Went down to Zuccoti Park to see "Occupy Wall Street"

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I Love Film

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I live in the Financial District. So far, I have only seen some stragglers and my family has been kept up at night by screaming and chanting protestors. I decided to go down and see what it was all about.

I brought two cameras, a Nikon D700 with a Belomo 17mm f2.8 fisheye and a Lumix DMC-L1 with "Leica" zoom lens.

It was a mostly youthful crowd, teens to mid-twenties, although there were other age groups. Strong smell of body odor and marijuana smoke.

I took a great many photos. First, here are the fisheye shots. I will post the DMC-L1 shots later.

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I like Fisheye lenses, but it's a bit overpowering to see so many shots in so small a space.

6th shot, 2nd set. I like the composition with the fellow in green.
 
One thread was closed after repeated Moderator warnings regarding the Politics were ignored.

RFF is not a political forum.

Feel free to post images, let them speak for themselves.

If the politics keep rolling in, this thread will be closed as well.

If the politics get edited out, the thread will get moved back to the front page.
 
Great photos. The fish-eye lens really gives me the sense of place that I haven't gotten from the other photos and videos that I have seen.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
One thread was closed after repeated Moderator warnings regarding the Politics were ignored.

RFF is not a political forum.

Feel free to post images, let them speak for themselves.

If the politics keep rolling in, this thread will be closed as well.

If the politics get edited out, the thread will get moved back to the front page.
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I did not think my comments were political, but I removed the line about my opinion, so I think this is now non-political.
 
Great idea to use a fish-eye to FORCE yourself to get in close. Of course not all the pics work but far more do than I would have thought possible. A lot of the pictures repay closer examination too: there's a certain amount of immediate impact, but when you go back and look at them again, you start noticing details and resonances: 'begging bowls', contrasts...

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Great idea to use a fish-eye to FORCE yourself to get in close. Of course not all the pics work but far more do than I would have thought possible. A lot of the pictures repay closer examination too: there's a certain amount of immediate impact, but when you go back and look at them again, you start noticing details and resonances: 'begging bowls', contrasts...

Cheers,

R.
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Thanks for the compliment, but to tell the truth, I just wanted an excuse to use the lens, which I bought a few months ago. It is somewhat rare, the 68th one made. It is NOT the usual Peleng 8mm, it is a very fascinating high quality item.

http://peleng8.com/peleng-17mm/pele...7mm-f2.8-super-wide-angle-lens-for-nikon.html
 
PS: I had some interesting commentary on some of the photos.

For example, the shiny building I shot is the new partially completed World Trade tower.

I'll refrain from other remarks in the interest of keeping this thread non political.
 
dazedgonebye said:
"...Strong smell of body odor and marijuana smoke."

Lots of liberal arts majors with time on their hands. 🙂
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There are a lot of kids having fun, as well as people who have a political agenda. Nothing really wrong with that in my opinion.

It's interesting, a lot of the "freedom loving" participants sternly admonished me that I "could not take photos without a permit". I replied that it was a public venue and I could "do anything I wanted." If they didn't like it, I told them to call a policeman.
 
I Love Film said:
There are a lot of kids having fun, as well as people who have a political agenda. Nothing really wrong with that in my opinion.

It's interesting, a lot of the "freedom loving" participants sternly admonished me that I "could not take photos without a permit". I replied that it was a public venue and I could "do anything I wanted." If they didn't like it, I told them to call a policeman.
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Always a tie-breaker! Wonderful how selective some people's views of liberty can be... Did others who've photographed the same thing have the same experience? If not, why not? This is an important lesson: being accepted by the people you're photographing.

I'm not sure, though, about posting substantially the same picture with two lenses. Choose one or the other: don't ask us/the editor either to decide or to see the same picture twice, because it's almost always weaker the second time. In fact, a bit more editing would have been a good idea, so we wanted more, instead of thinking, "Yes, there's a lot of very good stuff there, but too many similar shots."

Given your self-deprecation, I can see only two possible conclusions. One is that this is so impossibly photogenic that even an idiot can get good pictures. The other is that you're a rather better photographer than you think you are. I lean towards the latter.

As for body odour and the scent of Mary Jane... well, there are worse smells. That's a good example, though, of how a few words can add even more to a picture. I didn't think of that until it was mentioned, but it's a part of 'being there'.

Cheers,

R.
 
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I agree. I had hundreds of shots but just posted these without too much editing.

When I was 17 years old I slept in a park in Pamplona, Spain prior to the "running of the bulls". The aroma and ambience was very similar.

There was a contingent of people, most female and feminist, who objected to my photography.

This may have been a result of the fisheye lens. I leaned in so close to take photos I was literally inches from some of them. They may have interpreted me as being a pervert, which may or may not be the case.


Roger Hicks said:
Always a tie-breaker! Wonderful how selective some people's views of liberty can be... Did others who've photographed the same thing have the same experience? If not, why not? This is an important lesson: being accepted by the people you're photographing.

I'm not sure, though, about posting substantially the same picture with two lenses. Choose one or the other: don't ask us/the editor either to decide or to see the same picture twice, because it's almost always weaker the second time. In fact, a bit more editing would have been a good idea, so we wanted more, instead of thinking, "Yes, there's a lot of very good stuff there, but too many similar shots."

Given your self-deprecation, I can see only two possible conclusions. One is that this is so impossibly photogenic that even an idiot can get good pictures. The other is that you're a rather better photographer than you think you are. I lean towards the latter.

As for body odour and the scent of Mary Jane... well, there are worse smells. That's a good example, though, of how a few words can add even more to a picture. I didn't think of that until it was mentioned, but it's a part of 'being there'.

Cheers,

R.
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Keep in mind that Zuccotti park is actually privately owned.

Roger Hicks said:
Always a tie-breaker! Wonderful how selective some people's views of liberty can be... Did others who've photographed the same thing have the same experience? If not, why not? This is an important lesson: being accepted by the people you're photographing.

I'm not sure, though, about posting substantially the same picture with two lenses. Choose one or the other: don't ask us/the editor either to decide or to see the same picture twice, because it's almost always weaker the second time. In fact, a bit more editing would have been a good idea, so we wanted more, instead of thinking, "Yes, there's a lot of very good stuff there, but too many similar shots."

Given your self-deprecation, I can see only two possible conclusions. One is that this is so impossibly photogenic that even an idiot can get good pictures. The other is that you're a rather better photographer than you think you are. I lean towards the latter.

As for body odour and the scent of Mary Jane... well, there are worse smells. That's a good example, though, of how a few words can add even more to a picture. I didn't think of that until it was mentioned, but it's a part of 'being there'.

Cheers,

R.
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filmtwit said:
Keep in mind that Zuccotti park is actually privately owned.
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I don't think that matters. They are openly participating in a public, newsworthy event. They even carry signs and other things that they want to be covered by the media.

I don't think any court would interpret anyone demonstrating there as having any reasonable expectation of privacy.

It is absolutely not the same as crashing a private event on private property to photograph a closed affair.
 
Just for the record -- the large marches at Foley Square last Wednesday, and at Washington Sq. Park on Saturday had a MUCH broader demographic: all types of people, students, elderly, union representatives, all races, you name it. Those crowds were not just the "crusties" you see in these shots -- instead, they looked like what America looks like.
 
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