It's nearly been 4 years in the making since I first covered the #LaquanMcDonald outcry and subsequent #JasonVanDykeTrial in Chicago. (Thread)
The first time I was out was the second day of the initial protest in December of 2015. At the time I was shooting for the student newspaper The Herald for @HW_College.
Then later that month activists came out and shut down the magnificent mile during the hight of Christmas shopping.
I worked for the Chicagoist throughout 2016 and even though most would only remember it as an election year, activists rallied and asked the question did black lives really matter, because even though Jason Van Dyke was going through pretrial the names would just keep growing.
As a small aside I also got the great opportunity of going to a @VicMensa concert for Chicagoist and his #16shots song which helped keep Laquan McDonald in the public light as Chicago would brace for the election year.
Finally towards the end of 2016 activists would schedule a protest in front of CPD headquarters to talk about Laquan McDonald as well as the 600+ murders that had happened up until that point in Chicago.
Unfortunately, my 2017 would be centered completely around Trump and the protests that went on afterward throughout Chicago. At the time I and many others mistakenly thought that Chicagoans had either forgotten Laquan McDonald or let their rage dull.
Later in 2017, I would lose my job with Chicagoist and get a new job @Suntimes in 2018 where I would focus on the crime beat, however towards the later parts of the #JasonVanDykeTrial I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to finish a story that I had started years ago.
Is this the end of the Jason Van Dyke and Laquan McDonald saga? More in likely not, sentencing is set sometime at the end of the month. But as a visual journalist, it's not every day you get to see something to an end, you get tied up with another story or something like that.
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Chicago police are on scene for two people shot including 1 fatally in the 6200 block of South Artesian. #Chicago#ChicagoScanner
The shooting appears to have taken place in front of the Premium Good & Liquor corner store. The sign itself appears to have bullet holes in it. #Chicago#ChicagoScanner
For those looking to photograph Fireworks tonight follow these easy steps and you should get pretty good results (the steps mentioned will apply to consumer grade to professional DSLR's and Mirrorless cameras with manual settings). #FourthofJuly
First you will need the following.
- A DSLR or Mirrorless Camera capable of manual controls.
- A Tripod
- A cable release, or a wireless cable release, or app control of the camera using your phone.
Next get into location and set up your camera on the tripod and frame your image. I would recommend getting to the location as early as possible to get the best spot to frame your photos, and so you have a little light left to compose your images.
June as a month in Chicago had it's highest highs and it's lowest lows, but one thing that can be said about June was that for better or worse things are returning to normal in Chicago. #Chicago
Small gathering of people at Roosevelt and Columbus. People are demanding that the charges against Jeremy "Mohawk" Johnson are dropped. Johnson allegedly struck a police officer with a skateboard. #Chicago#ChicagoProtests
The group is about 50 strong are going over some chants and will be marching pretty soon. #Chicago#ChicagoProtests
People are moving westbound on Roosevelt police and protest marshals are helping block traffic. #Chicago#ChicagoProtests