Neil, I liked these quite a lot. Nicely ambiguous, ambivalent, humane. Here's the other shoe dropping: I'm not sure they are not too still. Your largely successful efforts to capture the humanity of the subjects tended to drain them of energy, or at least the energy I would expect at such an event. Does that make sense? BTW, many years ago, I innocently crossed an "Orange" parade in Glasgow -- now there was some energy! Anyway, keep up the good work.
Interesting. Yes, I hadn’t thought of that but you’re right. Events like this are usually associated with moments of drama and energy. In my experience it was a lot of people milling around, fulfilling a role. The groups were so far apart they couldn’t feed off each other
You have a very interesting collection of photos here, Neil. I really like the close up portraits and the mix of facial expressions. In some photos, you can’t really tell which side they’re on which, to my mind, adds to the image. It encourages you to be curious and not judgmental. For example, does the way someone looks determine which side they’re on?
Truly superb photos. I love the ambivalence of some of them, you have successfully overcome about simplification danger you've described, and shown people in a state of confusion or just thought in the mix. And some of the compositions are just so visually pleasing, like the visored horses and the vet, or the golf-capped police officers and the union jack wavers.
are you a follower of patrick witty here on substack? i love it when he presents an historical moment captured by 2-3 photographers from different angles and than the image presented by media. have a look
Interesting photos, as usual! It is interesting that it's hard to know which side people are on, unless they've got a placard.
Always makes me smile when a placard says "Queers for Palestine"! Does it mean that they're queers for Palestine, or that they're anti-gay & want to send queers to Palestine as punishment?
It derives from a belief that all oppressive structures (zionism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, colonialism, capitalism, climate change etc) are connected and that victims should have solidarity with other victims. I think their heart is in the right place but it sometimes sounds like a conspiracy theory. This is related: https://unherd.com/newsroom/what-does-palestine-have-to-do-with-climate-change/
Neil, I liked these quite a lot. Nicely ambiguous, ambivalent, humane. Here's the other shoe dropping: I'm not sure they are not too still. Your largely successful efforts to capture the humanity of the subjects tended to drain them of energy, or at least the energy I would expect at such an event. Does that make sense? BTW, many years ago, I innocently crossed an "Orange" parade in Glasgow -- now there was some energy! Anyway, keep up the good work.
Interesting. Yes, I hadn’t thought of that but you’re right. Events like this are usually associated with moments of drama and energy. In my experience it was a lot of people milling around, fulfilling a role. The groups were so far apart they couldn’t feed off each other
Hey Neil, thanks for the shout out, great work as always!
You have a very interesting collection of photos here, Neil. I really like the close up portraits and the mix of facial expressions. In some photos, you can’t really tell which side they’re on which, to my mind, adds to the image. It encourages you to be curious and not judgmental. For example, does the way someone looks determine which side they’re on?
Thanks Mark! Exactly this. It is difficult to make sweeping statements but worryingly it did feel largely a class divide
Excellent set of photographs 👏
Truly superb photos. I love the ambivalence of some of them, you have successfully overcome about simplification danger you've described, and shown people in a state of confusion or just thought in the mix. And some of the compositions are just so visually pleasing, like the visored horses and the vet, or the golf-capped police officers and the union jack wavers.
Thank you, Alfie! I didn’t linger too long in any one spot and missed a few gems, but hopefully the selection brings people into the moment.
Absolutely. Surely it's inevitable to miss some things when it's all unfurling so quickly!
if you were to do this as your job, everyday, your reportage will be different:
1. with experience it's much easier to know where to look and what to capture
2. by knowing what to capture you also know what "sells" in the media
so all in all i think you did a good job, the long lens helped you in some cases to separate the subject from the crowd
Yes, this is certainly true, although I think the reason I like Andrew Callaghan and Bruce Schaff is that they seem outside of commercial pressures.
i understand that too.
are you a follower of patrick witty here on substack? i love it when he presents an historical moment captured by 2-3 photographers from different angles and than the image presented by media. have a look
Yeah! Patrick’s substack is great.
Interesting photos, as usual! It is interesting that it's hard to know which side people are on, unless they've got a placard.
Always makes me smile when a placard says "Queers for Palestine"! Does it mean that they're queers for Palestine, or that they're anti-gay & want to send queers to Palestine as punishment?
It derives from a belief that all oppressive structures (zionism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, colonialism, capitalism, climate change etc) are connected and that victims should have solidarity with other victims. I think their heart is in the right place but it sometimes sounds like a conspiracy theory. This is related: https://unherd.com/newsroom/what-does-palestine-have-to-do-with-climate-change/