Phoenix Mosque Protest

[wayler]

A few days ago I went to the protest/counter protest at the mosque in Phoenix which received national attention. I had never shot anything at a large public event like this, so it was an interesting first experience and an introduction for me to exciting challenges of a new aspect of photography. I left out a few that contained signs/clothing that depicted some foul language as I wasn't sure if that was considered NSFW. Any comments are are welcome...

 

[wayler]

a few more...

 

[The_Traveler]

Some of these are quite good but they are not edited for most impact.
All of them are in landscape aspect; that often makes a lot of room that might not be needed.

Anytime you show pictures, it's like a play and should tell some coherent story with a way in and out.
Weed out the weak or redundant pictures, organize them so they make a point and fix
the tonal defects.

 

[The_Traveler]

 

[wayler]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate the comments and example! Like many, I started out a few years ago in photography doing nature/landscape stuff where you are often afforded a little more time to study your surroundings and set up the exact shot you want. One of the biggest challenges at the protest was the tight quarters to work with due to the hundreds of people around and the movement of those people constantly changing the surroundings. Some struggles I had in post cropping I think were due to a lack of experience in being able to see the elements that would make the photo more powerful as opposed to less, as well as some decisions in technique that I often employ in other settings that perhaps do not work well for this type. I often like to frame my subject within other elements of the photo and two examples of this that also represented difficulties for me in post cropping decisions were the last photo with the girl in the green shirt and about 7 photos before that, the bald bearded guy with the rifle. With the girl in the green shirt, she was speaking to the guy on the left with his back to the camera at the time of the shot and I framed her between him and the police officer to the right. However, this made her kind small in the larger photo and perhaps less impactfull??? In the other I tried to frame the outlaw look of the bald guy with elements of the police officers in the foreground, but same thing perhaps - he seems to get a little lost in all of the clutter of the photo. I would love to hear your opinions (as well as anyone else's!) on these two in particular if you wouldn't mind...

 

[Designer]

I don't get what kind of protest this was. I see signs about love and hate, but there is nothing to tell me who is protesting what. Or why. Or anything else.

 

[limr]

I don't get what kind of protest this was. I see signs about love and hate, but there is nothing to tell me who is protesting what. Or why. Or anything else.

People came to protest the building of a mosque and then others (the ones with the "love your neighbor" signs) came out to counter-protest.

Hundreds gather in Arizona for armed anti-Muslim protest - The Washington Post

 

[MOREGONE]

The_Traveler nailed it!

This event is disgusting. Tired of people thinking their religion is more important than others in a country that supposed to be Free and have a separation of church and state. Muslims get a very bad wrap in this day and age for actions of a few and these imbeciles are about to start walking down the same path as the radical Islamist and Christian crusaders...

 

[snerd]

.................. This event is disgusting. Tired of people thinking their religion is more important than others in a country that supposed to be Free and have a separation of church and state. Muslims get a very bad wrap in this day and age for actions of a few and these imbeciles are about to start walking down the same path as the radical Islamist and Christian crusaders...

You don't get to rant about your political emotions here. Stay on the subject of the photographs.

(BTW, from your mumblings above, you don't have a "clue" what the protest was about.)

 

[MOREGONE]

.................. This event is disgusting. Tired of people thinking their religion is more important than others in a country that supposed to be Free and have a separation of church and state. Muslims get a very bad wrap in this day and age for actions of a few and these imbeciles are about to start walking down the same path as the radical Islamist and Christian crusaders...

You don't get to rant about your political emotions here. Stay on the subject of the photographs.

(BTW, from your mumblings above, you don't have a "clue" what the protest was about.)

You are incorrect. Take your own advice, stay on topic

 

[The_Traveler]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate the comments and example! Like many, I started out a few years ago in photography doing nature/landscape stuff where you are often afforded a little more time to study your surroundings and set up the exact shot you want. One of the biggest challenges at the protest was the tight quarters to work with due to the hundreds of people around and the movement of those people constantly changing the surroundings. Some struggles I had in post cropping I think were due to a lack of experience in being able to see the elements that would make the photo more powerful as opposed to less, as well as some decisions in technique that I often employ in other settings that perhaps do not work well for this type. I often like to frame my subject within other elements of the photo and two examples of this that also represented difficulties for me in post cropping decisions were the last photo with the girl in the green shirt and about 7 photos before that, the bald bearded guy with the rifle. With the girl in the green shirt, she was speaking to the guy on the left with his back to the camera at the time of the shot and I framed her between him and the police officer to the right. However, this made her kind small in the larger photo and perhaps less impactfull??? In the other I tried to frame the outlaw look of the bald guy with elements of the police officers in the foreground, but same thing perhaps - he seems to get a little lost in all of the clutter of the photo. I would love to hear your opinions (as well as anyone else's!) on these two in particular if you wouldn't mind...

Let me suggest that:

1) you choose and upload only the best; the ones you think make a story.
2) you upload actual pictures rather than thumbnails so the viewer can see the picture while commenting
3) that you number the pictures to make reference easier.

re: girl in the green shirt.

note the text fragments and the face on the outer edges that draw one's attention (at least mine). I like text fragments that contribute to itnerest but here they draw my eye away from the important part in the center.

The colors don't add and I think her face and hand stand out more in a BW.
Then my eyes are concentrated on her and the framing elements.

The bald guy with a gun picture doesn't tell me anything.
He is submerged in a picture with lots of things that pull me eye. The gun is almost hidden and he's looking at his phone.
Yes, I can make up a story and center it around him but the picture has too many distracting incoherent elements for my taste.

 

[wayler]

@Designer - you're right, there were a few other photos I could have posted that would have made things a little more clear what the protest was about, but they included some clothing and signs that might have violated TOS here. Can anyone clarify that for me? An example would be a photo where the subject was a sign that said "F*** ISIS, NOT ISLAM", would that be permissible here?

 

[wayler]

@The_Traveler - Wow, thanks a lot! All great points and I really like your BW version. With the bald guy, I think it is a case of the result not lining up with what I wanted the photo to be at the time of taking and being willing to let go of those

 

[waday]

It's good to see so many people supporting diversity.

these imbeciles are about to start walking down the same path as the radical Islamist and Christian crusaders...

They already are.. the news just doesn't report it.

 

[The_Traveler]

@The_Traveler - Wow, thanks a lot! All great points and I really like your BW version. With the bald guy, I think it is a case of the result not lining up with what I wanted the photo to be at the time of taking and being willing to let go of those

Yah, that doesn't happen to me more than 399 times out of 400 shots.