Past, Present, Future

[Rick Waldroup]

This was at an anti-war protest at the University of North Texas, in April of 2006. It was raining heavily.

The camera was a Bessa R2 rangefinder with a 35mm lens. The film was Fuji Neopan 400.

 

[spiffybeth]

the flag on the right is weird...

 

[Rick Waldroup]

According to the protesters at the rally, the flags are supposed to represent America's continuing decline into militarism.

The first flag is representative of America's past, the second flag is hung upside down to represent our country and the war we are currently involved in, and the last flag has a swastika symbolizing our decline into a military state much like Nazi Germany did right before the start of WWII.

 

[D3sh1]

very strong picture,
awesome job by doing this picture in black and white !
i realy enjoyed it !

 

[Alpha]

Great shot. I love the kid on the left.

 

[Alex_B]

the screaming kid certainly makes the shot!

nice

 

[Trenton Romulox]

Nice capture! There's a lot of emotion in this shot, and it definitely provokes thought. Any shot that makes me think like this one has is a good shot in my book. Nice work.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

Max and Alex, you are exactly right in that it is the screaming kid that anchors this shot.

It was cold and raining and the turnout for the protest was very, very small- less than 50 people. Earlier, I had taken some shots of the flags without anyone in front but I felt as though I did not have the shot I wanted.

I hung around for a while, sharing an umbrella with another photographer, and then these kids stepped in front of the flags and I moved in position to shoot them and suddenly the kid on the left dropped his umbrella a bit and I got off one shot. That turned out to be the shot I was looking for, even if I did not know exactly what I was looking for.