Interesting First Day Shooting w/ 10D

My first (professional) day of shooting with the 10D came on the day the war started, covering Portland's Protest.

Got a ton of good shots. The autofocus is godsend, and I was using flash quite a bit too, finding it a lot more consistent than the D60 (though the camera on the whole does seem to overexpose a touch).

I also got pepper-sprayed, badly.

A little write-up, and the photo of me seconds before being pepper sprayed is here:
http://www.whatdoesnotchange.org/archives/00000219.shtml

The camera took a while to clean (the pepper spray is oil-based and hard to get off), but seems to be in good working order again.

Stephen

Hey Stephen,

My first day of shooting the 10D was also on Thursday, and I too used flash quite extensively (for the night shots). It was quite interesting using the 10D for the demonstrations, as I have been a Leica M user for over a year and this is my first DSLR.

I didn't get pepper spray, but a large dose of tear gas.

See http://www.pbase.com/zadig/10d__550ex for photographs

Stephen Voss said:

My first (professional) day of shooting with the 10D came on the
day the war started, covering Portland's Protest.

Got a ton of good shots. The autofocus is godsend, and I was using
flash quite a bit too, finding it a lot more consistent than the
D60 (though the camera on the whole does seem to overexpose a
touch).

I also got pepper-sprayed, badly.

A little write-up, and the photo of me seconds before being pepper
sprayed is here:
http://www.whatdoesnotchange.org/archives/00000219.shtml

The camera took a while to clean (the pepper spray is oil-based and
hard to get off), but seems to be in good working order again.

Stephen

Click to expand...

--
Zadig Zahad
Geneva, Switzerland

Interesting stories - both of you. Thanks for sharing.

Zadig - do the rainbow flags mean something else in your part of the world than they mean here in US?

-GageFX

Zadig20 said:

My first day of shooting the 10D was also on Thursday, and I too
used flash quite extensively (for the night shots). It was quite
interesting using the 10D for the demonstrations, as I have been a
Leica M user for over a year and this is my first DSLR.

I didn't get pepper spray, but a large dose of tear gas.

See http://www.pbase.com/zadig/10d__550ex for photographs

Stephen Voss said:

My first (professional) day of shooting with the 10D came on the
day the war started, covering Portland's Protest.

Got a ton of good shots. The autofocus is godsend, and I was using
flash quite a bit too, finding it a lot more consistent than the
D60 (though the camera on the whole does seem to overexpose a
touch).

I also got pepper-sprayed, badly.

A little write-up, and the photo of me seconds before being pepper
sprayed is here:
http://www.whatdoesnotchange.org/archives/00000219.shtml

The camera took a while to clean (the pepper spray is oil-based and
hard to get off), but seems to be in good working order again.

Stephen

Click to expand...

--
Zadig Zahad
Geneva, Switzerland

Click to expand...

All across Europe I have seen photographs of these rainbow banners with "PACE" written on them being used, so the rainbow has come to symbolise the peace movement. However, I imagine that in another context it also refers to the gay and lesbian movements.

GageFX said:

Interesting stories - both of you. Thanks for sharing.

Zadig - do the rainbow flags mean something else in your part of
the world than they mean here in US?

-GageFX

Click to expand...

--
Zadig Zahad
Geneva, Switzerland

stephen, why on earth did they pepper spray you? was it targeted at you, or did you just cop something intended for someone near you?

i'm assuming here you weren't trespassing or being violent, therefore there cannot be any possible justification for such action. and even if you were, surely the police should first attempt to arrest you via normal means?

pepper spray seems incredibly excessive.

Stephen Voss said:

My first (professional) day of shooting with the 10D came on the
day the war started, covering Portland's Protest.

Click to expand...

------------------------------------
web design ~ interactive media ~ photography
http://www.wprasek.com

And have to kill 10D owners on sight . . . . .

Warren,

A group of protesters had broken off from the main group, and were trying to block one of Portland's bridges. I made the decision to run ahead of them and capture the confrontation between them and the police. The confrontation quickly turned violent, and after a skirmish between the protesters and the police, I heard a policeman to my right yell "pepper spray" and begin spraying people. Some of the spray reached me and began to burn, so I started to backpedal as I was shooting. As I turned to my left, I was sprayed directly (a second or two after the photo was taken).

An AP (I think) photographer was next to me, and he was sprayed as well. I was not wearing a press badge (since I was freelancing for the weekly paper here), but he was. So, I can only conclude that in the moment the police were indiscriminate about who they were pepper spraying, and didn't see our large/obvious camera equipment as a reason not to spray us.

Stephen

M I M E S I S said:

All across Europe I have seen photographs of these rainbow banners
with "PACE" written on them being used, so the rainbow has come to
symbolise the peace movement. However, I imagine that in another
context it also refers to the gay and lesbian movements.

Click to expand...

True about gay and lesbian. I've never seen it used as "peace" over here. I assumed it meant "peace" over there, but wasnt sure if it was gay and lesbians marching for peace.

(Over here, if there were rainbow flags with "peace" written on it, you could be sure they were gay/lesbian marches.

No big deal either way, I just wanted to grasp the whole picture.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

-GageFX

Very interesting. I find it important to point out that although you were not directly doing anything that "deserved" getting pepper-sprayed for, you did insert yourself into a pepper-spray situation.

To those that find great fault at this happening - if you dont want to be pepper-sprayed, stay out of an unlawful gathering.

It sounds like your attitude towards the situation is rather healthy, Stephen, especially given the pain you experienced. The closest I have seen of this pain was a frind, who while making habenero pepper chilli, rubbed his eyes and got raw habenero oil in his eyes. As that is what they make pepperspray from (actually DILUTED habenero oil) I understand the pain - although have never experienced it.

-just my 2 cents.

-GageFX

Stephen Voss said:

Warren,
A group of protesters had broken off from the main group, and were
trying to block one of Portland's bridges. I made the decision to
run ahead of them and capture the confrontation between them and
the police. The confrontation quickly turned violent, and after a
skirmish between the protesters and the police, I heard a policeman
to my right yell "pepper spray" and begin spraying people. Some of
the spray reached me and began to burn, so I started to backpedal
as I was shooting. As I turned to my left, I was sprayed directly
(a second or two after the photo was taken).

An AP (I think) photographer was next to me, and he was sprayed as
well. I was not wearing a press badge (since I was freelancing for
the weekly paper here), but he was. So, I can only conclude that in
the moment the police were indiscriminate about who they were
pepper spraying, and didn't see our large/obvious camera equipment
as a reason not to spray us.

Stephen

Click to expand...

gagefx-

Agreed. There's always risks in situations like this (I also got hit by the police with a baton, but no damage done), and I accept those risks going into it, and I'm not making judgements about where the fault lies.

Stephen

so that makes it OK for over-zealous police to spray innocent bystanders? because they were "there"? i can understand accidents happening, eg getting caught in the cross-fire if you put yourself in a dangerous situation, but if they were sprayed without forewarning , eg move off the road (or wherever they were illegally positioned) or we will spray you, it seems a bit over the top to me.

and if they were outside the arc, not directly in the "line of fire" then it sounds like the police deliberately targeted them even though their actions were not provocative, illegal or inappropriate.

just remember, the police aren't always right. i'm not saying they dont have a right to enforce the law, or that honest mistakes can and do happpen, but they do also have a responsibility not to abuse their powers or to get carried away by the heat of the moment where possible.

GageFX said:

Very interesting. I find it important to point out that although
you were not directly doing anything that "deserved" getting
pepper-sprayed for, you did insert yourself into a pepper-spray
situation.

To those that find great fault at this happening - if you dont want
to be pepper-sprayed, stay out of an unlawful gathering.

It sounds like your attitude towards the situation is rather
healthy, Stephen, especially given the pain you experienced. The
closest I have seen of this pain was a frind, who while making
habenero pepper chilli, rubbed his eyes and got raw habenero oil in
his eyes. As that is what they make pepperspray from (actually
DILUTED habenero oil) I understand the pain - although have never
experienced it.

-just my 2 cents.

-GageFX

Click to expand...

I think he made it clear that he was not a "bystander" - that he was in the middle of it. It not like he was watching from a block away and the police came over and sprayed him. He was right there at the front line.

I'm not defending the police at all, why do you condemn them? The man, himself, agrees he was in position to recieve bodily harm. Why do you think you are in a better position to judge the events?

-GageFX

warren prasek said:

and if they were outside the arc, not directly in the "line of
fire" then it sounds like the police deliberately targeted them
even though their actions were not provocative, illegal or
inappropriate.

just remember, the police aren't always right. i'm not saying they
dont have a right to enforce the law, or that honest mistakes can
and do happpen, but they do also have a responsibility not to abuse
their powers or to get carried away by the heat of the moment where
possible.

GageFX said:

Very interesting. I find it important to point out that although
you were not directly doing anything that "deserved" getting
pepper-sprayed for, you did insert yourself into a pepper-spray
situation.

To those that find great fault at this happening - if you dont want
to be pepper-sprayed, stay out of an unlawful gathering.

It sounds like your attitude towards the situation is rather
healthy, Stephen, especially given the pain you experienced. The
closest I have seen of this pain was a frind, who while making
habenero pepper chilli, rubbed his eyes and got raw habenero oil in
his eyes. As that is what they make pepperspray from (actually
DILUTED habenero oil) I understand the pain - although have never
experienced it.

-just my 2 cents.

-GageFX

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I just thought I'd pitch in on this topic, as it's something I'm pretty familiar with. I've been doing protest photojournalism for a while, freelancing and as an independent media activist with various IndyMedia Offices. When they police decide to start pepper-spraying, gassing, beating or shooting people (with rubber bullets, beanbags, or CS paintball guns), anyone is fair game, young or old, protester or press. I got arrested a week or two for taking photographs when the police disapproved of it in DC, and there is no sympathy at all for your being working press, much less just a person taking photos. When it comes to crowd control, especially at protests, police are given fairly free reign quite often to use whatever they deem necessary. It really depends on the cop, but some are more than happy to use the toys they're given, enforcing their wishes (not always the law) with "pain compliance". Also, there have been cases in the past of police specifically targeting what are referred to as "support crew"- street medics, legal observers, and independent press, arresting them or forcing them away from the scene so there will be little or no independent record of whatever happens.

The only real protection you can carry in your camera bag for this is an apple-cider vinegar or lemon juice-soaked bandanna and a pair of swim goggles with silicone face seals. These are the only things short of a gas mask that will keep out chemical weapons, and a gas mask is likely to get you targeted by the police even quicker. These things are always in my bag at protests, and though I havn't had to use them yet, I'll be glad when I do have to and have them handy.