Photographing last Saturday’s ‘Million Women Rise‘ march in London would have been rather easier if I had shaved my beard off. The march was a ‘women only’ event, although I’m fairly certain that there were a few men marching in the thick of it with their partners.
The previous day I’d told one of the women photographers I was working with about this event, and she was able to photograph it in the way I would normally work, getting into the right position and making contact with people as she took their pictures, while I was limited by having to stay on the sidelines – except at the head of the march.
Of course there were plenty of women on the march who wanted to be photographed, and some even rushed across to make sure I photographed them, or slowed to make space so I could read their banners, but too often I was further away than I would have liked, or could not get a proper line of sight.
So these two women from the ‘Stripping The Illusion‘ campaign against lap dancing by Object were carrying placards in the shape of teacups, protesting against the ridiculously named ‘Spearmint Rhino’ which they have given an “Award for the biggest misuse of the word ‘Gentleman‘” (shown on the left hand placard) but I didn’t manage to show them well enough to use an image and thus mention them when I wrote about the event. Nor did I manage to get a picture of the woman behind them with her placard about Shirin Alam Holi, a 28 year old Kurdish political prisoner in a Tehran jail sentenced to death in January for “warring against God” by working with a Kurdistan opposition group. And I’m sure there was much more I missed, both in the march and by not attending the rally at its end.
Of course I did manage to take some pictures, even some I like, but so many times I wanted to get closer and couldn’t. Standing on the sidelines I sometimes felt rather more like a voyeur than I like, having to use a longer lens than usual.
I did step a few inches into the road to take this picture, and just a few more inches to take the next frame which showed more of the text on the banner. Immediately one of the stewards was at my elbow, requesting politely that I show my support from the pavement and not from the road.
I’m not complaining because I feel hard done by. Rather just that I wasn’t able to support the event as fully as I would have liked, and as I have managed to do at other women’s events. You can see some of what I did manage to do on My London Diary.
Whilst I understand your frustration, the Million Women Rise march is an extremely rare and powerful opportunity for women to publicly stand in solidarity with one another in a gesture of collective defiance against male violence in all it’s forms and in encouraging female empowerment.
May I suggest that you could consider encouraging this type of female empowerment by passing on your skills in training to a woman photographer and enjoying her perspectives on the march and rally? There are many ways in which men can offer genuine and much needed help to Million Women Rise and these are listed on the website.
Dear Munch Magus,
I was responsible for one of the better photographers in the country covering this year’s event – she only knew it was happening because I told her about it the previous day and suggested she come. Over my 30 years of teaching photography many of my best students were women, although not all of them would appreciate being called women photographers.
I’ve also given permission to Million Women Rise to use my photographs from previous years without charge.
Regards,
Peter