
Unease between law enforcement and protestors is something that has been covered on the news often and captured through photographs by many people. There are many different opinions that can come out of just one photograph of protestors and police officers. In Ferguson, Missouri, there has been controversy and uproar for the past few years, starting in 2014 with the killing of Michael Brown by a police officer. The unrest and tension in Ferguson, Missouri is greatly depicted in the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” photograph by Scott Olson through the relationship shown between the protestor and law enforcement and the small details of the photograph. 

The “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” photo of a protestor facing the police with his hands up clearly shows the amount of tension in the city of Ferguson in 2014, which is exactly what the photographer was trying to capture in this picture. Scott Olson wanted the nation to know not only about what had happened to Michael Brown but also about the protests that were going on. The overall theme of the picture is to show just how much unease there was in the city after the shooting of Michael Brown. The turmoil went on for months as the law enforcement of Ferguson tried to get the city back to the way it was, and to this day there is still some tension happening. The theme of unrest and tension has been captured in many other photographs and put together in a photo essay by Tim Dickinson called Ferguson, Uncensored.  

There are many details about the strain in Ferguson that are depicted in the photograph. Most eyes go straight to the Ferguson police when first looking at the picture because they are what the camera is focused on. When looking at the police, the audience sees gas masks and guns, two things associated with pain and violence. The police officers are also wearing full protective gear, looking almost as if they are going off to war. They were forced to wear so much protective gear as a result of the riots that were happening, not just peaceful protests. When looking at the protestor, the audience only sees the back of him. With his hands up, he looks almost like he is backing away from the police as they look to be walking towards him. There is a significant reason that the photographer decided to capture the back of this man and let the audience see the front side of the police officers. There is also a reason the photographer got a picture of an African-American protestor and all white police officers – all to show the racial tension between African-American citizens and law enforcement. The same instance could have happened between an African-American police officer and an African-American kid and there would have been no uproar in the city. There is also one big detail about this photograph that is important when viewing the two sides to be taken. On the mailbox to the right of the picture, someone vandalized and spray painted words on the side of it making it questionable as to whether the police or the protestors were doing wrong. Being a police officer and seeing what is written on the mailbox makes the audience speculate as to why the law enforcement was even helping the citizens of Ferguson.  All of the details of the photograph can cause different opinions depending on how you look at the photograph as a whole. 

This picture was taken by a journalist and photographer named Scott Olson but used by Tim Dickinson in Ferguson, Uncensored where Dickinson uses many of Olson’s photos to document the tension in Ferguson. Olson chose to direct this picture at the African-American community as well as other people who believe police brutality is happening in America. He did so by making the protestor in the photo seem innocent while the law enforcement are depicted as the bad guys, even though very few people know exactly what was happening at the time this photograph was taken as well as what had happened right before it was taken. While the controversy in Ferguson was mainly captured through still photographs, there were many things happening that weren’t released to the public in an effort to make the hostility seem worse than it was.

The emotional aspect of the picture appeals to everyone, but in different ways. There are those who are on the side of the protestor and those taking the side of the law enforcement. Anguish and sympathy could be felt for the protestor while animosity for the law enforcement could be felt. It could also go the other way for those who feel that the law enforcement is in the right in this photograph. No matter what side is taken, this photo definitely appeals to the emotions of the entire audience.

All of the pictures used in Ferguson, Uncensored can be viewed in different ways depending on the mindset of the viewer. This is a big reason as to why still photographs of protests can be misleading to those who do not know the full story. Overall, all of the elements of the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” photo contribute to the theme of turmoil and controversy but can also cause different opinions of who was in the right and who was in the wrong. 
