45. Photography is a political act

All photography is political. We choose where to look, what to see, and who to see. And we choose how to present what and who we have seen. Deciding not to pay attention, not to look, and not to document, is also a political decision. The stories we don’t tell are as revealing as the ones we do.

I understand that some prefer to keep photography and politics separate. But politics, like street photography, is about everyday life. Our choice of subject and our perspective show others where we stand and how we see things.

On Saturday, November 18, I took part in another rally in support of Palestinians calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. In this post, I will refrain from political commentary and just share some photographs of the event.

I uploaded 105 full-resolution photos of the Rally (including the nine below) to a folder online. I have attached an Attribution Only (CC BY) Creative Commons License to these photos, so everyone is welcome to download the images and do what they like with them. The link to the folder (which can be shared) is https://tinyurl.com/ceasefirenow18nov

Technical details: Camera: Sony A7 III, Lens: Sony FE 24-105 F4 G OSS. I set the aperture to F4 and tried to keep the ISO as close to 100 as possible. The shutter speed was generally between 1/500 and 1/1,000 sec. 

Ceasefire Now! Rally, Dunedin, New Zealand, Sat. Nov. 18, 2023

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What’s next?

This week, I planned to present and discuss some photographs of Timaru and Geraldine, two small towns in the South Island of New Zealand. However, after attending and documenting the rally, I had a large number of photos to edit and process. This took a few days, and I missed my weekend deadline. I promise you a visit to a small town in New Zealand this weekend.

What do you think?

You are invited to leave a comment below.