

Copyright Davidscameracraft - Media Inquiries for photos or email me. 

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Occupy Wall Street Media delay

While going to a photo shoot today I glanced at the front page of the New York Times. Three photos of protest pictures. I looked more closely and was astonished that the photos were of a French protest in Paris. The Occupy Wall Street protest has been going on for over 12 days now and they never received anything more than a few City Room articles. Mostly badly researched and way behind the curve with what is actually going on.

I have spoken directly to the many of the photographers and editors of the local papers. The NY Post and Daily news. One is focusing on the bad police officer who pepper sprayed the protesters and the Daily News is just waiting for the NYPD to confront the Occupy Wall Street people in Zuccotti Park.

This is becoming a National movement. The disinformation that does get on the Nation Media is terrible. No message. Teenagers and hippies with nothing more to do. I know of three local unions that have joined with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Grandmothers, college graduates, white and blue collar workers are here representing all facets of the American Population. Don't believe the National Press at this time. Look deeper, search for what is really going on here.

Here is an example of how the press controls opinion -  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=237702972946089&amp

Occupy Wall Street at Union Square

Some links you should look at are:

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Together - National Movement

October 2011 - March and Occupation of Washington D.C.

To me this is about getting our voices heard. The 99% who have no money to pay lobby groups or government officials. Occupy Wall Street are people who understand that together we can make a difference. To all the people who have felt despair about their own situation or the direction the country has taken over the past decade, Occupy Wall Street is there for you. The peaceful, togetherness and united viewpoints are a place you can feel at home. Where you can hold your head up high and say, "thins need to change and this is the peoples country". All kinds of people.

The Occupy Wall Street March on Tuesday Sept. 27th ended at the Postal Service to stand united with the Postal Union. This erosion of jobs, the middle class and our rights to collectively represent ourselves has to stop. The more people that hear about the true movement the more we grow. Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Cornel West, Democracy Now have all come down to visit the peaceful protesters. Now it is your turn.

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Occupy Wall Street March Turns Violent

Occupy Wall Street march September 24th 2011.

The peaceful Occupy Wall Street protest march turned violent as the NYPD corralled and pepper sprayed the participants. Mass arrests were made and loaded onto a NYC bus further locking traffic. The protest march took a route from Zuccotti Park to Union Square on East 14th Street. The protesters were marching back to Zuccotti Park when the NYPD turned violent. Hitting, arresting and forcing protesters into a small area. At that point a NYPD supervisor yelled shut up to one of the protesters and shot pepper spray into her eyes point blank range and hitting a half dozen protesters (including 3 police officers) when they had nowhere to go. The same supervising officer was seen (photographed) laughing after the arrests while looking at his text messages. The peaceful protest march started as 300 participants but rose to over 1,000 as the event stopped traffic in lower Manhattan. People spontaneously joined the march over a 2 hour period.

More Protest Photos 

Brooklyn Bridge Arrests

NYPD making brutal arrests during march

This supervisor was the pepper spray officer. I see him and one other person walk up to the female victim and then an arm reach out with pepper spray. Here is a slow motion video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ05rWx1pig and this video at the 1:15 mark shows him walking up the spot - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMoKsZp5iao.

I still haven't washed off the splattered milk from my shoes. We had to use milk to wash the pepper spray out the woman's eyes. I still hear her screaming in pain, I can't believe they pepper sprayed a deaf woman. Her sobbing, saying how much it hurt as we held her head spraying milk into her eyes and on her face. The last time I saw her, we had to flee from the police who were arresting everyone on 12th street. She escaped into a movie theater with the help of others because she still couldn't open her eyes. After witnessing how much pain she was in I will never forget what this man did on a physical and emotional level to many people on Saturday. He created a war zone. I don't want to think that all of the NYPD is like this because I also met some very fine members of our cities police force on Saturday. Officers who cared about people and the protesters. I looked around at the police officers who were holding the net around us right after the pepper spray was discharged and they were flabbergasted. Three policemen were in the line of fire and almost got hit. Many of them stared down with sad eyes, not able to let go off the orange barrier to help a human being. They had to do their job but I know concern was in their minds.

Close up of badge

NYPD supervisor Bologna who maced woman in face point blank

Occupy Wall Street arrest

Occupy Wall Street - Arrests start early during march

Occupy Wall Street police arrest

Occupy Wall Street police arrest arrest

Arrested for filming

Occupy Wall Street march of 1000 people

PBS correspondent arrested during Occupy Wall Street march

Occupy Wall Street arrested being stored on a bus

2 70 year old ladies arrested Occupy Wall Street march

Occupy Wall Street police arrests after march to Union Square

Occupy Wall Street is the first movement of many more to come. Even with Police violence. All rights reserved (copyright) by davidscameracraft - of course artists need to make money... click on an ad or media inquiries for photos
 or email me - davidscameracraft@gmail.com
Sorry for the advertising... just trying to eat.

More protest photos

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Occupy Wall Street Photos

Photojournalism is my first love when I think of a photographic style. For seven days the Occupy Wall Street protest has been going on. Here is a photo-montage of the ongoing movement...

Wall Street Protest March Day 6

Occupy Wall Street Day 6

Occupy Wall Street March Day 6

This is a daily event where your voice can be heard. The Occupy Wall Street protests are going National and global over the next few weeks. For more photos visit - http://www.citizenside.com/en/reporter-photo-video/davidscameracraft.html

Visit the following links for more places your voice can be heard.

http://occupytogether.org/ - National Unites States protests
http://october2011.org/ - March on Washington D.C. in October
https://occupywallst.org/ - Occupy Wall Street homepage

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Things About Photography

A list of things to know if you are serious about photography or want to become a professional. These are the technical aspects that every photographer should at least be familiar with if not very adept. How do you become adept at these things, through experience, so start now and you will be well on your way to understanding digital photography. The things about photography are;

• Calibrating your monitor - There is an international standard that all digital imaging devices reference or should be calibrated to. A good color workflow will have ALL of your digital devices talking the same language. Buy a decent to professional level monitor and learn how to calibrate that monitor. 
• Understand what a "Color Space" is - Learn what the difference is between sRGB, Adobe RGB, CMYK, LAB, etc. This is another digital language that takes on greater significance as you progress up the ranks of professional photography. For instance, the RGB color space is used for computer monitors, while more advanced printing may use the Adobe RGB spectrum. Understanding when and how to use color spaces is important in this day and age, especially in commercial photography, because your photos may be used for many different output devices.
• Color channels and color correcting - Simply put, there are 10 channels in every photo. I use all 10 channels when analyzing and color correcting a photo in photoshop. If you are RGB centric and get a commercial project that requires a CMYK output, your lack of knowledge in that color space may cost you a job. But ultimately, knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each channel will allow you to make better post processing decisions. This will separate you from the wanna be photographers.
• Your camera - Understand your camera and lenses like they were your hands. All of those menu options on a camera are there for a reason. REALLY! They are. The preset slots allow you to program the camera for a specific job. On a Nikon D700 there are 8 different "Setting Banks" where you can change the camera performance to match the shooting environment. For instance, I have one shooting bank that has auto D-lighting, auto ISO exposure and a specialized picture control curve. I will switch to this Setting Bank when I need low light performance, usually with a long lens while doing street photography or photojournalism without a flash.
• Your lenses - It is very important for you to research the performance of your lenses. There are plenty of lens testing sites on the web where you can do the research. Learn at what aperture the sweet spots or highest level of reproduction are. Understand the chromatic aberrations and distortions your lens have inherited from the lens design. Your lens is like your paint brush, it is your job as a Professional Photographer to optimize the tool (lens, paint brush) in all situations.
• Photography, Art History, Composition - There have been plenty of artists before you that have faced the same situations you are trying to figure out today. It doesn't matter if you are using film, canvas or digital photography. There are awesome prints and paintings that you can learn from in books or museum galleries. Learn where other people have been, understand the language of "The Visual Arts" so you can talk the language and create your own style. Composition is always a challenge so learn from the masters. They have explored how to use line, shape, tone/color and light to create a pleasing visual image in order to highlight the subject.
• Printing and Post Processing - Photography is really meant to be viewed as a print. Post processing is the equivalent to taking your film to a photo lab. Understanding white point, black point, tone curves and proofing for printing is a skill that cannot be underestimated. The earlier you start learning this the better you will understand the photography process of seeing light in order to create a photo with the correct contrast, shadow to the highlight detail and color rendition. For instance, there are plenty of street photography scenes that have great composition, or an interesting subject, but the lighting is all wrong. I already see the highlights being blown out, or the shadow detail being wrong. The subject will not be highlighted in order to create a great image no matter how much post processing I do. The print will be terrible.

Things About Photography

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Our goal as a photographer is to pre-visualize a photo before clicking the shutter. Optimizing your tools and knowledge is what makes a professional in any career. The list above sets photographers apart from the casual camera user that takes a few head shots. These are the things about photography that every professional photographer should know about in order to make a successful photo. At least in my opinion. When you know what a photo will look like before you click the shutter release then you will know how it will look after a few post processing tweaks. Photography school teaches student to make the correct decisions in the capture process. Whether planning a shoot or taking a photojournalistic image, a photographer makes many decisions before clicking the shutter and already knows what it will look like in a print or computer monitor.

Understanding/practicing what goes into the the photography process: seeing the light, optimal camera capture, post processing work flow and final viewing output will make you a successful photographer over time.

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