Talk about a dream assignment for a photo journalist! Photographer Peter Hapak was asked to shoot all the major protests that took place worldwide in 2011 for Time magazine. This year Time chose to go with a group of people instead of an individual for it's prestigious "Time Person Of The Year" award. The beneficiaries this year were the participants in the various protests and riots that took place worldwide in 2011. The video below combines a first hand account of the events from Peter himself, as well as a wealth of information visually. Watching a top class photographer run and gun in regards to shooting and lighting, is something you just won't learn in art school. Make sure to set aside the next 8 minutes and watch a seasoned pro at work!
Source: Strobist
amazing
That dog story is amazing
Most definitely. I must have seen 100 pictures of that dog during the protests from so many different journalists. Immortalized forever.
Amazing video.
With regard to the dog: there's a lot of street dogs in Athens, so the dog probably belonged to no one. These dogs are attracted by whatever is happening on the streets. I was on a bike trip through the city and these dogs kept following us, they were just interested.
The protest dog probably just thinks the riot police are there to play with him :) Either that, or he's fighting corruption.
There is something profoundly wrong about shooting
protesters in a studio ....
I get your point, but don't agree with you. What makes these pictures interesting is that the people are taken out of context and placed in front of a generic white background. This way, the viewer can focus much more of the person instead of his environment, and you start to see the differences and also similarities between all the protestors. Think about what this series would've been like if he'd photographed each person on the street with no additional backgrounds or strobes. I think that would've been less interesting.
I envy him. What more can you ask for from a job like Peter's?!
shooting protesters as they come in from a protest just seems very contrived to me ... I dunno jury is still out for me over this - great images but its almost as bad as the media photoshopping riot images to make them more violent.
I'm sorry but I don't understand how "making images more
violent" has anything to do with creating portraits of real protesters,
fresh off the street. I'm no big fan of white backgrounds but it makes
us look at these individuals in their purest form. Some people will just
look like your nice neighbour from down the street and I think that's
the point here. To show that we are just a mix of average heroes
fighting for the same thing.
I'm sorry but I don't understand how "making images more violent" has anything to do with creating portraits of real protesters, fresh off the street. I'm no big fan of white backgrounds but it makes us look at these individuals in their purest form. Some people will just look like your nice neighbour from down the street and I think that's the point here. To show that we are just a mix of average heroes fighting for the same thing.
i really liked the dog.