Can't Find Human Subjects? You Should Photograph Protests!
Protesters, with the Alps in the background.
As a beginner photographer, you often come up against a bit of a wall. You want to photograph people, but that's where the art and money really are, especially in the age of AI. You might not feel like bothering your family or friends, or you might not have any. You might be doing street photography for practice, but pointing your camera at a stranger is fill-your-britches terrifying.
What if I told you there are people out there, roaming in public, doing interesting things you'll want to photograph, all while wanting to be photographed?
Protests look interesting.
A protester with a home-made sign.
Even if your subjects aren't directly posing for you, they are being — dare I say — performative. Protesters at the front of a march stand tall with their chest high, and eyes on the horizon. Before your subject left their home, they put on an appropriate or appropriately interesting outfit and they cleaned themselves up. They might have even made a sign. They show up to the location in large numbers, they march together, they do speeches. They are, in a sense, performing for anyone who might see them protesting. How many opportunities might you get to photograph a performer during an organized performance without cold emailing, back-and-forth, contracts, deposits, invoices?
Protesters want to be photographed.
Yeah, well, interesting people exist in the wider world anyway. So what?
Interesting people don't always want to be photographed! You might be trying to do something funky with your art, but willing participants always make for better photos, at least in my view. A subject in a good mood puts both me and people looking at my art in a good mood, so I prefer that over subjects displaying negative emotions, or the resting disengagement from active thought you see in a person's face when they're going about their daily life. Resting subconscious autopilot face, or whatever they call it.
A protester displaying their sign for anyone who might want to see it, including a photographer with their camera.
People at a protest want to be photographed. They are putting on a disruptive event, for which they expect photographers to show up. A marching protest attracts media and general attention by gumming up the works of transportation and making noise — this alone would just make people hate them! Good photos are what demonstrate the humanity of their cause to the public.
You hold the copyright.
Dear reader, I may have misled you a bit. Not all protest subjects want to be photographed per se. Someone might see you taking a photo of them and ask you to not photograph them, or to delete your photos of them, or exchange details with you so you can send them a copy of the photos later, only to ask for a redaction instead, or all of the above.
If you've ever done street photography, you should look up your local laws on public photography. In France, you can photograph whoever and upload the photos online as you wish*. Except if you're trying to sell the photograph or rights to it, then you need clearance from the subject(s) and will subsequently end up negotiating rates with them.
* In extremely rare cases, you might be sued for damage to reputation, but your subject has to prove their reputation was harmed from your publishing photos of them. Basically, don't photograph rich people in a state of distress unless you've got a lawyer to back you up.
Even with street photography being legal in most places in the western world, a subject getting in your face to annoy you is also legal, at least to a certain extent. They don't even have to be a subject! For some people, seeing a detachable lens camera sends them into a spiral. I once had to diffuse a situation with a man who quick-stepped his way right up to me, looking really angry and demanding to know what I was taking pictures of. I was taking pictures of stray cats at a dump across the street from his house.
So then how do news photographers work? How do they sell their photos when photographers have to get clearance from their street photography subjects? It's simple: they have the mother of all trump cards.
"This is a news-worthy event."
A young person at a protest.
It's great event practice.
You show up, the lighting conditions are what they are, the subjects are who they are, the event is what it is. You have no creative control, and no authority to ask anyone to do anything, including moving, posing, smiling, or stopping their booger-eating. The event is happening with or without you. Your task is simply to take great photos. Do you accept this mission?
Yes! Unquestionably yes! The situation will be exactly the same for most events you shoot as a photographer. Unpredictable and uncontrollable will describe every wedding, corporate event or concert you'll ever photograph, even your kid's pee-wee soccer league. This kind of creative exercise will hone your skills when it comes to showing up and getting as many homer shots as you can. If you want your photography to be more than setting up a studio or loading up a car to get to a picturesque location, you need practice.
Social media exposure.
Everyone is on social media, including the protesters. Use Instagram's collaboration feature to invite the protest organizers when you upload the photos. They might accept, they might simply share the photos in their story. Either way, your post will get disseminated and give your social media numbers a good boost! Following their account makes it more likely that they accept the invitation and it gives you a heads up for when they plan to protest again.
A young person with a nose piercing at a protest.
A few pieces of advice.
Postural: Protests can go on for quite a long time. Wear some comfortable shoes and don't count on there being enough time or space for you to sit down for a break.
Technical: This isn't the time to show off your bokeh! Use a couple points narrower aperture than your lens's maximum for more predictable focus behavior, more things in focus and better sharpness for everything that is in focus! Modern cameras tend to favor as wide an aperture as possible in automatic modes, so use Aperture Priority. If things get dynamic, just widen your aperture and your camera will hasten your shutter speed to compensate. Aim for between f8 and f11. I would recommend Program Auto if my Sony a6300 didn't have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to P-mode settings.
Political: You don't have to share the political views of the protesters. However, it's a smart move to photograph protests you generally agree with, so you don't feel some type of way about taking and disseminating photos that make those protesters look powerful or righteous. Consider that even if you go to a protest full of bad people intending to photograph them looking mean and intolerant, those photos might end up on the social media profiles and fridges of people who share those mean and intolerant views.
Ethical: If someone approaches you to ask you to delete photos or censor people from your photos, it is ultimately up to you whether you want to heed to their request. My view is that it's a public, news-worthy event and me having a large camera with a long lens does not make me a spy. People might question your intent, but you show them you are simply there to take interesting photos through your actions. Do not let anyone push you around or convince you that they have a say in what you are allowed to capture or publish.
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So, have you ever photographed any protests? Got any war stories of getting tear gassed by some jackboot thug doing The Man's bidding? Comments are down below!
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