Independent

The times they are a-changin’.

This post seems to be older than 14 years—a long time on the internet. It might be outdated.

One of the things I think is great about photographs is their independence. Photographs are inherently neither Republican nor Democrat. They capture an image as it occurs and then freeze it forever.

This is not to say that photos never deceive. On the contrary, photos can be manipulated to show whatever the photographer wants. State agencies, prominent newspapers, and magazines have all shown photos that misrepresented reality.

Thus, there is still some responsibility placed on the photographer to represent the entire scene as it played out.

There’s a build up to this. I’m pretty sure you saw it coming. So here it is. On Wednesday, Al Jazeera English, the English division of Al Jazeera (yes, that Al Jazeera) was in town for the Democratic National Convention.

For those not familiar with Al Jazeera, they are more or less the CNN of the Arabic-speaking world, reaching 120 million viewers in 80 countries¹.

And when I say town, I actually mean my town: Golden, Colorado.

From www.rockymountainnews.com:

When Al-Jazeera comes to Colorado to cover the Democratic National Convention this month, it will use Golden as the backdrop to show the Arab world what life is like in a typical U.S. town.
…
Al-Jazeera’s Washington bureau will broadcast from both Denver and Golden, reporting on issues that will include the economy, the environment, health care and the Iraq war.

The backdrop for its Aug. 27 broadcast from Golden will be the Buffalo Rose, an iconic bar in the heart of downtown, where the college-educated townies and tattooed Harley riders blow off steam after work.

It was pure luck that I happened to find out that Al Jazeera English was in town. I was driving back from an afternoon of climbing and my climbing cohort mentioned that they were in town. Only practical thing to do was grab my camera and go into reporting mode (by the way, I now shoot for The Oredigger).

And so it was: several other photogs and myself, a rather large group of protesters (for Golden at least), the Golden City Police, and Al Jazeera English.