Had a bit of an epiphany today. Was at a loss as to what to edit and just flipping through photos from past protest marches when I noticed something. The photos where people are looking dead into the camera seemed to jump out and grab your attention a lot better than the rest.
Most of the time when I'm shooting at protests I'm trying my best not to be noticed so when people look directly into my camera it's either an accident, luck, or a screw up on my part. These were all taken with either a 50mm prime or a 19-35mm wide angle lens, which meant getting close enough that going unnoticed was a bit impractical.
The press like to lurk on the on the periphery of a march, between them and the livestreamers it's hard to get a good shot of a march without somebody fouling up your shot unless you're good and close. A wide angle comes in really handy for this, plus it makes it a lot easier to get shots from within a march.
Shooting from within a march is always a bit tricky. There's always a lot going on and you've either got to shoot on the move or stand still as everyone hopefully goes around you. Helps to have a partner to work with. Your field of view tends to be rather limited which makes lining up a shot a bit of a race.
Still not sure how to get people to look into the camera in situations like that, gonna have to experiment and see what I can figure out.
Some people are always going to be uncooperative. Photos are from three different marches: The 1 year anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death on March 13, 2021 here in Louisville, the March On For Voting Rights from August 28, 2021 in Washington DC, and from a June 24, 2022 march here in Louisville after SCOTUS overturned Roe.