Fight Photos
Every once in a while a great photo opportunity presents itself. Yesterday, while working in a Buenos Aires slum, a fist fight broke out on set among resident teenagers. The drama didn't last long and it didn't really interfere with our work but I kept an eye on the kids involved while we continued our work. It soon became obvious that the issue had yet to be resolved sufficiently and that there was going to be a more formal settling of the dispute.
Like kids all over the world, they were going to meet in the schoolyard at a given time and see who's who. When I saw what was going down I left the set , changed some settings on my camera and entered the scene. It was a little field amidst the ramshackle dwellings. I was called over by one of the kids and asked to take their picture. They posed for my camera. All smiles. That mood changed when his opponent showed up swinging. At first they didn't want to fight in front of me but that sentiment soon faded with the encouragement of those around.
I simply positioned myself the way a boxing referee might observe and let them go at it. It was not my place to stop anything and I absolutely privileged making photographs above any dispute resolution. I have no regrets. Fights are not the easiest thing to capture and my radar is always tuned in for such an opportunity. I am happy with the results and the two combatants were no worse for wear when the fighting stopped with exhausted handshakes.
Sharing the photos later, people on the set were surprised at just how close I had gotten to the action. I couldn't imagine otherwise.
I quickly converted them to black and white but they are equally interesting in color. The restricted palate just seems more appropriate and it reminds me a great street fight photograph I've seen before. I think it was by Dave Heath. (btw, his work is phenomenal).
Finally, I am concerned about these photographs and their use more than any I've made in recent memory. I am concerned about them being "stolen" by folks and used or shared without proper credit and more importantly, appropriate context. I debated even posting them here but as a compromise I made them extremely small and littered it with my trademark stamp. Hopefully folks will respect that. It could be just paranoia but I am proud of these images and I'd rather preserve their value than contribute irresponsibly to some internet equivalent of a voyeur freak-show. You know how it is out there.
Take pictures, block your face.
Like kids all over the world, they were going to meet in the schoolyard at a given time and see who's who. When I saw what was going down I left the set , changed some settings on my camera and entered the scene. It was a little field amidst the ramshackle dwellings. I was called over by one of the kids and asked to take their picture. They posed for my camera. All smiles. That mood changed when his opponent showed up swinging. At first they didn't want to fight in front of me but that sentiment soon faded with the encouragement of those around.
I simply positioned myself the way a boxing referee might observe and let them go at it. It was not my place to stop anything and I absolutely privileged making photographs above any dispute resolution. I have no regrets. Fights are not the easiest thing to capture and my radar is always tuned in for such an opportunity. I am happy with the results and the two combatants were no worse for wear when the fighting stopped with exhausted handshakes.
Sharing the photos later, people on the set were surprised at just how close I had gotten to the action. I couldn't imagine otherwise.
I quickly converted them to black and white but they are equally interesting in color. The restricted palate just seems more appropriate and it reminds me a great street fight photograph I've seen before. I think it was by Dave Heath. (btw, his work is phenomenal).
Finally, I am concerned about these photographs and their use more than any I've made in recent memory. I am concerned about them being "stolen" by folks and used or shared without proper credit and more importantly, appropriate context. I debated even posting them here but as a compromise I made them extremely small and littered it with my trademark stamp. Hopefully folks will respect that. It could be just paranoia but I am proud of these images and I'd rather preserve their value than contribute irresponsibly to some internet equivalent of a voyeur freak-show. You know how it is out there.
Take pictures, block your face.
4 comments:
Is this a decisive moment? :) The black and white really gives it the gritty edge, but for me...I swear its the expressions on their face. As far as people snatching work, I know you use flickr and I have read in a 2600 magazine (hacker magazine) there is the possibility people can get full size images even though you mark them that way to not be...though i suspect that hole has been cleaned up by the flickr team (at least i'd hope so).
i don't post high res images to flickr on purpose. the biggest file they are gonna get from is is 800 pixels wide or high unless i purposely upload something higher.
as for this being a decisive moment...i guess it is. in a way.
Neat sequence, it would have been nice if you had captured the handshake at the end - to put everything in context.
i did but it didn't make the cut. i also got closeups of their faces but those too weren't as strong.
Post a Comment