Cindy Sheehan, Jesse Jackson, Anti-War Protest (pics)

[DPFranz]

I heard about the protest so decided to go down and do some shooting. I was not expecting anything when I looked over and saw Sheehan and Jackson. This was my first experience in a crowd of pro photo-journalists, and man, it's like a mosh-pit. However, I must say that I think my D2x made me "part of the club." The journalists there just assumed I was press, and even helped me when non-photographers started shoving, etc. They spoke to me as a peer, so I just said nothing and snapped away.

This is a very challenging situation for photography. It's a challenge to make nice compositions under normal circumstances - add in a bunch of shouting, pushing protesters and a bunch of photogs and cameras, still and movie cameras, boom mics..it was fun. I saw at least two D1x's, a few other D2x's in addition to mine, at least one D2H, a D70 or two, and a large number of 1Ds MKII's, or at least 1D MKII's. Canon had the majority, but Nikon was no small presence.



























--
Dana Paul Franz
[email protected]
http://dfranz.smugmug.com

'You are the master of the unspoken word; once it is out of your mouth, you are the slave.'

 

[Mike Worley]

Good coverage. You really got right in there! And I can see where it could be kind of fun, in a masochistic sort of way. I guess I'd at least wear shoes with good, strong tops!

Regards,

Mike

 

[J_trek]

Those are really cool. I haven’t seen that much detail in MR. Jackson since I shook his hand.

 

[Garrett Lucas]

Great shots, and nice BW converison. Can you share your steps to get the tone and contrast in these shots? Done in Raw or in PS?
--
Best Regards,

Garrett Lucas

 

[flat five]

hi Dana..
an enjoyable set of images here.. definitely some nice pj work..

personally, i like the first four images the best.. they hit me on a more emotional level than the famous people shots... i like that - getting the crowd and the speakers(?)...
thanks for sharing,
jeff

 

[DPFranz]

Great shots, and nice BW converison. Can you share your steps to
get the tone and contrast in these shots? Done in Raw or in PS?
--
Best Regards,

Garrett Lucas

Thanks, Garrett. Not a lot of processing here. Shot in uncompressed NEF. Open in Nikon Capture, save as TIF for as-shot white balance; open in PSCS2, levels, monochrome channel mixer adjustment layer (favoring red channel for skin tones); curves (various s-shaped curves for contrast); unsharp mask. In a couple cases where I underexposed, I did a little bit of noise reduction before unsharp mask.

--
Dana Paul Franz
[email protected]
http://dfranz.smugmug.com

'You are the master of the unspoken word; once it is out of your mouth, you are the slave.'

 

[mbbastien]

Great job!!

Regards -- Bishop
------------------
http://www.pbase.com/mbbastien

 

[bigconig]

Very nice. I was kind of wishing I had made plans to go, I figured there would be lots of great shots. Looks like you capertured some of them. What lens did you use?
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigconig

 

[Mike Lewis]

Great job!

I heard about the protest so decided to go down and do some
shooting. I was not expecting anything when I looked over and saw
Sheehan and Jackson. This was my first experience in a crowd of pro
photo-journalists, and man, it's like a mosh-pit. However, I must
say that I think my D2x made me "part of the club." The journalists
there just assumed I was press, and even helped me when
non-photographers started shoving, etc. They spoke to me as a peer,
so I just said nothing and snapped away.

This is a very challenging situation for photography. It's a
challenge to make nice compositions under normal circumstances -
add in a bunch of shouting, pushing protesters and a bunch of
photogs and cameras, still and movie cameras, boom mics..it was
fun. I saw at least two D1x's, a few other D2x's in addition to
mine, at least one D2H, a D70 or two, and a large number of 1Ds
MKII's, or at least 1D MKII's. Canon had the majority, but Nikon
was no small presence.



























--
Dana Paul Franz
[email protected]
http://dfranz.smugmug.com
'You are the master of the unspoken word; once it is out of your
mouth, you are the slave.'

--
Mike L.



http://www.pbase.com/ferrari355/galleries

 

[DPFranz]

Very nice. I was kind of wishing I had made plans to go, I figured
there would be lots of great shots. Looks like you capertured some
of them. What lens did you use?

Thanks, bigconig. These were all shot with the 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 DX. I have yet to spend the money on a mid-range pro zoom. Can't decide between the 17-55 DX and the 28-70. I'm leaning towards the 28-70, but I did like being able to go down to 20 or 18 mm today. However, that range is the best part of the 12-24 DX, so it's a tough call. The kit lens is decent as long as you stop down to 4.5 or 5, and stay away from 18mm unless you want to deal with the moustache distortion, but I'd like to have lens more on par with my 12-24 and 70-200. We'll see. If there were an 18-70 of the same quality as the 28-70, I'd buy it.

--
Dana Paul Franz
[email protected]
http://dfranz.smugmug.com

'You are the master of the unspoken word; once it is out of your mouth, you are the slave.'

 

[bigbuddy]

Posting pictures of a left wing nut like Sheehan is a waste of cyborspace. Jesse Jackson? Is he revelant to anything?? You need to spend a little time on the other side of the spectrum. Shoot some pictures of American heros not anti American zeros!! Focus on the good this country and her people do not on the blame America crowd.

 

[Daniel Bliss]

Great coverage of an event. And a great job of getting close access given that you weren't "credentialed."

I'm guessing you used the kit lens?

 

[Daniel Bliss]

Now that I hit refresh I see you were using the kit lens . . .

 

[clutchy]

great shots. The b&w really sets the mood. I think from an artistic point of view i like the first one the best w/ the little girl.

from a conservative point of view i think it's sick to take kids who don't know anything about politics to an anti-war rally and give them a sign... wreaks of agenda and usury... much like the media's agrandising sheehan...

 

[DPFranz]

Posting pictures of a left wing nut like Sheehan is a waste of
cyborspace. Jesse Jackson? Is he revelant to anything?? You need to
spend a little time on the other side of the spectrum. Shoot some
pictures of American heros not anti American zeros!! Focus on the
good this country and her people do not on the blame America crowd.

Believe me, I'm not on her side. I'm mostly behind Bush. I was not concerned with parties or sides today when shooting, however. I just try to capture good tones and if I'm lucky, decent compositions. If the subjects cause emotions to flow, good or bad, so much the better. I guess what I'm saying is that whether or not I like a person doesn't even register in my feelings about what I like to photograph. If I were in Berlin in the late 1930's and 1940's, I would have photographed Hitler. 60's, Jane Fonda and the rest of the liberal zealots. Like, don't like, doesn't matter. Cheers,

--
Dana Paul Franz
[email protected]
http://dfranz.smugmug.com

'You are the master of the unspoken word; once it is out of your mouth, you are the slave.'

 

[DPFranz]

great shots. The b&w really sets the mood. I think from an
artistic point of view i like the first one the best w/ the little
girl.

Thanks. That's my favorite shot too, although I do like the closeup profile of Jackson.

from a conservative point of view i think it's sick to take kids
who don't know anything about politics to an anti-war rally and
give them a sign... wreaks of agenda and usury... much like the
media's agrandising sheehan...

Pretty odd to bring a child into this. Then again, maybe it could be a life lesson about our freedom of speech, if the parents were diligent in their philosophical duties to their child. From the handwriting and simple language, I'd say the girl wrote her own sign, but of course one must wonder how much she was unduly influenced by the adults around her.

--
Dana Paul Franz
[email protected]
http://dfranz.smugmug.com

'You are the master of the unspoken word; once it is out of your mouth, you are the slave.'

 

[Jim Doyle]

--Oh...so let's take them to church, instead. Sorry, could not help myself.
jdoyle

 

[Daniel Bliss]

DP has been kind to you -- that is a truly cretinous remark not only for a photo forum but for any forum. Are you in favor of censorship or what?

Now, putting my ex-PJ hat on and toning down my post, the point in this particular case is covering the story. This photo essay is about a large group of people protesting a big, big issue that is highly divisive, and the recently war-bereaved citizen leader of a significant element of that group getting glommed onto by Jackson (or is she doing the glomming? "We report, You decide," as they say on Fox). Both the event itself and the Sheehan-Jackson angle are absolutely newsworthy.

 

[Adam Kmiec]

love the B&W conversion. thanks for sharing.

 

[Rob Duke2]

They are good shots and you really gave a great sense of being there.

As much as it pains me to see mis-guided individuals such as these I enjoyed the post!!!!

Thanks for sharing!

RD