Documenting a Protest Has Never Been More Challenging
This week has been unusually difficult for photographers who are trying to cover the George Floyd protests. Essay and images by photographer Alan Chin.
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Alan Chin in Lower Manhattan: 9/11 Turns Twelve
Good hack and lensman that I am, I fight for access to restricted areas, bemused that the young men and women in uniforms who see journalists as intrusive adversaries have no idea that, the dozen years back, I was here too.
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Bradley Manning's Lawyer on the Unfairness, and Dignity, We Weren't Allowed to See
What his lawyer wanted us to know is that Manning, against the stereotype of him as diminutive and weak, behaved with dignity and grace under enormous pressure. If allowed, photographs and videos would have reflected that on the air and front pages everywhere.
Continue ReadingSnowden in Moscow: “The More Photographed I Am…the More Dangerous my Situation”
It’s evident that either his sartorial taste runs quite narrowly -- as befitting a classic “computer nerd” -- or he’s very specifically controlling his image, or both.
Continue ReadingBolivian Prez Plane Caught in Snowden S-Storm. (Or: Hiding in the Millenium Falcon!)
In a crisis unlike any other — the Snowden drama playing out in secret and on the world stage -- President Evo Morales of Bolivia finally took off for home this morning in his Dassault Falcon after thirteen unscheduled hours on the ground in Vienna. So much for...
Continue ReadingThe Further Invisible Adventures of Edward Snowden
But it's Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas who point out in the Washington Post that the lurid aspects of Snowden's invisible adventures actually detract from the importance of his disclosures, that covering his personal ordeal "has even neutralized journalistic resources that could’ve been devoted to the larger NSA stories...
Continue ReadingThe Picture of Edward Snowden
So his self-knowledge here, his considered and articulate speech, the stunning power of the documents he released, all these elements make Snowden fascinating. It won't hurt him that he is white, young, good-looking, and straight. No geeky gay Bradley Manning. No hippie possible sexual predator and confirmed player, Julian...
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Alan Chin from Watertown, MA: Endgame at 67 Franklin Street
Inside the police perimeter on Franklin Street it was hushed and quiet, with only the sound of generators powering the metal halide arc lights and a flight of bats rustling tree branches on what would return soon to simply a chilly spring night.
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Alan Chin from the Memorial Service in Newtown, CT: Different This Time?
Perhaps what's unique about the Newtown shooting massacre, and the photos of this memorial service, is the widespread recognition of its utter familiarity.
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Alan Chin in Nashua, New Hampshire: Pressing The Flesh
President Obama campaigns in New Hampshire, hugging babies and also adding exclamation points!
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Alan Chin in Lower Manhattan: You Said You'd Never Forget
Alan Chin's moving photo-essay on the 9/11 anniversary losing its significance with images side-by-side of the near-completed Freedom Tower and his father's photo of the original World Trade Center under construction.
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Alan Chin at Occupy Wall Street: The Human Microphone
"Perhaps not remarkable, but telling, is how the protesters remain upbeat and positive, embracing idealism without irony." -- Alan Chin's latest "photo op-ed" from Zucotti Park.
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Alan Chin at Occupy Wall Street: Nights at Camp Hashtag
If the protest/occupation in Liberty Square is easy to make fun of, especially for its scale, it creates a new fact on the literal ground of Wall Street. These are young people, victimized by the recession, willing to publicly dissent and, as importantly, stand up against conventional wisdom.
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Alan Chin on "the 9/11 Decade": Beyond Pushpins On A Calendar
"Though anniversaries may just be pushpins on a calendar, they are key markers of our individual and collective lives." Photographer Alan Chin on loss and change through the 9/11 decade, from New York to Afghanistan, Iraq to New Orleans, and back again.
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Alan Chin: Through the Champagne Spray – Report from Ground Zero upon bin Laden’s Death
A crowd gathered at the World Trade Center site (Ground Zero) to celebrate after President Obama announced the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
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Alan Chin on the Middle East: Ghosts of Suez and Srebrenica
In this momentous period in the Middle East, Alan Chin reflects on military interventions that didn't happen, concerns for the one that has, and the emotional forces at play for a photojournalist now back home, while friends and colleagues remain at risk.
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Alan Chin on the Tunisia-Libya Border: Chaos (Controlled?)
This exodus exemplifies a dark face of globalization: Smaller numbers from richer societies are taken care of, while the masses of laborers from poor countries struggle to survive -- and that is a fundamental reason why this wave of revolt and revolution has swept across the region.
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Alan Chin on the Tunisia-Libya Border: Exodus
It's no longer quiet at Tunisia's Ras Jedir border where Alan Chin had been attempting to cross into Libya these past two days. Instead, there is now a mass of evacuees choking the area.
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