Student March, London December 2010

              Confusion

I captured this image by chance my camera failed a couple of moments prior to taking this shot. Only on analyzing the photograph did it reveal some interesting points. The man was hit on the head with a police batten. His jacket and hand are stained with blood and his head is still bleeding. He is shaken and dazed but what shocks me is the lack of attention the man is receiving. What appears to be a woman's arm (bottom right) is holding the man upright. The man wearing the woolen hat and the woman directly behind him have two entirely different expressions. It is visibly clear the man has real concerns, however the woman takes a lighter view of the situation almost smiling and not concerned at all for the injured man. The girl wearing the fingerless gloves deploys her mobile phone ready for snap shots. The very well dressed man in the black woolen coat, looks to a have real sense of fear that his battery may let him down. Last but not least there is me, capturing the incident  unfolding. The moral of this story I guess is the sadness and irony of it all, showing only two people out of six are attending the injured man. This shows me just how fixated and selfish other people can be. Sadly on this occasion this includes me.

Student march, London December 2010

CHAOS

                                                                 

This is another captured image of the protest in December 2010. This is where most of the action was, I made my way to the police line through hundreds of people. My feet was not on the ground at this point, I managed to raise my arm to get this shot. The police line must have been four to five deep. An arm is raised in anger and hits the policeman with the flat of his hand. This could possibly be that he did not want to hurt his fist on the police mans helmet. It clearly shows the police are not in control at this moment. Just a few moments after this photograph was taken they split the lines and through came the horses. It was absolute chaos at this stage, the crowds split in all directions. I was grabbed and just to be hit by a police batten but managed to struggle free. This was utter madness and stupidity for the use of horses with this volume of people. Not only for the safety of the crowds but also for the horses. After witnessing this unfold I do not know how some one was not killed.

Student march, London December 2010

This is just one of nine hundred photographs I took in London on the day of the march, in December 2010 against the rise of tuition fees. The photograph documents a group of mixed gender and age groups. the people have traveled from all different areas of the country. This is to make a stand against the governments proposals. This will determine the future as to who can and cannot afford the chance of higher education

The people are cold, hungry and tired from there long travel here. There are lots of different facial expressions, the two girls (bottom right) appear to be enjoying them self's. Whilst at the opposite side of the photograph (top left) the two girls appear somber, frightened and weary. The young man in the expensive looking jacket as other ideas, raising his arms in jubilation and deviance.

There are lots of people with cameras stroon in the crowds. The photographer that is crouched down (bottom left) is pointing his camera towards my direction oblivious to what is transpiring around him. The whole image appears to have  a degree of solidarity, Hanger, frustration and an uprising. The people are responding with violence and destruction, fed up almost of all the lies and deceit from the politicians.

I chose an entirely different view point than lots of other photographers for various reasons. 1 the background documents the event is taking place in London. 2 It shows the front of the banner and finally the young man throwing his arms in the air. The fire is fierce and roaring in the breeze. with fire comes destruction, it did not take very long for these four benches to turn in to ashes. 

The image draws my attention to the center of the image, there is a real ambiance and warmth, then my eyes leads  me to the outer picture. The black ghostly shadow of the statue witnessing the violence unfolding, the greys and the blacks are bleak and cold. Lots of people reacting in lots of various actions. I was not only there to document the march I too was feeling the same emotions hanger and bitterness on a very cold Decembers day.

One thing that was positive on this day for me personally was the experience, the buzz. I was going around alone, I did not have any one to look out for. This gave me the freedom to cover allot of ground. It fought me to be prepare, I was without food and water for nine to ten hours. Also the lack of time to Set the camera settings are thrown from the window. You do not want to miss the moment.