Eyes on Fire

Slow days

2009-10-15T18:00:00Z

Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette View larger version

The news life has reverted to a welcome and calm pace. Since the G-20, there haven't been any disasters, championship sporting events or political conventions, leaving me with feature assignments and time to catch up on paperwork.

I'm enjoying the more relaxed environment, at least for now. I'm sure that if things are still slow in a month, I'll be pulling out my hair, but for now it's great.

I shot this photograph while doing a real estate assignment. We often do profiles on people's homes, and en route to one in Washington, Pa., I stopped briefly to take a few frames of the landscape, enjoying what would probably be the last day of the year that didn't require a coat.

Outtake

2009-10-06T17:43:00Z

This is an outtake from a recent assignment. It didn't really have anything to do with the story I was covering, but I liked the photo.

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The Oakland arrests

2009-09-26T22:25:00Z

After two long days of G-20 protest coverage, I was mentally depleted. But as the situation escalated in Oakland last night, I felt like I had no choice but to check it out. I was receiving texts and phone calls from several reporters we had at the scene. It sounded as though there was going to be a mass police action against the protesters gathered at Schenley Plaza.

When I arrived, there were more riot police in one place than I had seen all week. They had already forced the protesters out of Schenley Plaza and onto Forbes Avenue. They kept lining up officers, pushing us further and further up Forbes until a van sped up from the Craig Street direction. Another group of riot cops got out of the van and aggressively kept the crowd from moving in any direction other than onto the Cathedral of Learning lawn. Until then, I was with Post-Gazette reporter Sadie Gurman. As the police cornered us, I realized for the first time during this summit that I didn't have an out other than going through the police line. While journalists are usually not targets for police during these riots, we still aren't afforded any special legal protection. I turned to see that I had lost Sadie. I figured I was either going to get out, or be arrested right there and then. I slowly walked at the officers, hands raised, yelling "I'm press! I just want out!"

They let me through their lines. I sighed relief.

As they encircled the Cathedral lawn, I made my way to Fifth Avenue. As I walked, I noticed two men supporting a third man, carrying him to a set of concrete steps on Fifth. As I got closer, I realized the three were friends of mine. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review photographers Justin Merriman and Andrew Russell were aiding Tribune-Review photographer Guy Wathen after he had been maced on the lawn.

After they set him down, they poured water over his face and put saline solution into his eyes, but to no avail. Wathen had been trapped on the lawn with Merriman and Russell, trying to walk away from police when an officer maced him. He was almost completely incapacitated. After five minutes, it became clear the water wasn't helping, and the Trib photographers again helped Wathen move to a car to be taken to the hospital.

After they drove off, I was stuck rather far away from any of the things I'd have wanted to photograph. The police weren't letting anyone by, and anyone that got close was likely to have a smoke grenade lobbed at them. Emotionally drained, I tried to call Sadie to see if she had gotten out, but the phone call went to her voicemail. I called another reporter we had at the scene, Moriah Balingit, and realized neither of us knew where Sadie was.

She had been arrested.

I left the scene emotionally exhausted.

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The G-20 protests: Day Two

2009-09-26T21:04:00Z

The permitted "People's March" on Friday was a completely different animal than the illegal march I covered the day before. Thousands of people took to the streets from Oakland to Downtown and then the North Shore. The police this time weren't trying to thwart their attempts to reach Downtown. Rather, they lined the route.

Instead of wearing a gas mask and doing my best to stay out of the line of fire of rubber bullets, I was able to do my job feeling safe. There were only a few tense moments as a small group of anarchists began to stare down and chant in front of a line of riot police on Grant Street. But the situation was resolved and the march resumed.

The biggest issue I confronted was just how tired my body was. I marched for a combined eight hours or so in the two days of the G-20 summit. Doing all of that on its own is tiring, but doing it with two cameras and a backpack that holds a laptop, gas mask, and bottles of water is exhausting. I'll feel it in my feet, back and shoulders for days now.

The highlight of the march, for me, was when I ran into the man I had previously photographed wearing a polar bear mask in front of City Council. I found him in front of a row of riot police on his bicycle, wearing the same mask in protest. I felt like it was a great bookend to my coverage of the G-20. Of course, at the time, I was trying to be optimistic. I hoped that the march Downtown would be the last of the protests, and the last of the riot police I would see this weekend.

I was wrong...

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The G-20 protests: Day One

2009-09-25T02:40:00Z

Ten hours later and I'm home. It's quiet here, and truly peaceful. It's such a stark and welcome contrast from the rest of my day. I spent today in Lawrenceville, Bloomfield and Friendship following a group of protesters who organized an un-permited march. The march was led by a group of anarchists, and met heavy police resistance.

I started today making sure my backpack had all the necessities: water, snacks, camera, laptop, gas mask, etc. Arriving at Arsenal Park two hours early, I photographed the crowd as they gathered, but we were all waiting on the anarchists to arrive. When they did, I began sending back cell phone pictures to the paper to post on the website (the modern cell phone cam creates a decent web-quality image, giving a photojournalist the opportunity to have a photo on their website almost instantaneously).

After the march got underway, it was quickly evident the police response was going to be, we'll say, far more than adequate. The group's first encounter with the police led to an exchange of tear gas being fired at the marchers. As it was happening, I dug out my own gas mask from my bag and put it on, just in time to feel the back of my neck start to burn. I looked around me, and the protesters that were unprotected from the gas were almost vomiting in the street while they ran away from the gas canisters. I felt lucky to have decided to bring it.

At their next intersection with the riot police, I watched police make the first arrest I had seen. I circled around the police to get a better vantage, but this made one officer nervous as he pushed his stick into my chest and yelled, "Back up!" I yelled back, though he probably didn't hear me through the gas mask, that I was press, and backed up slowly with my arms raised. I was able shortly afterwards to photograph the arrested man, only to find later that Post-Gazette photographer Bill Wade was also there, and had a better frame.

The march dwindled after each change of direction and encounter with the riot police. At one point, the police ran to cut the march in two. A scuffle ensued as a dozen officers surrounded a man on the ground. Some of the protesters threw rocks at these officers, who responded in turn by firing rubber bullets from their shotguns. I watched as a woman screamed and ran clear of the fire. This was the most frightening moment of the day. I felt like I was too close to both the officers firing the shots, and the marchers they were targeting. The marchers, angered, then threw rocks into the windows of a Boston Market as they ran away.

Finally, hours after it had all began, the police all but crushed the remaining march as they overwhelmed the protesters with superior numbers. I hunkered down in a restaurant in Bloomfield, ate my first meal of the day and transmitted my take.

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The G-20 thus far and all the unknowns...

2009-09-23T15:25:00Z

Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette View larger version

To tell the truth, I'm really stressed out about what may or may not happen Thursday and Friday as the world descends on Pittsburgh for the G-20 summit. My anticipation for the event has overshadowed every aspect of my life. Last night I lay awake in general unease as I wished that Thursday morning would just come already. My overriding concern is this: I've never photographed anything like this before.

That's not to say I haven't been learning lately. The Post-Gazette has put on session after session for its staff about getting through this week. I know more about tear gas and mob mentality than ever before. That said, I'm getting most of my information second-hand, as the sessions usually occur on my days off.

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I think the nervousness I'm feeling comes from the fact that the things that everyone else will be fleeing -- tear gas, mace, police making arrests -- I will be running toward. And as a photographer for one of the Pittsburgh newspapers, I feel a responsibility to be as close to everything as I can.

I'm hoping the saying holds true: that luck favors the prepared. All we've been able to do is prepare. The rest will play out however it will.

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So far this week, I've already shot three or four marches/protests. The mood for these early demonstrations has been peaceful. Will that continue? I don't know.

The other side of my worries come from the expected police response. Already this week, I've seen around a hundred officers dispatched to Larimer to issue two traffic citations, and a marching group diverted from their approved route when the police failed to read their permit adequately. How will the police react during the actual summit? I don't know.

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Patience. My biggest fault and only recourse. I guess I'll know tomorrow.

Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette View larger version

The girl in the window

2009-09-16T20:19:00Z

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I spent the early evening last Tuesday venturing out to a shack in the woods in Pine to shoot some production stills for a story the Post-Gazette is doing on the horror film being shot there, "River of Darkness." During the time I was able to stay, the film's cast endured several hours of make-up.

As they began to set up their lights, I was excited to see the deep blue tone of a light they had placed just outside the window. As one of the women doing make-up walked over to the window, I made this image.

This isn't particularly journalistic, and I didn't turn it in with the batch I gave to my editor. But I personally liked this image just enough to show it here.

Geekfest 2009

2009-09-16T03:48:00Z

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I spent this past weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla., at a photo conference called Geekfest. It's the brainchild of St. Petersburg Times photographer Melissa Lyttle, who something like eight years ago started an Internet listserv called A Photo A Day. The original idea was to keep in touch with a small photo community, sending new work via e-mail for critiques and the like.

The site ballooned, and there are currently (I believe) something like 1,300 members, including myself.

This was the first time I attended the workshop, and it did not disappoint. I got to spend the weekend picking the brains of several Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers, a National Geographic legend, and dozens of shooters around my age that are going through the same daily exercises as me.

I learned and experienced so much from Geekfest, and plan on it being a subject in several blog posts for the week to come.

I have to start off, though, with the opening night's speaker, Sam Abell. His approach to photography is so drastically different than mine. He spoke about his use of micro-composition, the painstaking amount of time he will put into a photograph, and some of the vast subjects he hopes to tackle in his upcoming book projects.

I'm quite the opposite. I'm a fast and loose photographer. If I have 30 minutes to photograph something, tone it, caption it and send it back to the paper, I'm going to get it done. I've never spent an entire day going after one image, and it fascinated me how involved in the details of an image Abell is.

I took the above portrait of Abell while he was listening to another photographer speak. The room was dark; the only light coming from the projector the current speaker was using to show his images. I used that light to make this photograph.

Something inexplicable

2009-09-16T02:59:00Z

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There's something I personally love about this photograph that I can't put my finger on. By no means is it technically good. I'm far away. My subject is in an awkward part of the frame. Yet I still love it.

I decided when I came upon four friends playing Frisbee on Flagstaff Hill that I was going to try and make a photograph from as far away as I possibly could (counter to all photographic notions that if your photos are bad, you need to get closer to your subject).

When I look at this frame, I appreciate how small the subject is, and how the Frisbee is just out of reach, yet you can feel that he's going to catch it. I like how the sunlight illuminated the dying patches of grass behind him, and how the tree line stayed ominously dark. I look at this photo, and it makes me happy.

It's not the best photo I've ever taken. But on some fall evenings, it's nice to come away with one you're happy with personally.

Public Hearing

2009-09-02T21:37:00Z

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This isn't a hard-and-fast photographic rule, but I'm going to go ahead and make it one. Any time a photographer is shooting an assignment, the resulting photo will be better if their subject is wearing a polar bear mask.

My job today was to photograph a Pittsburgh City Council public hearing on G-20 protests and potential city ordinances prohibiting things like the concealment of one's identity during the summit. The second speaker, David Meiern of Squirrel Hill, donned this polar bear mask to make a point about his mask being an extension of his free speech.

He drew chuckles from the crowd, but ultimately raised an interesting free speech issue, which seemed to be the overriding concern at the hearing.

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