"Flying Pig Coalition Rally"
"99 Pig Balloons"
About 2000 attended
The "Big Yellow Van" from NJ101.5
"Pigs Will Fly"...and they did
"Hey Corzine...No Toll Hike Stop Reckless Spending!"
"Oink if You Want Spending Cuts"...and they did
"Stop Spending"
"Hey Corzine...Cut the Pork and Send Those Pigs Flying!"
"The Shell Game...Everybody Loses!"
"King Jon...You Roused the Rabble"
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I don't want to go too much into the politics of it here, but on Friday at noon there was a "Flying Pig Coalition" rally protesting Gov. Jon Corzine's toll hike plan to address the fiscal mess NJ is in. It was held on the Statehouse steps in Trenton NJ. The rally was sponsored and organized by NJ101.5 "Jersey Guys" and Jim Gearhart.
New Jersey's fiscal house in in absolute shambles due to wasteful spending, bloated government, and corruption among other things. None of which has been addressed with this plan. The middle class, myself included, is being forced out of the state due to the outrageous taxes and cost of living here in NJ. Even if you make a low 6 figure income you struggle to live here, and that is just wrong. 8000 NJ citizens are fleeing the state every month. We, Mark and I, will be among them if things don't change soon. We are making our exit plans. We simply cannot afford to stay here.
For more on what the rally was about look at this link for the "Flying Pig Coalition".
As for the photos, this was really my first taste of "photojournalism". It is quite different from what I am used to doing. It is very fast paced and a bit chaotic. I used an approach to it that I wouldn't ordinarily use in any other situation, but it proved to work fairly well. I set the camera menu to "Auto ISO" and set the limits to ISO 1600 (it never needed to go that high) and the shutter speed minimum to 1/100 sec. and shot full Program mode so I could get the shots quickly. I would have liked a little less DOF in some of the photos (the artistic side of me was bothered by that). The only ones I lost using these settings were shots where people or signs got into my field of view as I snapped the photo. While it wasn't the most "creative" in terms of photography, it was definitely fun, and the rally was a big success. It ended with the release of 99 pig balloons.
I have added the following video courtesy of Gellman Images.
New Jersey's fiscal house in in absolute shambles due to wasteful spending, bloated government, and corruption among other things. None of which has been addressed with this plan. The middle class, myself included, is being forced out of the state due to the outrageous taxes and cost of living here in NJ. Even if you make a low 6 figure income you struggle to live here, and that is just wrong. 8000 NJ citizens are fleeing the state every month. We, Mark and I, will be among them if things don't change soon. We are making our exit plans. We simply cannot afford to stay here.
For more on what the rally was about look at this link for the "Flying Pig Coalition".
As for the photos, this was really my first taste of "photojournalism". It is quite different from what I am used to doing. It is very fast paced and a bit chaotic. I used an approach to it that I wouldn't ordinarily use in any other situation, but it proved to work fairly well. I set the camera menu to "Auto ISO" and set the limits to ISO 1600 (it never needed to go that high) and the shutter speed minimum to 1/100 sec. and shot full Program mode so I could get the shots quickly. I would have liked a little less DOF in some of the photos (the artistic side of me was bothered by that). The only ones I lost using these settings were shots where people or signs got into my field of view as I snapped the photo. While it wasn't the most "creative" in terms of photography, it was definitely fun, and the rally was a big success. It ended with the release of 99 pig balloons.
I have added the following video courtesy of Gellman Images.
Labels: flying pig coalition, New Jersey, people, photojournalism, Politics, Street Photography
posted by Laurie at 11:25 AM
11 Comments:
Excellent photojournalism, Laurie. I'm glad to see the populace raising heck about their taxes getting flushed away to pay for bloated government. Funny how the government never thinks to make do with less, like they expect the taxpayers to do by ponying up higher taxes. We need to do the same here in PA.
Photojournalism is fun, isn't it?
You did a nice series of this event!
I really love the first image... cute,cute,cute!
Wonderful coverage of this event, great photos! I live in NJ, too. Cannot plan to retire here, just not possible!
Great coverage, Laurie. When I read about the government wanting to raise taxes instead of fix spending, it was no surprise at all. I wish that I could go in and ask the boss for a raise every time that I needed more money! Sweet! :-)
Regarding your camera settings, perfect. No time to be trying to fiddle with stuff while the action is happening.
Great photojournalism!!! Great set of images ... fantastic coverage of the event!
Perhaps you have found a new career Laurie. These photojournal pictures are terrific. You told the story and got the message across.
interesting
Such a nice combination of the pink pigs! the second one shows the atmosphere very well!
Really Great set Laurie, i love the first one, very graphic! Super Bravo!
Good series of images. You really captured what was going on.
My favorite is the first tightly cropped image. It's a good series -- street journalism at its finest. Nice job!
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