
Tim Dickinson’s “Ferguson, Uncensored”, is a photo essay with striking visuals from the scenes of Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson is the location of the death of Michael Brown, who was shot by Officer Darren Wilson during a physical struggle. The images of the aftermath of this event were taken by photographer Scott Olsen. Tim Dickinson in “Ferguson, Uncensored”, uses Olsen’s work on the ground to provide images that display perceptive shots and sharp contrast between the public and the police that convey the message that the protestors are the victims. 

In the first image to be analyzed, we are given a long shot that portrays the protestor with arms up to show surrender, faced by a police force who are aiming their weapons towards the civilian. With the long shot we get a full body image of the protestor and his surroundings. The emotional power of the image comes from the harmless stature of the protestor being matched by a police force carrying firearms and wearing extensive protective gear. Contrast in the image does not involve the color, but rather the demeanor and appearance of both parties. Here, the protestor is unarmed but is confronted with multiple firearms. The emotion in play here is fear.  Fear in that we as American’s will be suppressed for our beliefs, that we will be met with extensive and intense force. Olsen’s image with the protestor in a peaceful manner, unarmed, hands in the air, matches innocence, while the police in view have been demonized, and appear unhuman. On the U.S. post office bend read the words, “Fuck the Police”. These words reflect on the hostility that is present, the protestors are in clear confrontation with the police and the tensions are high, further evidence provided of this by the extreme measures and precautions taken by the police. Their excessive response is what Olsen and Dickinson have captured. If they respond to just one unarmed man in this manner, then how the general public expects their response to be with a much larger group of protestors will be a reflection of this image. The image shows that our fears can become a reality and that under similar circumstances we can  encounter similar response. It is a unifying thought amongst the people of the country that we are a nation of freedom. Taking away freedom, suppressing freedom and showing such actions, will spread fear that it could happen to the viewer. In order to prevent this, the viewer will be more willing to join the cause at hand, thus deeming Olsen and Dickinson’s collaboration successful. 

Olsen’s image here displays officers wearing gas mask and armed with militaristic gear. It is a medium shot that provides a view from the waist up. One officer is the focal point, where we can see him from the given view point and are able to get a partial view of his surroundings. Our view, while limited, still provides the ability to see rows of police officers, lined one after the other, each wearing gas mask, implying that some form of gas has been used. Tear gas, has been used throughout history in riot control situations, more notably during the civil rights movement here in the United States. This image is a throwback to that time period. It brings about the question, has there been any change? Did we really learn and improve? There are clear comparisons between Ferguson and the civil rights movement. Our comparison provided in the image above ties with similar responses protestors confronted during the movement, only modernized. The police have shown up in numbers and have attacked the citizens it is enlisted to protect. The reason this is an attack is because it has affected both the innocent and the lawbreakers. There has been no partisanship. The peaceful protestors have been treated in the same manner as the looters and rioters. The police above have been alienated, they don’t show remorse, their faces are covered, they are armed and they show no intentions of deciphering the good from the bad. Victimizing the innocent does not resonate well among the general public and is bound to bring in more outside support. The contrast here shows that the setting is at night time allowing viewers to see just how armed the police are. When captured  by the camera, the images can provide a biased viewpoint that can sway more aid to come to the side of the protestors.

 Olsen has capitalized on the scenes given to him in order to capture these moments and Dickinson has given Olsen’s image the platform needed to share clear contrast between the protestors and police. They have both produced an effective biased photo essay by sharing the images and giving some background information. Dickinson only provides text that supports his views, avoiding humanizing the police, but instead shows them as desensitized, while doing the opposite of the protestors and portraying them as the victims. Dickinson excludes images of protestors rioting and instead opts to show the peaceful side of them in order to gain support for his belief. The protestors are portrayed as the underdog and they never appear in the images in great numbers. Most of the times there are only one to two included, while the police are  shown in numbers except for the one image which depicts an officer staring down the scope of a rifle. This solo officer photo goes with Dickinson’s claim that “Unarmed protestors decrying the death of an unarmed black teenager have been ordered to shut up and sit down by white officers targeting them through the scopes of sniper rifles (173)”. Feelings of uneasiness arise from these words, being watched is unsettling enough, but this is not just being watched, this is a threat of life. Dickinson strives to make the protestors appear the victims and succeeds in doing so.

“Ferguson, Uncensored”, separates the protestors from the police by depicting them as a peaceful protest encountered by extreme force. It is a persuasive piece that plays on our emotions and ethics, more specifically our fears. Victimizing the protestors is achieved by Dickinson, which meets his goal.
