10-17-11 Occupy Wall Street

kirbinster

Spent a few hours visiting the Zoo which is Zuccotti Park on Monday. I was most impressed with how professional the NYC police were that were there observing. Had conversations with many of them, they are by far and away much more educated than most of the protestors. Here are a bunch of shots, but you can view the almost 200 I took at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirbinster/6257998872/in/set-72157627799188829

bfjr

There's some weird ones in there allright and I like the last image best.
His sign is To The Point, Straightforward.

lizzard_nyc

WIth your comments prior to your shots it was hard to look at these w/ an unbiased eye.
It reminds me of photos people take when they go Bolivia (where my family is from) and all they do is shoot the poverty when there is a whole other side to the country as well.

I think perhaps the photos would have been better without any of your comments prior to the shots. I rarely ever say something like that, but in this instance I was put on the defense and find it hard to comment on just the photography.

Hinson

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bfjr wrote: »

There's some weird ones in there allright and I like the last image best.
His sign is To The Point, Straightforward.

Yes, but doesn't he realize that it's his union that is responsible for most of the economic woes of the country. Why does he think all our jobs have gone overseas???

Also, who does he think he is going to work for if they do away with the large construction corporations that that do most of the building in this country? Mmmm, something to ponder.

RenFen

I love the quote "There is no minimum wage, without a maximum wage."

bfjr

Yes, but doesn't he realize that it's his union that is responsible for most of the economic woes of the country. Why does he think all our jobs have gone overseas???

Also, who does he think he is going to work for if they do away with the large construction corporations that that do most of the building in this country? Mmmm, something to ponder.

I'm sorry my comment was on the images in this post
I am not qualified to speak to how his sign relates to our economic woes.

Richard

Nice collection of images that shows the diversity of the demonstrators. What's missing for me here are some wider shots that give a sense of scale and context, though I noticed you have a few in your gallery.

Angelo

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

WIth your comments prior to your shots it was hard to look at these w/ an unbiased eye.
It reminds me of photos people take when they go Bolivia (where my family is from) and all they do is shoot the poverty when there is a whole other side to the country as well.

I think perhaps the photos would have been better without any of your comments prior to the shots. I rarely ever say something like that, but in this instance I was put on the defense and find it hard to comment on just the photography.

or in the alternative include some photos of the cops you mention engaged in the (alleged) act of illegally pepper-spraying and arresting peaceful demonstrators exercising their constitutional right to assembly and free speech.

photo journalism requires unbiased reporting or a representation of both sides.

.

bdcolen

I would really love to know how you know that the police doing such a great job are better educated than the protesters.

kirbinster

That is very simple, I talk with quite a few protesters and police. The police were college educated professionals, and the protesters were clueless as to what they really wanted and had a hard time constructing sentences that made a whole lot of sense.

bdcolen

kirbinster wrote: »

That is very simple, I talk with quite a few protesters and police. The police were college educated professionals, and the protesters were clueless as to what they really wanted and had a hard time constructing sentences that made a whole lot of sense.

Fascinating, because less than one third of the latest class entering the NYPD training academy have college degrees - and one would assume that the younger the group of cops, the higher the percentage of college degrees.

So you asked each cop you spoke with - and you spoke with how many out of the total there? - whether they had degrees, and you asked each protester you spoke with whether he or she was a college graduate?

Or are you simply assuming that the police were college educated because they were 'better spoken' than the protesters and better articulated their conservative beliefs - with which you agree, while the demonstrators you spoke with were less articulate and couldn't explain to your satisfaction what they wanted?

kirbinster

The cops were professional in that they knew what they were doing, why they were there and how to deal with people. I talked with some as if I was for the protest and others being against it - I could not get ANY of them to take a stance as to which way they believed things -- there were articulate and talked about the pluses and minuses but would not take sides on issues. That was very professional of all of them.

BTW did you see the picture of the guy that ruined his face with ink -- how can you give anyone like that even the time of day let alone a job.

Hinson

Ok, guys, let's get back to photography. No one is going to win this one. I personally visited the protest site at Freedom Sq. in DC. (going to McPherson Sq next week) I had a discussion with one of the protestors and though we disagreed on most points, the fellow had a very intelligent and reasoned and well articulated answer for all my questions. I think for the most part, the group that I saw 'appeared' to be of average intelligence. And unfortunately, if you've spent any time in DC talking to cops, you know that there are those who sound as if they need a pencil and paper to figure out how many bullets go in their gun. So there are good and bad, intelligent and not so intelligent on both sides. In other words, normal human beings. We should never stoop to stereotyping all based on the actions of the few. I'll post some photos and comments on my blog after my next visit to the square. And so that you don't think I don't like cops; both my sons are in law enforcement. I'm very close to the legal establishment.

Demian

kirbinster wrote: »

BTW did you see the picture of the guy that ruined his face with ink -- how can you give anyone like that even the time of day let alone a job.

Christ man, show some tolerance.

bdcolen

Demian wrote: »

Christ man, show some tolerance.

mercphoto

Demian wrote: »

Christ man, show some tolerance.

Double that!