The Pyrrhic Victory of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” in Photos

The Pyrrhic Victory of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” in Photos

In August, Scott Olson’s photo of a defiant, kneeling man, captured the all the complexity and emotion of the tragedy in Ferguson. TIME featured a vertical crop on their cover.

TIME

Artist Eric Drooker credited Olson as the inspiration for an oil painting used as a New Yorker cover in the same week.

newyorker

This week in Ferguson, MO, a grand jury decided against indicting Officer Darren Wilson. A wave of protests ensued, and Getty photographer Justin Sullivan captured this incredible silhouette of a man with his hands up rimmed by the light of cop cars.

sullivan

As protests turned to rioting and destruction of property, St. Louis-based Whitney Curtis captured a gesture of defiance and victory against a burning backdrop.

curtis

Between the vitriol and tragedy of Ferguson, one thing is clear: the photography from this seminal moment in American history have been some of the best reportage of the new millenium.

 

 

 

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This article was written by

Allen Murabayashi is the co-founder of PhotoShelter.

There are 5 comments for this article
  1. Pingback: The Pyrrhic Victory of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” in Photos | shootplex
    • Mike at 12:06 pm

      Yes it is one sided,…but this is not a journalism site. This is a photography site. The politics and all of that stuff arent here. You need to go yell at CNN

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