First: This is a crap photo. Second: This was my first taste of photojournalism.
I documented my first protest in 2009 during the time Israel was performing, at the time, one of the greatest offensive show of force against Palestinians using a campaign of airstrikes. The protest took place at the Los Angeles Federal Building in Westwood, Calif. Many of the major protests that occur here in Los Angeles either happen here, or in downtown.
I remember getting there and felt a rush of excitement at the amount of people there. There were a lot more people who were there to support the Palestinian "cause" (probably because the organizers were pro-Palestinian) than there were people who showed support for the Israeli "cause" (probably because the day before, a big protest of pro-Israel supporters occurred in the same location).
At some point in day, I found myself in the middle of a small...skirmish, if you will, where one small area was filled with people from both sides of the argument. Most of the day, one side kept to one area of the corner while the other side were, well, on the other side of the street. I tried to photograph this moment with the best of my green and ignorant knowledge of photojournalism and this is what I got. It's crap.
Knowing what I know now, I can tell you so many things wrong with this photo. It's filled with the back sides of people. There are far too many straight lines by way of the light poles and the sides of corporate offices/buildings. Just composed horribly. I was afraid to really get into the thick of it, to go on the street with little regard to my safety so I can get close and get the emotions on the faces of these two sides. If the me of today were to shoot this photo again, it would be TOTALLY different. Night and day as they say.
But from all the excitement in the emotions that were in the air, and the newness of the experience, I wanted more and I felt like this is what I finally wanted to do with my photography. So in the years to follow, I covered more protests and news type events. I sought to take journalism classes, which I did at Los Angeles Pierce College and I've grown and learned SO much since this photo. With the tutelage of some of the best journalism advisers, I've become a much better photographer and reporter. With that being said, my writing needs a bit more refining.
"Brand new world" / 35mm Fuji Pro 160S / January 2009