‘I had to get the right shot, so the truth could come out.’ A photographer on the Baltimore protests

[justiceischeap]

You may have seen this photo:



It was taken by Devin Allen, of West Baltimore. He has an interesting story to tell about his life in Baltimore, how photography saved him from life in the streets and what it's like to grow up in West Baltimore.

http://fusion.net/story/126782/i-had-to-get-the-right-shot-so-the-truth-could-come-out-a-photographer-on-the-baltimore-protests/

Fusion: When you saw people take to the streets after the death of Freddie Gray, what did you think and how did you feel when you were grabbing your camera to go out there?

Devin Allen: Well, even before the Freddie Gray [incident] we’ve been rallying. It’s a small city, but we did something for Eric Garner, we did Palestine-Israel, we marched for that, we did Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin. I been taking pictures for those things because that could easily be me. It could have been any of my friends. The Freddie Gray situation, I mean, I was in disbelief. I know people – I mean my coworker is friends with some of his friends. I have mutual friends that know him. Because Baltimore City is a small city. Everybody knows everybody, for the most part. So when it happened, we knew it could have been us.

{snip...}

So the picture I have of the guy holding his son? That is from Thursday. Very peaceful. You know, we walked the entire downtown, no fights no nothing. Not a lot of police, no issues. Then Saturday we protested and it was another peaceful one. And it went sour real real fast. It was just crazy. At that point, I had to get the right shot so I could tell the truth, because I knew if [violence] broke out, Baltimore would get all the attention we’d been seeking all week and not in a positive way.

So with what I have, I’m not going to lie. I’m going to give y’all the truth. I said I was going to dedicate my feed to Freddie Gray. But I never thought it would reach this far.

Here's his Instagram too: https://instagram.com/bydvnlln/

[samsingh]

1. recommend

[loyalsister]

2. Chills and tears

Thanks for posting. Everyone should see it!

[gratuitous]

3. Well, sure, there were some (okay, a LOT) of peaceful demonstrators

But that doesn't get the viewers that chaos and violence gets, and besides, if the popular media can divert the issue from an uncomfortable challenge to the status quo to more congenial terms like complaining about thug violence (where everybody has an opinion, and nobody challenges the atmosphere that spawned the violence), well then, mission accomplished, baby! Wreckage = Ratings, and Ratings = More Money for the Media.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. K&R

And another generation gets to repeat the same tired cycle that has been going on since the day they dragged us off the African continent and brought us here.

[democrank]

5. A powerful, powerful photo.

~PEACE~

[kathym06]

6. photo

WOW! WELL DONE!

[calimary]

14. Welcome to DU, kathym06!

Glad you're here. Isn't this a remarkable photo? Just shatteringly remarkable. I'm in awe. I hope SOMEBODY has the good sense to hire this guy. He's seriously GIFTED.

[mountain grammy]

7. It took 3 tries to get the link to work

but glad I did. What a great interview. Devin Allen and others like him should be telling their stories far and wide. I was struck by how fair he was when he talked about the police.

[justiceischeap]

9. I think that happens when you have community policing

If you live with police, you begin to see them as human. Same thing for police living in the same community that they police.

You get to know the people in the community and if you know people, you're less likely to just kill them or abuse them randomly.

[mountain grammy]

10. Absolutely, but I never saw it on the mean streets of Hartford..

as a teen, the police were not our friends. But I do think cops on foot, staying in the same neighborhoods, can and should be a good thing. The cops should have to live in the city also. In Denver they do, but there's plenty of police abuse there.

[justiceischeap]

11. There's plenty police abuse all across our nation

and I think it's because they've been allowed to get away with it for so long. And I think the lack of real punishment when it happens encourages others to cross a line they normally probably wouldn't cross because, hey, no big deal, right? They get a paid vacation out of it.

I grew up, for the most part, in a smaller community so our police were locals and we knew them and they knew us. As a teen, I participated in the Explorer's Police Post program because for a while I thought I wanted to be a police officer (then I got older and learned more about life and didn't want that for myself any longer). It helped me see the police in our community as people, not just empty uniforms. I have some understanding of what it's like to police a small municipality and it doesn't have to be done in the heavy-handed manner that urban cities do it in.

[mountain grammy]

12. I was a teenager in the 60's in a poor neighborhood in Hartford.

Cops often harassed us. There were always a few police cars parked in front of the school at the end of the day. In my third year, we entered a brand new school in a little bit "better" more residential neighborhood. I lived a couple of blocks away, so it wasn't that great, but the neighbors were nervous about the school, hence the police presence. During my first two years there were no police. The original school was in a more commercial neighborhood.

We weren't allowed to hang out around the school for very long at the end of the school day. I don't remember a single cop who had a good thing to say to any of us. When riots erupted in Hartford in 67, I no longer lived there, but I wasn't surprised.

[DallasNE]

8. Hand's Up, Don't Shoot

Training has to start early in life and this kid learned quickly.

[calimary]

13. Shit - same guy who took the Time magazine cover shot took this one too?

I saw this photo earlier. Made a copy of it. This one just sums it up. The expressions on the dad's and kid's faces tell it all. AMAZING photo. Hell, I don't even like using the word "amazing." It doesn't do this photo justice. This photo is Fucking Brilliant! A LANDMARK photo.

DAYUM! Somebody HIRE that guy! He is GIFTED! Just DAYUM! What a great eye he has. He's a freakin' ARTIST. VERY creative and observant candid shots and composition and emotional impact. He's doing Pulitzer Prize-winning work.

[justiceischeap]

15. He got some props on FB yesterday from Russell Simmons

So, I think he's got a future ahead of himself in photography if he wants it.