The Occupy Wall Street movement is very lucky to have so many talented artists, writers and other professionals willing to step up and document the movement.
I found this wonderful portrait gallery that photographer Senén Llanos put up on the web and thought it would be welcome addition to the conversation here. Photographer Senén Llanos explains the impetus that brought him to Liberty Square:
"Occupy Wall Street" is a protest which began in New York and is now spreading across America. Many people are wondering who these protesters are, so I decided to document the people supporting the movement.
Some of the people photographed here have been in Zuccoti Park since the first week of the occupation, others are just visitors drawn to see the community that has been created in support of this movement.
Rather than go and snap some ordinary pics, I took along a huge 5ft diameter light box to capture isolated portraits of the people participating.
These are the people I met:
Enjoy.
All photos were taken this past Friday, October 7, 10:30 pm - 11:30pm at Liberty Square (nee Zuccotti Park). He says it was quite challenging shooting in that space with so many people walking around.
Indeed, he's stripped away the frenzied, chaos of Liberty Square (see my two photos below, also taken Friday evening) and brought the diversity and humanity of the participants in sharp focus. He's a very talented man.
It amazes me that Llanos could enter into such a crowded and busy space and capture images of such beautiful simplicity. He perfectly documents the zeitgeist of the people I have seen many times in my trips to the site. Very well done.
Senén Llanos shares these technical notes:
For this I had a friend helping me using a 5 feet octabox with a a grid, it provided with a truly beautiful light that highlighted their eyes in a wonderful way.
Much gratitude to the photographer for posting them to his site and granting permission for me to share them here.
Llanos biography from his website reads:
Autodidactic photographer. Graduated from the University of Puerto Rico in Computer Science, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the late ‘70s. Expert in portrait photography, celebrities, photojournalism of musical events and visual conceptualization. He’s been the photographer for numerous Magazines including Ocean Drive, Caras, Imagen and Dorado Magazine. Also, his great work has been published in various web pages such as PulsoRock.com, G-City and Heinekencity.com.
You can contact Senén Llanos at:
• Portfolio
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Facebook
• Vimeo
• YouTube
Below the fold, a handful of the 40-some of the portraits Llanos took and posted on his site. More can be found at the photographer's blog post.
The Faces of Occupy Wall Street