Throughout the fifteen images compiled in the photo essay entitled, “Ferguson, Uncensored”, the decision to photograph the majority using a long shot technique created the greatest impact on the message Tim Dickinson had hoped to translate through the specific images he chose to include in this piece. By utilizing a long shot frame, the audience is clearly able to see the surroundings in which the photo takes place as well as other figures, often police officers, within it. 

In photos such as, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot”, the audience is shown a single black man with his arms held high walking toward a menacing group of armed police officers. If it were not for the use of a wide angle like the one a long shot utilizes, the entire message of the photo could be completely different. The man with his arms raised is portrayed through this angle as solitary; he is alone in his actions of standing up against the herd of police with their assault weapons pointed directly at him. This aspect of the image helps to depict the overall message of the photo essay, which is that there was an overwhelming police presence and abuse of power among cops within the town of Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown. 

Of the multiple other photographs that are captured using a long shot, the image titled, “Smoke in the Streets”, represents another strong example of how this choice of angle accurately portrays the message Tim Dickinson had intended on presenting through these fifteen controversial photos. The audience can immediately see that there is only one person in the frame and in his hand is a smoke canister, likely shot at him from police forces just outside of the image. The audience can also conclude that by the angle of the man’s arm and his forward-stepping leg, he intends to throw the smoke canister back into the direction in which it came from. The mist of smoke with the haze of blue police lights reflecting slightly off of the cloud surrounding the man, once again reiterates the sense of solitude the people of Ferguson feel when faced against a literal army of police officers clothed in resold military attire and equipped with snipers. 

The opening paragraphs Dickinson wrote introducing the subject matter depicted in the photo essay set the stage and the tone for the rest of the piece, illustrating the police as brutal and overreaching in their power, while also deliberately restricting information to the rest of the country while they continue to infringe upon the upset citizens’ constitutional rights. Dickinson mentions that journalists were often arrested for wandering outside of the designated reporters’ area because the police did not want anyone to see what was actually going on within Ferguson and the extent to which the situation had spiraled out of control. Not only were they denying reporters access to the truth, but citizens were also being arrested left and right- and not being released, unlike the many “fortunate” journalists were- for conducting peaceful protests. Despite the tremendous overreach of power by police illustrated within the essay, arresting people for peacefully protesting directly violates one’s rights as outlined in the Constitution, even still, these malpractices continued for the duration of the police occupation in Ferguson. 

When a photographer decides to utilize a long shot in order to capture a given image, it is not only intended to provide information to the audience regarding the location of the photo but more so to invoke a sense of isolation and to reinforce that the distance between the viewer and the subject, or subjects, of the image is far more complex than just a lack of physical proximity. Throughout the photographs that use long shot, the audience is able to grasp the same feeling of aloneness that the citizens of Ferguson felt while their town grew more militarized by the day as they remained without a force remotely close to the opposition they faced. By recognizing this struggle through the angles employed in many of the photos, the audience can clearly begin to understand not only the effect Dickinson wants the essay to have on its readers, but also the response he is yearning to receive from them. In short, the photo essay is a call to action. Dickinson has compiled the fifteen most moving and controversial images of the events in Ferguson, not so his audience can gawk and mope about the injustice that is taking place, but so they can be exposed to the malpractices occurring and take a stand against them.   

Beneath the photographs of this essay lie the grounds for the argument- or rather fact, given Dickinson’s compelling evidence- that police in some areas of the country are becoming more racist and brutal as they continue to overreach their power, and yet are somehow always justified in their actions as they generally suffer next to no consequences. Within each photograph included in “Ferguson, Uncensored”, evidence can be found to defend the argument Dickinson presents: the gear that officers wear, their heavy duty armor made not for small town patrolling but for military excursions, the assault weapons they carry. Nearly every aspect of the images hints at some sort of oppression felt by Ferguson’s citizens, and although some photos are able to capture a community attempting to come together in support of one another, it is quite clear that outside support is still needed, or would at least be greatly appreciated due to the trauma the town has experienced. 

“Ferguson, Uncensored” was meant as a wakeup call for the American people, the ones who luckily did not have to suffer in the same dire conditions as those in Ferguson were forced to endure following such as tragedy. The photo essay allowed an inside look into what the job description of “police officer” now means to some of the men and women who wear that title. When evidence such as that depicted in the essay is made readily available to the public, it would be a great injustice to allow similar violations of rights to continue by taking the road of inaction. No person, community, or town should be left to feel as if they must fend for themselves against an oppressive and malicious force when there are so many resources on the outside that are able to offer support and liberation from unjust practices. 
