Official blurb: Starting on September 17, 2011, people affiliated with the “Occupy Wall Street (OWS)” movement began protesting in New York City’s financial district. Within weeks, the movement had spread internationally, inspiring “tent cities” where protestors lived and staged marches, group conversations, street theater, music and other public events. Initially the movement was an outcry against corporate and political corruption, greed, unemployment and financial and social inequality, though it grew to encompass protests against war, environmental destruction and human rights abuses. OWS protesters called for radical policy change and a re-hauling of the political system. At the movement’s core, demonstrators affiliated with OWS claimed it was a non-violent movement, though violent actions were taken sporadically from both authoritarian figures and protestors. By the third month of the OWS movement, thousands of protesters had been arrested internationally. This body of work explores the OWS movement in New York in its entirety.

Images are:  © 2012, Getty Images, or © 2012, Associated Press or © 2012, Reuters

Chapter One: The Camp:

Chapter Two: The Protests:

Chapter Three: The Violence:

Singles:

(From South Sudan’s independence)

(From the Belmont Stakes)

(From a portrait series completed in South Sudan)

(From a feature story on a maternity ward in Juba, South Sudan)

(From the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Second floor of an office building, 3 miles inland.)

(From the Egyptian revolution)

(From South Sudan’s independence)

(From a meeting between Mrs. Palin and Mr. Trump)

(From a refugee camp near the border of Sudan and South Sudan)

(From New York Fashion Week)

(From protests in Paris, France)

(From the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami)

 
Story: Occupy Wall Street

Starting on September 17, 2011, people affiliated with the “Occupy Wall Street (OWS)” movement began protesting in New York City’s financial district. Within weeks, the movement had spread internationally, inspiring “tent cities” where protestors lived and staged marches, group conversations, street theater, music and other public events. Initially the movement was an outcry against corporate and political corruption, greed, unemployment and financial and social inequality, though it grew to encompass protests against war, environmental destruction and human rights abuses. OWS protesters called for radical policy change and a re-hauling of the political system. At the movement’s core, demonstrators affiliated with OWS claimed it was a non-violent movement, though violent actions were taken sporadically from both authoritarian figures and protestors. By the third month of the OWS movement, thousands of protesters had been arrested internationally. This body of work explores the OWS movement in New York in its entirety.

Story: Beyond Violence: The Egyptian Revolution

Starting on January 25, 2011, the people of Egypt rose up in protest against their government. The movement successfully toppled the dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak in just 18 days, but instability continued throughout the year. Amidst the coverage of those first 18 days, the news media frequently focused on the most violent, graphic images demonstrating the most sensationalistic moments of the revolution. In contrast to that coverage, this body of work attempts to look at the quieter, more communal moments occurring during the February, 2011 chapter of the revolution. These are the moments beyond the violence.

Story: Aftermath of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami:

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 undersea earthquake struck 45 miles off the northeast shores of Japan. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which destroyed hundreds of miles of coastline, as well as towns, businesses and homes. At it’s peak, experts say the tsunami reached a height of 124 feet; over 30,000 lives were lost in the disaster and at some points, the tsunami reached up to 6 miles inland from the coast. This body of work attempts to explore both the human and ecological aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

I was going to write a lengthy post about my experiences on the streets of New York over this past year, as both a citizen and as a journalist. About my repeated experiences with the NYPD, both good and bad. About the general culture of fear and intimidation that they purposefully create. How they do a very good job at it. How if you spend any amount of time on the streets of New York, you don’t feel protected, you feel watched. About how if you are an upstanding citizen, you should never feel that way. How as a member of the media, you quickly start to get worried doing your job. And all the time you spend defending yourself. As in: “No i’m on assignment, I’m, not a terrorist, I’m taking a photo of this building for the real estate section…” and “yes I DO have a right to be here…” and “no, photography on a sidewalk is NOT illegal.” How long ago, I stopped wearing my NYPD press pass because whenever an officer saw it, they only threatened to take it away. And for all the respect we are expected to pay them while doing their jobs, the respect is never reciprocated.

And then I had another thought: Fuck it. Let the photos speak for themselves.

(All photos taken over the past 12 months. Shot on assignment for various news organizations, or on my own, or during assignment, but for myself.)

Hakan Tale runs a store that sells granite. In 2007, before the US housing market (and whole economy) fell a part, he purchased a home on Staten Island for his growing family – he is married with three children. For the last four years, he has fixed up the house with his own hands – fixing a leaky roof, knocking down drywall and adding to the exterior. When his granite business slowed,  he applied for a mortgage modification, which Chase bank denied. In the process of their denial, they proceeded to overvalued his house by more than $100,000, and then incorrectly sited his month income $4,000 short of what it actually is. He believes part of the reason Chase bank is denying him the mortgage modification is due to the fact that he added value to the house, and they want to foreclose on him.

__________

Hamson McPherson has owned and lived in his house since 1976. He rents out the second floor, and lives on the first. He receives income from the renters, has his savings, and receives a pension. The article explains it best, but the short version includes McPherson being denied a mortgage modification by Wells Fargo, The bank miscalculating his income despite being provided the proper paper work, and the bank then refusing to make public papers available to him and the legal team attempting to help him.

October 4, 2011:  Helicopter crash in the East River, one woman killed. Photographed for the Wall Street Journal, image © 2011, Andrew Burton

October 5 & 6, 2011: Coverage from Steve Jobs’ death. Images © 2011, Getty Images

October 31, 2011: Coverage of New York’s annual Halloween Parade. Images © 2011, Thomson Reuters

November 6, 2011: Coverage of the ING New York City Marathon. Images © 2011, The Associated Press

November 18, 2011: Coverage of Friday prayers held in Foley Square by various muslim communities in protest to reports released showing the New York Police Department had been illegally spying on New York’s muslim populations since 2001. Protest supported by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Images © 2011, Thomson Reuters

November 20, 2011: Pieces of a replica bomb created by Jose Pimentel, aka Muhammad Yusuf, are seen during a press conference at City Hall to announce Pimentel’s arrest, in New York. Images © 2011, Thomson Reuters

November 21, 2011: Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachman speaks outside Trump Towers after meeting with Donald Trump in New York. Images © 2011, Getty Images

November 23, 2011: Preparation for the 2011 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Images © 2011, Getty Images

November 24-25, 2011: General coverage of Black Friday, and what is now Thanksgiving / Black Thursday night (I guess?) Images © 2011, The Associated Press and © 2011, Thomson Reuters

November 30, 2011: Coverage of a public New York State Department of Environmental Protection hearing on whether or not hydraulic fracturing should be allowed in New York. Image © 2011, Thomson Reuters

November 30, 2011: Coverage of the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Image © 2011, Thomson Reuters

It was, and continues to be, an incredibly volatile time for the financial markets: In July and August, the US congress twiddled their thumbs, picked their noses, fumed a bit and argued about the US debt limit. Meanwhile the US economy grew at slower than expected rates (‘double-dip’ recession, I recall the broadcasters saying), and the European economy disintegrated under the Greek and Italian financial crisis (not to mention Portugal, Ireland, Spain, etc – Go MF Global).

None of these stories are going away anytime soon – the US is still in a debt crisis (though it’s receiving less coverage at the moment due to Occupy), Greece and Italy have been front-page news for the past month, and the E.U. (thanks to Italy and Greece) are still neck deep in financial shit. A few days ago, I saw my generation referred to as the “lost” generation. Seems a bit much to me, considering that title was originally reserved for the folks who survived or missed WWI, but I wouldn’t be as opposed to being named ‘the severely unemployed generation.’ Anyway.

As a photographer, visualizing a financial crisis is incredibly difficult to do. Some of the best photos I’ve seen include John Moore’s images of people getting evicted, the story After The Bubble Burst – photos of a community and neighborhood in Florida by the ever-incredible Greg Kahn, and an AP photographer’s images of a couple from Virginia, at their living room table, trying to balance their checkbooks during tax season, and realizing they won’t be able to make ends meet (forgive me, I can’t find the photos for the life of me – they’re incredible and will try to dig them up).

Unfortunately, many of those projects take time to create – weeks to get access, time to plan, weeks to shoot and edit. It needs to be said, regardless of whether or not they are seen or get good play in the media: newspapers and wires work on those stories because they are important, historic, and necessary. But at the same time, and especially in the world of wire news, images are also needed instantly, usually in less than two hours. How do you visualize financial news, instantly? I think it’s one of the hardest challenges a photographer can face. The economy is a tough thing to show – it takes place through online trading, through the swipe of a credit card at checkout stands, through board-room meetings at Bank of America and the Federal Reserve. Not very visually-arresting topics.

When you’re in New York, the floor of the New York Stock Exchange tends to act as an excellent visual metaphor for financial news, even if it isn’t the exact location the crisis is taking place. And even if most trading is now done at personal computers, the floor still acts as the physical hub for much of the transactions, so that’s where New York photogs find themselves.

I can say without a doubt, shooting on the NYSE floor is one of the most difficult scenarios I’ve faced (or at least it is when you’re trying to make an authentic, unique frame). Here’s the scene:

1) You usually have about 5 minutes. That’s not an exaggeration.

2) There are between 5 and 10 other photographers crammed along side you. They’re taking the exact. same. photo. as you.

3) You’re followed by a Stock Exchange PR-representative. They’re very nice, and helpful, it’s just a bit awkward to have them there.

4) It is INCREDIBLY dark. Maybe not to the human eye, but for a camera, the place is a black hole. Off the top of my head, I think I shoot ASA 1600, F/2, 1/60th. Those settings are usually reserved for bonfires. (That might be a bit off, it’s been a few months since I was on the floor, or at a bonfire.) And then I usually pull the photos up another 1/2 stop in RAW editor.

5) The traders know you’re there. They don’t exactly want you there. They recognize their actions, when captured by a photographer, can literally move markets. If one guy places his hand on his face – even if he’s yawning – even if he’s just tired and needs a cup of coffee – chances are all the photographers will all pounce on the moment, and editors around the world will place it with a story about failing markets (This is a truth of the photo world. An ugly truth. It was, Richard Avedon, one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, after all, who said, “All photographs are accurate. None of them are the truth.“). The traders tend to be incredibly controlled in their actions. It’s a dance – a difficult dance – to capture unique moments.

6) The photographers who are on the floor frequently do this day-in and day-out. For weeks, months, years, on end. Sometimes twice a day (the opening bell, then the closing bell). Pultizer-Prize-winning AP photographer Richard Drew, who has the NYSE as his beat, is one of the best.

7) I want to repeat the toughest part of it all. You’re trying to find a frame the other shooters aren’t seeing.

Go.

Well, I can’t say it’s my most unique work, or the stuff I’m most proud of, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t an excellent exercise in what it means to be a wire photographer. I’ve enjoyed my time down there. It’s a good challenge. And after all, I like to dance.

Thanks for looking.

All images are © 2011, Getty Images, and need to be treated as such.

A year later, here are a few results.

For those of you who follow my blog – I’ll say this In These Dark Canyons (Parts I, II, III – and IV is in currently on the digital light table) was an unconscious effort. What I continue to find interesting about that series is that it’s a (visual) commentary on where my subconscious was at in that time period. I never really knew I was taking those photos, or that I was conveying the state of my psyche with my camera.

On the contrary, Chinatown Streets was something I went out and consciously put effort into.  Frankly, I’m not sure if the results are as good.

Thanks for looking.