Ottawa Feb 11 & Feb 16 '22 Truckers Freedom Convoy

[Jody_S]

I haven't tried this sort of photography in many years, and I almost never use dSLRs, so this was a bit of an experiment for me. I got my footing a little bit by the 2nd day. I am amazed at what a modern dSLR can do in this sort of situation, and I don't have anything like a recent pro camera, I used a Canon Rebel something. First day I used a cheap Sigma zoom lens, found I had focus issues in low light, I switched out for a Tamron 17-50 f2.8 the 2nd day. I still couldn't figure out how to lower the camera flash by 1 or 2 stops, so these are mostly natural light. Mostly as they came out of the camera, I did do some minor edits.

Given that this was a political protest and discussion of politics is verboten here, I will not comment on the subject of the protest, nor will I engage in comments. My photos should not be seen as endorsement of anyone or any position. I just take pictures. I rushed to upload this as Canada has invoked the war measures act and declared this an insurrection, I am watching livestreams now of police + military clearing out the protest. I'm not going to comment on that either.

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Full series can be seen on my brand new Flikr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/194951500@N02/?)account.

[Jody_S]

Four more:

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[Ironage]

This is particularly difficult lighting and subject…and in color! Important work. Thanks for sharing.

[cowanw]

For the factual record, the War Measures act was repealed in 1988 and was replaced by the Emergencies Act. Any government action continues to be subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Bill of Rights. For our international members no member of the Canadian federal or provincial government has used the word Insurrection, although certain foreign news reporting does.
Good pictures!

[Jody_S]

For anyone wondering, I saw about a dozen other people carrying dSLRs, about half of them old fogies like myself, and half much younger carrying 2 or 3 around their necks, obviously photojournalists. I did see 2 'real' cameras, both older gents, one a Hassy 500-something, and one Leica M series that I couldn't get close to.

On the other side, every other person had their phone out recording, as I tried to show in several photos. And there have been an average of 6-7 livestreamers at any given moment, some of them with fairly elaborate rigs. I would estimate that fewer than 1% of people were taking still photos. There was a Montreal photographer who did portraits of a number of truckers in front of their trucks, that's been posted here before I think, but I haven't seen anyone posting photojournalism to social media. That doesn't mean it's not out there, but I am feeling like a bit of a dinosaur right now even if I went digital for this. I almost brought a Topcoflex I wanted to try out, but in the end I went with the 1 dSLR I own that has a battery grip and 4 spare batteries.

[Duolab123]

Good work. Looks like the 60's in a lot of ways.

[Tin Can]

Thank you