COP15 Frustrations and opportunities

(Copenhagen, Denmark) The UN Climate Conference, COP15, is huge. It is a place full of opportunities for photographers. But also full of frustrations and pitfalls when pros and amateurs alike compete over the same pictures and protesters, trying to outdo each other, crop each other out of pictures, physically block each other, and get THE picture.
As many photographers I too gravitate towards trouble. I have photographed demonstrations for about 20 years, so this is what I do. But COP15 sets a new and strange standard for me. It is the first time I have felt there are so many people out there with cameras, falling over each other, sometimes outnumbering the protesters, that I wonder what the hell I am doing here. Obviously I am trying to make a living doing something I do reasonably well, but there is less of a feeling of being very useful as journalist here. Every conceivable angle will be covered by classic media, as well as by the citizen selfpublishing generation, CSG. If I were to go home, me or my pictures would probably not be missed. In some instances it is just silly: At one point a single loudmouth was able to attract a sea of cameras (top), not because his actions or words were much to report on, but simply because all the photographers present were so pumped up and ready for action. Before or after COP15, no self respecting photographer would have wasted a single pixel over this.

But it isn't only us photographers who aren't thinking straight. The police suddenly came up with the notion that by having protective gear like helmets and gas masks, journalists could be responsible for escalating the protests. That's a new one! Having covered small protests, armed conflicts and things in the middle, it was the first time I've had my safety gear confiscated and given partly blame for the trouble I've come to report on. After a chance meeting with a Danish reporter on the spot, telephone calls to other media and some twittering, it seems the phones started ringing at the Danish police HQ too. And someone had a think about what they were doing. About an hour after we had our gear taken, it was handed back to us by apologetic low ranking police officers who were, not surprisingly "only doing their job and following orders". Hmmm...where did we hear that clever argument before..?

But let me share more than frustrations with you. COP15 is a great place to enjoy people watching (and people photographing), and see unexpected and ironic things . Like the climate protesters dropping out of the demonstration to buy junk food at the Shell station! Or the the anti capitalists protesters who chain-support the tobacco industry while trying make cunning plans to target the evil multinational corporations.

COP15 continues for another few days. Despite the above frustrations I think I might be able to get some useful shots. Even if I fail, let's at least hope the politicians succeed!