Trump Terrorizes Title Town

Yesterday, Donald Trump made an appearance here in Valdosta for a rally event before Super Tuesday.

I went as a citizen journalist equipped with a couple of cameras. Unfortunately, I was denied access to the event because my cameras were "too big." I had no real interest in the event, but I wanted to document it. It was a private event and they have every right to do it, but as I told the rude campaign staffer, instead of documenting Trump, I would be documenting the protests and behind-the-scenes action outside.

Here are some of my results. Commentary to follow.

Being outside, I was able to see what the real story was. Trump touted that there was over 10,000 people outside who couldn't get in. That was not true at all. When the doors closed and no one else was let through, the number outside was roughly 1,000, maybe 1,500 tops. About half immediately turned around and left. This comes as no surprise as when I was walking around I saw many people who were simply there to see the spectacle, not actually support Trump. There was of course a large contingent of supporters there, most of whom got in early.

The protesters at their designated spot had many signs and cheered as people honked going by. It's too bad they were not seen by more people waiting to get in. Some people discussed ideology and recent events. As I mentioned to one protester, a dialogue is more important than epithets.

Many people are talking about the group of students led out of the rally before it started. I saw these students in line. They were all dressed in black and in my opinion were certainly there to make a statement. Unfortunately it was a private event and they can eject anyone they want, or not let them in, like me!

Much of the town just stayed away and wanted nothing to do with the event or the traffic snarl. Classes were even cancelled for some students. This event disrupted the entire city!

I am very curious to see how Super Tuesday goes. More photos to come later.

EDIT: I was going to do another post with more photos but I decided to add the last few here:

As an aside, these images were taken with either my Linhof MT and 150mm f/2.8 Xenotar or Pentax 67II and 55-100mm f/4.5 lens. 4x5 images were either HP5+ dev'd in Acufine or Portra 400, while 6x7 images were Tri-X dev'd in SPUR HRX or Fuji NPH-400.