Yesterday I sat in my study, working with photos and schoolwork when I got a telephone call. Robin gave me a heads up about a demonstration going on in downtown Zürich, he knows that I like new photography challenges. Without a hesitation I grabbed my camera gear and took the first tram towards the city. When I arrived the protest march was just about to start walking. There had been a rally at the Rathaus, but now it was time to make their way to Paradeplatz, the Swiss capital center and the headquarters of many major banks. Located right at Bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping street, it was full of people shopping for Christmas gifts.
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Why the organizers decided that Paradeplatz was the place to be is really beyond me. The protest was all about the situation at the University of Zürich (that means, unrelated to the ETH at which I am enrolled), and now they wanted to show their disgust…with the banks? And if they didn’t lose enough credibility doing that, there was only one banner about the university issue. The rest was all red flags with stars and logotypes of leftist and communist groups. Talk about a failed protest.
Anyway, I’m not taking any side in the demonstration, my mission was to take photos. And there came a great opportunity, because as the march was just about to enter Paradeplatz several police vans raced to the scene and out jumped fully-equipped and armored riot police. Their intent to block the entry to the financial center was made very clear.
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As a photographer it is important to be observant of what is going on around yourself. Where is the action taking place? Which lens and which angle should I use in the current situation? Getting close to the action is crucial to get the best photos, and I made sure to do just that. In the above photo I stood just a few meters behind the police. Two seconds later I was thrust back into the crowd; I guess I stood in their way. It was alright – I already had my winner photo and was satisfied.
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The demonstration was eventually allowed to continue out to Paradeplatz. Here the left-wing demonstrators really got up to speed, and all I could see were communist slogans and waving red flags. The goal of being at Paradeplatz was apparently to block the trams and poke fun at the banks.
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I don’t think any of that contributed to their cause, upsetting hundreds of commuters (Paradeplatz is one of the most important junction points in the tram network) and requiring the above-mentioned large-scale police response. (It should be added that the demonstration looked peaceful, whether that was its nature or if that only was because of the power demonstration of the police remains unclear)
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So this was what I did to lighten up a grey Saturday afternoon. Among the lessons learned was that one needs more than one camera to document this such large events. One with a wide-angle lens, the other with a powerful zoom. Time spend on changing lenses is time lost. But, being an amateur I can only dream of such purchases and keep on rocking with the handy D80 camera I have.
