The main banner of the March & Rally for a Secular Europe read ‘For Universal Human Rights’ and its a shame that this message isn’t really legible on the image above which is I think the best of those that I took of the front of their march.
There are several alternatives on the web pages for the event where it is easy to read, but for me at least they lack the visual interest of this image. In part it is the lighting which creates a little drama with the shadows – and just a little more flare than I would have liked, though I could have toned down the pale arc in the shadow at bottom left and the discs on Waterloo Bridge and easily completely removed a couple of lighter spots in the sky I haven’t yet bothered to do so. I can hardly blame the 16-35mm (FX on the D700) as the sun was only just above the frame. It it had been a static subject I might have been able to augment the lens hood with a carefully placed hand or card, but there wasn’t time for that.
Several things add interest to the image other than the lighting – most obviously the scattered line of watchers on the bridge. But also important are the two red diagonals, one on the bottom of the banner and the other on the edge of the ‘red route’ of the Embankment. It’s also one of the rare occasions where I think the reflective jacket of the officer actually adds to an image. Not a great picture, but one that – for me at least – works.
The march went down Bridge St, under Big Ben, so I was able to play one of my favourite games with the 10.5mm, working on the D800 as a DX camera. You can see a few pictures on My London Diary, mostly, like the image below, converted from fisheye to cylindrical perspective as I often do to give a less obvious result. The lighting is interesting on this, as you can see if you look carefully in the shadow area. Portcullis House, a rather ugly modern building behind me has rather a lot of glass to reflect light back into the street onto the protesters as a second light source. The shadows also show I’m working directly into the sun and the vertical angle of view is around 147 degrees. To take the series of pictures of this woman I was walking along at her side keeping the placard she was holding between the sun and my lens.
At the rally after the march I made portraits of most of the speakers as well as photographing people in the crowd, and looking at the images makes me wonder about the tension between recording and dramatising events.
I’ve caught this speaker as she makes a point, hair flying, eyes wide open, hand slightly blurred in a gesture, but would a rather more ordinary, more typical moment have been a more accurate and truthful record? Perhaps not, because I think in this case it conveys something of her conviction and spirit which would not be evident in a less intense moment. But I do think we can try to hard to avoid the ordinary.
More pictures from the event at March & Rally for a Secular Europe on My London Diary.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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