Political ideas in photography, a thing of the past?

[Agnu]

Inspired by the 'No Politics Alowed' thread, I starting mulling over the lack of political expression in photography over the past few years. When I look at photographic history, I see nearly every important photographer I read up on had some sort of political/social commentary agenda attatched to his images, and maybe it's the rise of digital having exposed more people to the hobby or whatever the case may be, it seems photography has recently lost it's 'edge', if you know what I mean.

So, I have made this thread for all of you folk who still have an 'edge' to their work to post up your conceptual imaging, and explain the ideas behind it.

I'll get the ball rolling; i'm not sure how widely accepted this thread shall be, so i'll start with some more gentle shots:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2161/2036334613_6cff568b7c.jpg?v=0
A speaker at Sydney's APEC rally.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2113/2036334227_ea2c705aff.jpg?v=0
This guy was in a group of about 15 people drumming while we were surrounded by policemen, getting fairly frustrated, pushing us in and tying to crowd us in as an intimidation tactic, eventually they just got sick of the drumming or just the fact that their tactics weren't working, and they walked off. This was then cheered about, as it was a very defining moment in the rally.

[eddiebrown]

great shots agnu and an interesting topic and i would agree with your take on photography losing its edge . i am also surprised at the number of photographers (on this forum and others) who will demand that another photographer take down photos . as a somewhat newcomer to the world of photography , it seems to me that pushing conformity on others is the last thing that a photographer should be advocating . $.02


the raging grannies at a vancouver rally , protesting the privatization of british columbia's waterways .



http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d139/eddiebrownphoto/2-1.jpg

[Sonic Infidel]

I like the idea of more political photography. This semester, I'm finishing my dual degrees in journalism and political science, so this type of thing is right up my alley.

Somewhere around here, I've got a good set of pictures from back when the Burmese gov't was suppressing a popular revolt. A group of monks visited my university to speak and chant the Metta Sutra; it was awe-inspiring. I wish I could find the photos now...one of them ran in the Chicago Tribune. If I find them, I'll post them.

In the mean time, keep up the political photos!

[Agnu]

Nice shot Eddie, I always love it when the Grannies get up and at it at protests, really makes you understand that activism isn't something that only middle-class white kids grow out of when they get a job. It's a fundemental part of democracy which is being supressed at every possible chance 'in the name of democracy', apparently. I may just be another 16 year old middle class kid from Sydney, but if one didn't know better, one might think that they were contradicting themselves...

Anyway back on subject, keep posting the photos, let's see if we can make a working thread here :).