Official Photography Thread

[RobinFinderson]

I'll be honest, cops fascinate me. I started to walk around the cops photographing their groups.



Just like the protesters, the cops seemed pretty pleased with themselves.



Cops filing into the area.



And more. There were probably almost as many cops as there were protesters. I'd never seen so many all at once.



Easy overtime. Now time to go out and drink it up.

All done!

[Katy Lied]

I like this one a lot, and the one of the Neo Black Panthers.

That's a lot of money to spend on a protest demonstration. I guess LA is not in the same budget mess that the State is?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Cool pics RF. Had I known I would have come and joined the protest.

[RobinFinderson]

I like this one a lot, and the one of the Neo Black Panthers.

That's a lot of money to spend on a protest demonstration. I guess LA is not in the same budget mess that the State is?

One of the things I like about that particular image is how clear it makes it that the exercise of these Nazi's freedom of speech is happening behind the human shield of the Padillas and De La Cruzes.

And you are right about the money. There were fewer than fifty Nazis at their rally. There were probably 4 cops to every Nazi. Those are some pretty expensive lengths for freedom of speech.

[UtahDan]

One of the things I like about that particular image is how clear it makes it that the exercise of these Nazi's freedom of speech is happening behind the human shield of the Padillas and De La Cruzes.

And you are right about the money. There were fewer than fifty Nazis at their rally. There were probably 4 cops to every Nazi. Those are some pretty expensive lengths for freedom of speech.

You are infinitely more creative than I am when it comes to how to spend a free Saturday. This is super cool and I'm glad you shared it here.

[wuapinmon]

Thanks, Robin. Awesome stuff.

[RobinFinderson]

Thanks for kind thoughts. HFN, it would have been fun to have you along! I had no idea (forgot, missed the fact) that you would be in the LA area this weekend. We should have gone to this sweet little Peruvian place I know about.

One final thought about the Nazi event + counter-protest: The anarchists were definitely there to do violence to the Nazis. Most people were very non-confrontational with the cops (less so with the Nazis), but the anarchists were throwing bottles and rocks at the Nazis. I was impressed with the way the police handled the situation. Had the anarchists directed more than taunts at the police, things would have escalated quickly. As it turned out, they were throwing rocks and bottles at the Nazis, so the police line simply advanced and pushed the crowd back, out of throwing distance. A number of anarchists were arrested, and at one point there was nonsensical talk about storming the paddy wagons. When I was talking to the cops at the end of the day, one showed me his pant leg where he had been hit by an egg. He said that he had witnessed a lot of egg and vegetable throwing (I missed that, but saw the rocks and bottles).

[wuapinmon]

My (7 y.o) daughter took this one with her Nikon Coolpix S220 (I don't recommend it at all!). She says she took the tree in focus on purpose. If true, I think it shows that she might have a knack for something interesting behind the lens.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I love this thread.

Very cool series of photos, RF.

[TripletDaddy]

findo, I saw footage of the Nazi rally on the evening news, as I am sure you did later that evening. I was amazed at the level of ignorance and hate.

These Nazi rallies remind me of the infamous scenes from The Blues Brothers. "I Hate Illinois Nazis." But it is shocking and sobering to realize that these groups exist and they walk amongst us. And they are protected by the same freedoms that we exercise and enjoy. The price of liberty, I suppose.

I definitely thought of you when I saw the news because I figured you would be all over the photog aspect. Glad to see my instincts were correct.

[beefytee]

Great photos Robin.

I was thinking recently that we needed some new inner city photos from you. These are even better.

Thanks.

[RobinFinderson]

Thanks to the more recent well-wishers.

With a little time to reflect, I've been thinking about how the whole event was a very expensive costume party where everybody got to play to a stereotype.

The Nazis got to dress like Nazis and scream hate messages at crowds of minorities.

The Anarchists got to run through the streets and throw rocks and bottles and taunt police, and were in turn (harmlessly) pushed around by cops.

Jews got to confront Nazis.

The police got to intimidate Hippies/Liberals/Anarchists.

In other words, everyone had their existential purpose validated. Except for the tax-payers, who are left holding the tab for this costume party, it was a real Win/Win/Win/Win.

[Scott R Nelson]

I went through all of my photos a few months back to make high resolution background images for my computer at work. I'm going to start posting some of my favorites here, but will try to keep it to less than one a day.

For some reason I especially like this one that I took while in Mexico:


____________________
Scott R. Nelson, Pleasanton, CA

[Katy Lied]

I went through all of my photos a few months back to make high resolution background images for my computer at work. I'm going to start posting some of my favorites here, but will try to keep it to less than one a day.

It is required that you tell us what your gear is. The bird photo looks like about an F/11, depending on your lens length?

Love your motorcycle picture. Love it. Did you photoshop any part of it?

[Scott R Nelson]

It is required that you tell us what your gear is. The bird photo looks like about an F/11, depending on your lens length?

Love your motorcycle picture. Love it. Did you photoshop any part of it?

Most of my photos were taken with an Canon S5-IS. Occasionally I've used my wife's Digital Elph. Photos from a few years back were taken with a Canon S1-IS, which I wore out after taking 14,000 photos. I liked that camera so much that I decided to have it fixed, so I dropped it off at the local Wolf Camera and they sent it somewhere to repair it. About a month later they said they couldn't fix it and would I mind taking a refurbished S5-IS for the same repair price of $128. I couldn't say yes fast enough.

I don't use photoshop except in rare cases to tweak the colors a tiny bit. I think the motorcycle by the Golden Gate Bridge was lightened slightly. Mostly I only crop and resize, which I can do just as well with a simpler program like XnView.