Freelance photographer Alyson McClaren should be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her work yesterday in Denver. More likely, however, she is receiving hate mail and death threats from the customary whack jobs who should otherwise curdle at the sight of their own lunacy.
Her images of the few brave nurses in scrubs who defied the protesting loons near the state capitol are singular. They evoke the feeling of "Tank Man" in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, photographed by five different photographers ranging from the AP's Jeff Widener to Magnum's Stuart Franklin. The latter's film was actually smuggled out of China in a box of tea by a French student.
Great photography has the power to capture historic, provocative moments like this that reflect in one image the best and worst of human nature. Another example that comes to mind is Bernie Boston's 1967 Washington Star photograph of a young protester in Washington DC placing a carnation in the barrel of a National Guardsman rifle aimed right at him.
In yesterday's Denver images we see exhausted, exasperated nurses who have been risking their lives (and the lives of their families) to save others during our worst national crisis since World War II. They're saying "enough already" to these selfish fools who care little about reality and refuse to accept that rights come with responsibilities and that decent, thoughtful citizens know when to balance their individual needs with our collective civic duties. Rarely is this observation more true than during a contagion with such obviously deadly consequences.
As with Widener and Franklin - who photographer Tank Man from their hotel balconies - as well as that brave French student back in 1989, McClaren was risking her life yesterday. I'm sure today is much worse for her, too. Every serious photojournalist understands, however, the need to capture the moment and to shoot in harm's way. Sometimes, adrenaline just takes over. Still, there seems little doubt that someday soon one of these semi-automatic-weapon-toting, Confederate-flag-carrying fools will open fire on the likes of McClaren, the nurses or both. In that sense, this image captures a moment while portending that the worst is yet to come.
Whether facing tanks in Beijing, soldiers with weapons drawn in Washington DC or angry gun-toting, SUV-wielding creeps in Denver, these images speak truth to power. Their simplicity makes clear how one person or a few lone individuals can neuter anger and belligerence by better-armed people simply by letting the images speak for themselves.
Her images of the few brave nurses in scrubs who defied the protesting loons near the state capitol are singular. They evoke the feeling of "Tank Man" in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, photographed by five different photographers ranging from the AP's Jeff Widener to Magnum's Stuart Franklin. The latter's film was actually smuggled out of China in a box of tea by a French student.
Great photography has the power to capture historic, provocative moments like this that reflect in one image the best and worst of human nature. Another example that comes to mind is Bernie Boston's 1967 Washington Star photograph of a young protester in Washington DC placing a carnation in the barrel of a National Guardsman rifle aimed right at him.
In yesterday's Denver images we see exhausted, exasperated nurses who have been risking their lives (and the lives of their families) to save others during our worst national crisis since World War II. They're saying "enough already" to these selfish fools who care little about reality and refuse to accept that rights come with responsibilities and that decent, thoughtful citizens know when to balance their individual needs with our collective civic duties. Rarely is this observation more true than during a contagion with such obviously deadly consequences.
As with Widener and Franklin - who photographer Tank Man from their hotel balconies - as well as that brave French student back in 1989, McClaren was risking her life yesterday. I'm sure today is much worse for her, too. Every serious photojournalist understands, however, the need to capture the moment and to shoot in harm's way. Sometimes, adrenaline just takes over. Still, there seems little doubt that someday soon one of these semi-automatic-weapon-toting, Confederate-flag-carrying fools will open fire on the likes of McClaren, the nurses or both. In that sense, this image captures a moment while portending that the worst is yet to come.
Whether facing tanks in Beijing, soldiers with weapons drawn in Washington DC or angry gun-toting, SUV-wielding creeps in Denver, these images speak truth to power. Their simplicity makes clear how one person or a few lone individuals can neuter anger and belligerence by better-armed people simply by letting the images speak for themselves.
Images shot by Alyson McClaren.