DPReview forum censors work of frontline riot photographer amidst George Floyd protests

[Andrew Reid]

Photo by Fibonacci Blue

Will Smith said recently that racism isn't increasing - the difference is that it's being photographed and filmed - now we realise just how much of it there is. If it wasn't for the filming of George Floyd's murder by a policeman, it may never have come to light in public. All of us who have a camera, smartphone or online presence should keep this flame alive and shine a light on the truth wherever it confronts us. Important photos and videos must never be censored.

However when a long-time DPReview forum contributor tried to share his photos of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis, he was immediately censored.

I have also been subject to censorship on the DPReview forum (my URL is banned completely) so I know what it's like to have your voice silenced from a community.

New blog post:

https://www.eoshd.com/photo/dpreview-censors-frontline-riot-photographer-photos-of-george-floyd-protests/

[Snowbro]

Dpreview forum sucks

[Andrew Reid]

Again another example of the hypocrisy of this. Standing up for anti-censorship on the front page, while censoring their users on the back pages.

https://***URL removed***/news/9338848714/sony-world-photography-awards-receives-backlash-over-censorship-of-hong-kong-protest-images

[barefoot_dp]

Did they lock the thread, or did they delete it?

 

[Wronzoff]

Frontline riot photographer...what is that ? Wedding photographer, I know... but Frontline riot photographer.
"...I'm risking my life to cover this story (gunshots, rocks, fire, tear gas, etc.)"
I think it's the etc. that pose a problem here. Anyone with a camera "feel the need to document" the riot. So cool, you don't have to travel to war zone like Syria or Yemen to be in the boots of a photojournalist, just go downtown, to get a shot of adrenaline. The smell of tear gas is so exciting my dear ! Do you think I should take a ND filter, because yesterday I couldn't focus well with the flash grenade. No joke, last time I saw on the news, a lady with a gimbal running with the protesters. Next is what ? slow mo with a Phantom ? 360 VR ?
The same people are taking pictures of homeless, you know...to document poverty. All of that, to feed social media and get followers. Pathetic.

When you introduce yourself saying:
Frontline riot photographer.
"...I'm risking my life to cover this story (gunshots, rocks, fire, tear gas, etc.)"
it's an insult to photojournalist who died, doing their job.

[Caleb Genheimer]

Man, yeah. Lots of complex emotion on this for me over the last week. I’m a white Minnesotan, working 6 days a week even during COVID-19... I thought about photographing/video documenting, and I agree it is incredibly important work and that things must be seen. 
 

But my heart is broken. Just straight ripped apart. I just got home from two days In Minneapolis/St. Paul, and I’m glad I didn’t bring a camera, and I left my phone in my bag. There’s a LOT of I guess I’d call it “social justice tourism” going on, and that just sits uneasy with me. Like, people were posing with their friends and signs for selfies, and then leaving the sit-in at the capitol before it was done... even more selfies with the George Floyd mural at Cup Foods. Don’t get me wrong, it is good that those people are at least engaging on some level, but social media is already drowning in this stuff at the moment, that isn’t necessarily an efficient vehicle for change. 
 

I don’t need pictures to communicate what I’ve seen with my own eyes. I saw the entire capitol lawn filled to bursting with beautiful peaceful people all afternoon, championing full institutional overhaul of the oppressive system... which by the way was organized and led by FREAKING HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS, who were all more articulate than yours truly.

 

I worked alongside hundreds of my fellow Minnesotans ALL DAY yesterday as we packed food and household supplies for our neighbors in need. We were tired. We were drenched in sweat. It was beautiful. Emotions, events, words and actions are in the highest contrast in this moment.

 

Sometimes you’ve gotta leave the camera behind and commit your full self to being present. And I must say this: while the news has been reporting both the peaceful protests and the unrest, the time devoted to each is woefully disproportionate to the time Minnesotans have been devoting to each. Yes there has been some destruction and some violence. But there is an immeasurably larger effort of peaceful demand for justice.

 

Heres the only picture from today, snapped by a construction worker on an adjacent building and texted to one of the church food drive organizers. All of those bags of groceries were gone within half an hour. The need is real, but Minnesotans are rising to the occasion, government or no government.

[RWR]

"championing full institutional overhaul of the oppressive system."

Pictures would indeed be inadequate to encapsulate that.

[Mokara]

3 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Photo by Fibonacci Blue

Will Smith said recently that racism isn't increasing - the difference is that it's being photographed and filmed - now we realise just how much of it there is. If it wasn't for the filming of George Floyd's murder by a policeman, it may never have come to light in public. All of us who have a camera, smartphone or online presence should keep this flame alive and shine a light on the truth wherever it confronts us. Important photos and videos must never be censored.

However when a long-time DPReview forum contributor tried to share his photos of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis, he was immediately censored.

I have also been subject to censorship on the DPReview forum (my URL is banned completely) so I know what it's like to have your voice silenced from a community.

New blog post:

https://www.eoshd.com/photo/dpreview-censors-frontline-riot-photographer-photos-of-george-floyd-protests/

There was nothing to suggest that this particular incident had anything to do with racism, other than the police officer being white and the victim black. That in itself is not enough. Keep in mind that these two guys had worked together providing security at a night club for about three years, so they must have known each other fairly well. So there is more likely a personal issue between them if anything. The video footage I have seen of the arrest doesn't suggest that the officers were doing anything unexpected initially, nor were they angry or anything like that. It came across as just another day in the office. I know someone who used to be married to a police officer, and she would tell us that her husband spent most of his time essentially being a baby sitter for drunk people, and after a while the officers would get cynical and blasé about it. You get to see the bad ugly side of people and you see it all the time and I think that changes you to be less empathetic in time. Looking at that footage of those guys, it seemed to me like they were in that mode. Then there is a gap in coverage until we see the footage of the officer kneeling on the victim. He looked very calm about it, it is not like he was out of control. He was just parked there with his hands in his pockets, gazing outwards, like nothing much was going on. My guess is that something happened in that gap that provoked the final situation, what exactly isn't clear, but I suppose it will come out in the trial.

That said the racial demographics of people who die during arrest matches very closely with the number being arrested in total. Basically the people doing the crime or appear to be doing the crime and attract police attention in the process have a chance of being killed, and the color of your skin does not significantly affect those odds. Black males account for a disproportionate number of being arrested and/or dieing in the process compared to the overall population (~30% of arrests and of deaths), but when you consider that most street policing arrests happens in poorer areas and African Americans are twice as likely to be living in those areas compared to other groups, it is clear that neither arrests nor deaths are skewed significantly by race. It is more of a poverty thing than a race thing, and even then that is because there is more crime in impoverished areas. There are going to be individual cases that are driven by racism, but it is not the norm. The vast majority of police officers do not behave that way.

If you look up the statistics males account for about 75% of all arrests, and 95% of deaths during arrests. So this is something that mostly affects men, primarily those between 18 and 44. Also, about 60% of the deaths happen during arrests for violent crime, even though such crimes account for ~14% of all arrests. This is also the arrest group that is dominated by young/middle aged black men, which probably accounts for the higher death rate in that demographic. Interestingly, since both black and white deaths correlate with overall arrest rates, it suggests that whites are more likely to be killed than african americans when being arrested for non violent crimes since they dominate that category (in some cases well in excess of their representation in the general population). They have to be dieing somewhere for the overall stats to balance out. But you don't hear about that because if you are white then these events go mostly unreported and certainly no one stages any protests about it. It doesn't fall into the narrative of conventional wisdom.

I know this is going off-track a bit, but it is wise to take a lot of what is going on with a big pinch of salt. In stories like this you can be certain that some (and likely a lot) people are trying to manipulate you in the interests of their own agenda. I think most of the current protests are driven by frustration stemming from the lockdown due to covid-19, and this incident is acting as a surrogate to unleash those feelings.

[nathanleebush]

The last time I’ll visit EOSHD. You’re such a whiny little bitch at this point. 

[Snowbro]

I think there should be a sub forum here for political stuff & I agree that what happened to George Floyd was bullshit (even though this is more about DP review & andrews grudge lol). It is really odd to mix politics and cameras but whatever. 

[BenEricson]

2 hours ago, Mokara said:

There was nothing to suggest that this particular incident had anything to do with racism, other than the police officer being white and the victim black.

2 hours ago, Mokara said:

My guess is that something happened in that gap that provoked the final situation, what exactly isn't clear, but I suppose it will come out in the trial.

2 hours ago, Mokara said:

In stories like this you can be certain that some (and likely a lot) people are trying to manipulate you in the interests of their own agenda.

Yep. Exactly.

The cop is being charged with 2nd degree murder because he killed a man and you’re still trying to defend him, solely for the reason that he’s a white cop! Get the hell out of here with that. He had 18 prior complaints filed against him. 

[PannySVHS]

3 hours ago, Mokara said:

There was nothing to suggest that this particular incident had anything to do with racism...

It was. Next thing one says is, this never even happened. I wished your post never happened. The man will never breathe again, nor will he be able to tell us why his murderer didnt let him breathe, instead pushing his knee in his back. Now you take a deep breath and leave it at this please.

[johnny B]

man is murdered, man with a blog tries to use it to settle an internet tif.

Not Andrews greatest moment.

Here is a list of projects that are trying to help the current situation some  may want to be involved or just use to get more information.

https://linktr.ee/NationalResourcesList

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

There are some exceptions to the free speech rule actually.

Racists or apologists for them, lose their right to a voice.

So just so you know why, if I do have to delete posts on this topic it'll be for those reasons.

Same with the "America first" MAGA nationalists. Fuck off.

[Andrew Reid]

6 hours ago, Caleb Genheimer said:

Man, yeah. Lots of complex emotion on this for me over the last week. I’m a white Minnesotan, working 6 days a week even during COVID-19... I thought about photographing/video documenting, and I agree it is incredibly important work and that things must be seen.

There’s a LOT of I guess I’d call it “social justice tourism” going on, and that just sits uneasy with me. Like, people were posing with their friends and signs for selfies, and then leaving the sit-in at the capitol before it was done...

So many examples of that. This scene is from a river rave in Berlin, found on Reddit here https://old.reddit.com/r/berlin/comments/gui77y/peak_slacktivism_i_cant_breath_banner_on_a_party/

I suppose it makes them feel better doing jack shit.

There's even now a name for it... Slacktivism!

Words must match actions. You are out there packing food and household supplies. A wonderful deed and a reminder that sometimes humans actually do something good without expecting a pat on the head or a lot of social media likes for it.

Quote

I don’t need pictures to communicate what I’ve seen with my own eyes. I saw the entire capitol lawn filled to bursting with beautiful peaceful people all afternoon, championing full institutional overhaul of the oppressive system...

Those who aren't there need the pictures to know what's going on in a different country, the rest of us need those photos and videos. So keep these coming too.

[Andrew Reid]

6 hours ago, Wronzoff said:

Frontline riot photographer...what is that ? Wedding photographer, I know... but Frontline riot photographer.
"...I'm risking my life to cover this story (gunshots, rocks, fire, tear gas, etc.)"
I think it's the etc. that pose a problem here. Anyone with a camera "feel the need to document" the riot. So cool, you don't have to travel to war zone like Syria or Yemen to be in the boots of a photojournalist, just go downtown, to get a shot of adrenaline. The smell of tear gas is so exciting my dear ! Do you think I should take a ND filter, because yesterday I couldn't focus well with the flash grenade. No joke, last time I saw on the news, a lady with a gimbal running with the protesters. Next is what ? slow mo with a Phantom ? 360 VR ?
The same people are taking pictures of homeless, you know...to document poverty. All of that, to feed social media and get followers. Pathetic.

When you introduce yourself saying:
Frontline riot photographer.
"...I'm risking my life to cover this story (gunshots, rocks, fire, tear gas, etc.)"
it's an insult to photojournalist who died, doing their job.

Well that's a cynical way to look at it. How did you think Steve McCurry started photojournalism? Are you really suggesting there is something wrong with anyone photographing what's going on in their own towns and cities... their own country. If they want to use an ND let them. Let them use anything they like, I don't see the problem with it. You don't know the most important thing - their intention. If some of them are 'tourists' out for social media likes, then so be it... people are people... but you can't tarnish everyone with the same brush.

[Andrew Reid]

7 hours ago, MmmYeah said:

I started this account just to reply here. I have been banned on your forums multiple times, not because of abuse, or language, or anything else. No instead it is because YOU personally didn't like the discussion that we were having. I have given up 'contributing' here because of the 'Andrew Reid's way or the highway' attitude that you posses. You don't like criticism and it always comes down to 'well it's MY forum, so F*&^ off!'. 

Yet here we are. You're a whiney little bitch Andrew and if you want to talk HYPOCRISY well here it is. 

Waiting for the non-approval / ban / post removal in 3, 2, 1... Go on Andrew, prove me right. 

Let's get this straight. So your contribution to camera nerd land is to bring the place into disrepute on so many occasions you get banned multiple times, but keep creeping back like a virus, even today opening an account only out of vindictiveness to your host, then you expect me to allow all this of course, otherwise it's censorship and hypocricy.

When you get arrested for a theft, do you shout censorship too?

I am not censoring you, I am protecting my property and other users.

4 hours ago, nathanleebush said:

The last time I’ll visit EOSHD. You’re such a whiny little bitch at this point. 

Looks like another Trump apologist has come out the woodwork!

Who'll miss you?

[Logan]

Hey, one positive about posts like this: Alt right assholes and Nazi sympathizers have no problem exposing themselves. Don’t let the door (or maybe some riot police?) hit you on the way out guys 🙂

[Yannick Willox]

Anyone doubting the motive of a white man choking a black man for almost nine full minutes should take a moment and think about himself.

Can you think of one reason why 9 minutes ?
 

i’ll follow up Andrew’s advice and mail amazon and dpreview about this thread censoring.

[Andrew Reid]

2 minutes ago, Yannick Willox said:

i’ll follow up Andrew’s advice and mail amazon and dpreview about this thread censoring.

Thank you. I feel we could be getting somewhere