Category: Photographs from the Exhibition

Demonstrator Holds Sign While Awaiting Visit by US Attorney General John Ashcroft
National Constitution Center
Circa 2003
Jim MacMillan

This picture seems to be getting the most reaction from people I know who have seen the exhibition so far. It was taken was around the time when Ashcroft was advancing the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, sometimes called Patriot II, after the 2001 Patriot Act. I don’t remember exactly why he was visiting on this day.

I drove past the event to check for protesters and I didn’t think this was much of a picture — so, I didn’t even stop to get her name or story — but a print resurfaced while I was preparing this collection and I decided to include it. Calling someone a fascist was more unusual back then and I like how the sign juxtaposes with her outfit.

From the exhibition:

Portraits of Philadelphia: Photographs by Joseph V. Labolito and Jim MacMillan, 1981-2023

On exhibit through March 31, 2024 | more info
Talk and reception: December 8, 2023 | free tickets

Update

Sarah Glover, Vice President for News and Civic Dialogue at WHYY, will moderate the panel discussion. She is also a former staff photojournalist at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer.

Partner

I am honored to share this exhibition with Joseph V. Labolito. Visit: labolito.com

About the exhibition

In this exhibit, we explore the images of two photographers, Joseph V. Labolito and Jim MacMillan, as they traveled around Philadelphia. Both captured unique human experiences, whether it was Labolito documenting neighborhood life or MacMillan following protestors marching through the streets. The contrast of the two photographers’ work as they moved about the city can be clearly seen in their photographs. While Labolito’s photographs in black and white are purposefully framed and occasionally posed, MacMillan’s color photographs were captured quickly and candidly in a way only a news photographer can. Both were trying to capture a fleeting moment in the city.

By creating a mixed gallery of their work, the viewer is surrounded by the city through their eyes. Combining images from these two collections, both recently donated to the Special Collections Research Center, we aim to demonstrate how everyone has a different perspective of the city they live in, and how two completely opposite experiences could happen right around the corner from one another. The viewer moves through the exhibit as an experience, surrounded by images of the city they may or may not remember, as the city is ever evolving.

Exhibit production by Brenda Galloway-Wright and Ann Mosher, Special Collections Research Center

Location

Charles Library at Temple University
1st Floor Exhibit Space
1900 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Hours | Parking and Transportation

About me

My usual home page will return after the exhibition but until then I will post any new photos here: Course of Life

Drummers Lead Women’s March
Benjamin Franklin Parkway
2017
Jim MacMillan

This was one of the first events where I used a new approach of raising my little digital Canon pocket camera over my head with a selfie stick and and then zooming, framing and firing the shutter with my iPhone.

News photographers will climb almost anything to get a little altitude over a crowd, such as a newspaper box or a fire hydrant, but you don’t always find them right where you need them and I was really pleased with myself when I figured this out.

I wasn’t yet familiar with the Batala Philly drummers, who you see at the front, but I learned a little more about them after I spotted the another local group last year in Athens, as you can find on my bio page.

From the exhibition:

Portraits of Philadelphia: Photographs by Joseph V. Labolito and Jim MacMillan, 1981-2023

On exhibit through March 31, 2024 | more info
Talk and reception: December 8, 2023 | free tickets

Update: Sarah Glover, Vice President for News and Civic Dialogue at WHYY, will moderate the panel discussion. She is also a former staff photojournalist at the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer.

Partner

I am honored to share this exhibition with Joseph V. Labolito. Visit: labolito.com

About the exhibition

In this exhibit, we explore the images of two photographers, Joseph V. Labolito and Jim MacMillan, as they traveled around Philadelphia. Both captured unique human experiences, whether it was Labolito documenting neighborhood life or MacMillan following protestors marching through the streets. The contrast of the two photographers’ work as they moved about the city can be clearly seen in their photographs. While Labolito’s photographs in black and white are purposefully framed and occasionally posed, MacMillan’s color photographs were captured quickly and candidly in a way only a news photographer can. Both were trying to capture a fleeting moment in the city.

By creating a mixed gallery of their work, the viewer is surrounded by the city through their eyes. Combining images from these two collections, both recently donated to the Special Collections Research Center, we aim to demonstrate how everyone has a different perspective of the city they live in, and how two completely opposite experiences could happen right around the corner from one another. The viewer moves through the exhibit as an experience, surrounded by images of the city they may or may not remember, as the city is ever evolving.

Exhibit production by Brenda Galloway-Wright and Ann Mosher, Special Collections Research Center

Location

Charles Library at Temple University
1st Floor Exhibit Space
1900 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Hours | Parking and Transportation

About me

My usual home page will return after the exhibition but until then I will post any new photos here: Course of Life

Antiwar Demonstrators March Toward City Hall
North Broad Street
Circa 2003
Jim MacMillan

I don’t exactly remember this march but I do remember covering numerous antiwar marches in Philadelphia during the days leading up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. I usually resisted filing pictures of people holding signs, partly because word editors always liked them so much, but I made an exception this time for some reason. I like that I can see part of the white facade of the old Daily News building in the background.

This photograph was captured with a digital camera, probably a Nikon D1H and and 80-200 Nikon zoom lens, though I usually would have cropped it form there to clean up the edges and straighten the horizon. I found this metadata attached to the file: Several groups totaling about 1,000 high school and college student peace protesters marched through Center City Wednesday. Date: 3/5/03, Time: 4:54:12 PM, Shutter: 1/640, f:4.0, ISO:500, lens:80.

From the exhibition:

Portraits of Philadelphia: Photographs by Joseph V. Labolito and Jim MacMillan, 1981-2023

On exhibit through March 31, 2024 | more info
Talk and reception: December 8, 2023 | free tickets

Partner

I am honored to share this exhibition with Joseph V. Labolito. Visit: labolito.com

About the exhibition

In this exhibit, we explore the images of two photographers, Joseph V. Labolito and Jim MacMillan, as they traveled around Philadelphia. Both captured unique human experiences, whether it was Labolito documenting neighborhood life or MacMillan following protestors marching through the streets. The contrast of the two photographers’ work as they moved about the city can be clearly seen in their photographs. While Labolito’s photographs in black and white are purposefully framed and occasionally posed, MacMillan’s color photographs were captured quickly and candidly in a way only a news photographer can. Both were trying to capture a fleeting moment in the city.

By creating a mixed gallery of their work, the viewer is surrounded by the city through their eyes. Combining images from these two collections, both recently donated to the Special Collections Research Center, we aim to demonstrate how everyone has a different perspective of the city they live in, and how two completely opposite experiences could happen right around the corner from one another. The viewer moves through the exhibit as an experience, surrounded by images of the city they may or may not remember, as the city is ever evolving.

Exhibit production by Brenda Galloway-Wright and Ann Mosher, Special Collections Research Center

Location

Charles Library at Temple University
1st Floor Exhibit Space
1900 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Hours | Parking and Transportation

About me

My usual home page will return after the exhibition but until then I will post any new photos here: Course of Life