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brassshadow — 04-01-03 Fists Raised

Published: 2005-04-24 01:24:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 643; Favourites: 6; Downloads: 43
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Description Starting off the speeches with a salute to the Black National Anthem at the rally for Affirmative Action on April 1st 2003. Taken on the steps of the Lincoln National Monument, Washington DC.

Overall the size was estimated at 50,000, that's a lot of people especially for a weekday. A lot of people that do not want the re-segregation that would occur if Affirmative Action where done away with at a time when so much discrimination still exists. The Supreme Court was holding the hearings for the two cases in question: the U-Michigan Law School Case, Grutter v. Bollinger and the U-Michigan undergraduate case, Gratz v. Bollinger. If you would like to learn more about Affirmative Action please visit the BAMN website at www.bamn.com for facts and myth busters about Affirmative Action. By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) was the organizer of this rally.

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Additional info as of 4-23-05

Uploading a new version of this photo, this time I took the image directly from the negative using a dedicated scanner for film, rather than using the low quality print that came from the 1-hour photo place were I got it processed 2 years ago.

This was back when I used a simple point and shoot film camera and hadn't learned what I know today about photography.

A lesson learned, I can get much better quality from the original print, although I had to do a lot of work to the scanned image because the photo "lab" left some nasty scratches on the negative.

Part of a series of photos I'm satisfied with from my old point and shoot film days, that I am rescanning using a dedicated film scanner that I didn't have access to back when I first took them.
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Comments: 14

vastavenger [2010-06-16 05:45:00 +0000 UTC]

Wow, I love the wave that the people create. To me it seems to symbolize the cause in some regard, as if a crashing wave coming to it's crest, about to spill it's concentration over itself.

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brassshadow In reply to vastavenger [2010-06-20 12:45:29 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for your detailed thoughts on it

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vastavenger In reply to brassshadow [2010-06-20 20:09:43 +0000 UTC]

My pleasure!

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AfricanObserver [2010-06-06 14:21:57 +0000 UTC]

The camera may have been simple, but the moment, and the capture not. Great shot!

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brassshadow In reply to AfricanObserver [2010-06-06 19:38:36 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much

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NSH [2005-04-25 15:07:10 +0000 UTC]

wow great capture
the raised fists...
Holly is right you are so pro-active
that is great
keep it up hun...

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brassshadow In reply to NSH [2005-04-25 17:00:11 +0000 UTC]

thanks alot nadia,
Glad you like it
most of my old negatives are from political events so expect more photos from political events as I have a chance to scan them in.
So far I also scanned in a negative of the Anarchist block at another event, it's here if you haven't seen it [link]

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NSH In reply to brassshadow [2005-04-25 17:02:30 +0000 UTC]

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arundip [2005-04-24 01:50:17 +0000 UTC]

Interesting scene. I'm going to comment on this re-uploaded version, because I'm too lazy to look for the original

I like large public gatherings, and they're always fun to photograph. This seems like quite a dynamic scene. However, a few things could be done to make the image stronger.

In the foreground, there is a person who is facing to the right (away from the general fist-raising direction), and whose face is covered by a fist. This individual's presence is quite distracting, and forces the eye away from the fist-raising-direction. Other than this problem, the eye is directed quite well around the image, as the fists seem to be making a circle around the stage. Cropping out a bit of the foreground would probably be beneficial.

There is a lot of red and blue in this image, interspersed throughout the crowd. This gives the image a coherent feel. However, a couple of objects starkly stand out. First, the umbrella to the top left. I like this umbrella, and its colours match the rest of the image well. However, the positioning of the umbrella is awkward, and tends to draw the eye toward the extreme edge of the scene. Second, the individual in the foreground (directly ahead of the girl with aberrant orientation) is wearing a bluish jacket which breaks the coherence of the image. However, I don't see how you could adjust the shot to resolve such a problem.

Aside from these small issues, the only other thing that could've been great would be a bold blue sky, as opposed to the washed-out gray of the scene. However, that's the weather's fault, and shouldn't really be mentioned.

Great shot otherwise.

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brassshadow In reply to arundip [2005-04-24 02:25:51 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for the detailed analysis.
I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a helpful critique,
I'm thinking about what you mentioned,
I'm playing around with the cropping to see how it looks,
I agree that it definitely is less distracting with out the person in the foreground,
I'll probably re-upload it with the new crop once I've taken some time to think about it.
Thanks again.

P.S. It's not really much to look at but if your interested here is the upload of the scan I original took from the photo lab print [link]

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arundip In reply to brassshadow [2005-04-24 02:38:21 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome

The original print has a slightly liquid "washed-out" sense to it, in terms of the colour. I like the re-upload a lot better.

Looking forward to see any new crop you may produce.

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brassshadow In reply to arundip [2005-04-24 02:42:32 +0000 UTC]

Yeah the washed out effect is kindof from a combination of both a cheap scanner and a poor quality print from the one hour photo lab.

Also, I'll let you know if I upload a version with a new crop.

Thanks again.

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hbynoe [2005-04-24 01:44:59 +0000 UTC]

great colors
and omnious
darkness to it
lovely work dear
you are so verry active
it is wonderful

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brassshadow In reply to hbynoe [2005-04-24 02:12:32 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much holly
I have a few more photos from other past political events coming up
Trying to get them scanned in before the semester ends and the computer lab with the scanner closes for the summer.

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