A busy March
It’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last posted here. On March 16 there was an event to celebrate Islam awareness week. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to do any photos and most of the events were low key. I did however, find this in the Atrium. I like the vibrancy of the orange.
March 16, 2011 - Imam Zijad Delic addresses Muslim students during Islam Awareness Week at Carleton University. He focused on the need for dialogue amongst the faiths, and encouraged to students that it was possible to be Muslim and Canadian.
Shortly after that I developed another few rolls of film and found this photo on the roll. It was taken in Guelph, I was playing around with some fine art photography during my last trip back. This is from the church of our lady.
Speaking of fine art… below is a photo that happened almost accidently, but I’m quite proud of it. Mitch the charlatan features editor was looking for some pictures for his sections look into whether or not porn contributes to sexual/gender-based violence. We decided to use shadows in the layout, one group of shadows is supposed to be kissing… the other mimicking domestic violence. It so happens that Mitch’s girlfriend, Catherine is a friend of mine from res so the three of us spent some time working on getting the shadows just right. Then I happened to catch them and the shadow while shooting, so I threw it into lightroom and played around with vignettes and some spot burning and dodging to come up with this.
On Tuesday this past week Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), a Carleton student group which believes Israel is an apartheid state held a protest/sit-in. Normally these things sorta fall flat on their faces here at Carleton… Not this one. Essentially the Carleton Board of Governors keeps some of its pension fund in investments, several companies which SAIA claims are complicit in war crimes committed by Israel. Carleton does have investments in companies like Northrup Grumman which sells Israel jets, bombs and missiles but also companies like Motorola which apparently help with surveillance technology for the Israeli government. Anyways SAIA activists met at the university centre and walked to the admin building where they staged a sit-in. They blocked enough members from the board of governors that the meeting actually had to be called off.
March 29, 2011 - Rachel Gurofsay, a member of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), leads students from the Unicentre to Robertson hall to protest Carleton University's investment in companies that SAIA claims are complicit in war crimes.
I’ve shot a lot of student protests, this was the most directed and organized protest I have ever seen. The above photo was used for the cover of the charlatan this week. The article can be found here but I also put together a web gallery of images here. And below is a fun crowd shot to give you an idea…
March 29, 2011 - Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) protesters chant slogans during a sit-in at Robertson Hall at Carleton University. The protest was held to protest Carleton University's investment in companies which SAIA claims are complicit in war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
As a final note. Metro news Ottawa called a day after the protest and asked if we had any pictures. The guy promised me, “Exposure and full credit,” which was great. I also inquired into whether or not there was a freelance budget, so they’ll be paying me. It was my first photo published in a daily newspaper! It was in the Print edition and online. The article with the photo is here. I’m not gonna lie, Thursday night (the photo was published Thursday) I walked home from school and passed about 15-20 empty Metro boxes. Free papers have pick-up and it was cool to think that at least for that day, lots of people were looking at my pictures….
A photographer friend once told me, “keep your ego in check and always remember, you’re only as good as your last photo.” Let’s say I’ve been a little cocky this week…
That’s all for now. Peace,
Adam Dietrich
Adam Dietrich 