Thank you all for your kind comments.
I also covered a small protest of Tibetans here in Toronto, but I decided on using color because the Tibetan flag is really beautiful and the best way to get its full impact is using color. That combined with the red flag of china creates a great contrast.
NH3
Believe me, I’ve hesitated a long time before choosing to use B&W. I have brought in my bag TriX and Portra 400 NC, and when I saw all those beautiful colors, my reaction was to load a film of Portra. But then I thought that I wanted to show movements and faces, that’s why I decided that colors were not that important for what I wanted to do. But it wasn’t an easy decision to make. Besides – maybe it’s the true reason – I’m more comfortable shooting B&W than color film.
But I’d like to see you pictures.
Again in tha part of Place Denfert-Rochereau I see a strong comitment to the people: may I ask how was your relation with the people? Did you speak to them in order to be accepted ? Did they make any comment to you, about taking photo? I feel without an human relationship it is not possible to make pictures like the ones you did, but on other side I guess it is not easy to establish any kind of relationship during a protest.
Curious to know how did you man age it.
Robert,
Grazie mille. Indeed it was a hard day, but I really “feel” Paris only when there are demonstrations and people everywhere turning the beautiful city into a battlefield ... maybe as in 1968. You know, 1968 is in every mind nowadays, everybody’s expecting things heat up and blaze like in 1968. But for that day, for the Olympic flame, that wasn’t battlefield, rather a playground. It was funny actually, nothing as bad as TV reports showed.
About the « commitment », I had no kind of acquaintance with my subjects. But you’re partly right about weaving “human relationships” with the subject: the thing is you have to make a very quick and friendly contact before shooting; remember I shot only with a 35mm (unlike other shooters who used 90 or even 135mm in this kind of situation), so I had to get closer to my subjects, and this way, obviously they couldn’t ignore me. That’s why, IMHO, you need to make quick and virtually imperceptible contact before shooting (a friendly eye contact is often more than enough; or just a "hey"); at least, this is how I work.
Ciao,
Marc
PS: funny thing, I’ve never seen as many rangefinders as that day: Leica M3, M2, M4, M6, M8, Hexar AF, Hexar RF, Contax G2 … an only one ZI (mine).
