The image conveyed in Tim Dickinson’s photo essay “Ferguson, Uncensored” is one that takes the reader on a visual path that highlights the intense tension between the police/national guard and the minority population of Ferguson, Missouri. The photographer uses a long-shot camera technique in order to show a presumably unarmed African American photographer in the foreground with his back facing a POV shot of another camera, while the man looks on towards a unit of masked national guard members armed with non-lethal riot control weapons in the background. This film technique helps capture both the frightened viewpoint of the defenseless man with his hands up signaling that he is not a source of danger to the armed men, and the perspective of the National Guard who are in a war-like territory trying to diffuse a hostile situation that the community has labeled blame towards the police for instigating. The posture of the National guard unit implies that the soldiers are following military protocol in that they must be ready for any violent ambush situation that might occur. However, the setting of the image conflicts with the public’s view of unnecessary military interaction in an urban setting filled with unarmed protesters.

 The next place that the readers visual path is directed to is towards the right edge of the frame where a United States Postal Services mailbox reads “Fuck The Police” in graffiti. By accentuating this symbol in the image, Dickinson is trying to portray the alliance shared by the community of Ferguson, and that this body of people has a voice even though they are not directly presented in the frame. This addition to the image furthermore thickens the dividing line between the Black Lives Matter supporters and the police who are “supposed” to be protecting all citizens, including the unarmed minorities that have been falling victim to police homicide. When panning back over the frame as a whole, the long shot mixed with the POV-type angle places the reader in open section of the foreground, which makes the viewer feel like they themselves are targets of the aimed weapons. Also the mixture of these misplaced heavily armed national guard members in this urban setting creates an even greater shock in the eyes of the viewer.

The film techniques selected in the image Dickinson uses help to highlight the tension between police and minorities, but he also uses it to try and sway viewers/readers into aligning their beliefs to that of himself and the Black Lives Matter cause. When considering the texts narrative and composition Dickinson very clearly uses his voice to defend the protesters. His conscious stands with the unarmed minority man in the image, and therefore Dickinson uses the man as a symbol for the overlaying racial boundary that is created by the long shot/over-the-shoulder combination. This camera angle alone depicts a line of racial turmoil that can attest to embody a level of division that has created an oppressive system for minorities that modern day society has yet to fix. Dickinson also makes the claim that the protests only reached a criminal level of provocation and looting after the police displayed an unnecessary level of force. This over-the-top level of force is displayed in the image by the arsenal of weapons that the national guard members are touting in the background of the long-shot. With such a level of sheer force, it is enough to put fear in the hearts of any third person spectator that places themselves in foreground of the picture. The image represents Dickinson’s alignment with the Black Lives Matter movement by showing the peripheral symbol of the mailbox reading “Fuck The Police”. By directing the visual path to the right side of the frame Dickinson can implement the whole communities’ emotion towards the situation without including them in directly in the picture. The motif of the camera angles used by Dickinson does challenge preconceptions that non-minority viewers more than likely held before the reading. This is evident because the media only showed tapes of looting and violence but they did not cover any footage of police units scoping down unarmed minorities like the images Dickinson’s sources captured. This motif is implemented to show his readers that the people of Ferguson were only exercising their righteous grievances when they were met with an overwhelmingly harsh police response. When analyzing the name of the passage (“Ferguson, Uncensored”) with regards to the motif used in the image the viewer can comprehend how they work hand in hand. Dickinson is introducing the reader to the uncensored fear of weapons being pointed at the unarmed viewer, and he uses this image to challenge the one-sided spectrum that the media covered over the course of the incident. The police made an effort to limit the media coverage in Ferguson in order to show the general public a one-sided censored news story. These actions outraged the minority population and Dickinson is finally portraying a more accurate synopsis of the occurrences throughout “Ferguson, Uncensored”. This motif goes far beyond the physical aspects of the text and actually places the reader in the foreground of the shot. The image unexpectedly transforms the normally quiet and peaceful suburb of St. Louis into a shocking war zone. And the most powerful part of the picture is if a dividing line were to be drawn between the foreground and middle-ground it is not the minority outstepping his territory, but instead the heavily armed unit preparing to charge the unarmed man in order to “diffuse” the situation. And he captures such a viewpoint by showing the full bodies of both parties. After being placed in the foreground of this POV shot it puts the person viewing the photo on their heels, almost as if they should retreat. The motif used in this picture helps prove that when images implement certain camera angles it can provide the viewer with a greater emotional connection that provides more truth and meaning than most other forms of media. 