Teachers on strike.
This was taken at the start of the day when teachers from all over the state were converging in Melbourne city, to protest about conditions and wages. The city was a sea of red shirts as 35,000 teachers travelled in, filling up train carriages, and walking in lines of red to a meeting point. Each school group seemed to meet at a different location, and as I walked past this group they all held up their signs for my photo. I did laugh that the signs were upside down.
This was a different protest from any I have done before. Given that teaching is a mostly female occupation, the protest was very upbeat with lots of cheering and raised fists, but no sense of the underlying anger that many other protests seem to project.
Taken on Olympus EM1 mk2, Olympus 12-100mm lens @ 66mm
F6.3, SS 1/400th sec, @ ISO 500.
8 comments posted
Richard Goldenberg
Hi Jen - Nicely captured photo of an interesting event. It is a bit puzzling as to why the protestors look so happy while they're marching to complain. Does the photo need to be rotated clockwise a bit? The steps seem a bit tilted. Posted: 04/06/2026 12:08:04
Jen Fawkes
Thanks Richard, yes I agree the steps are not quite straight, for once I'm not too bothered. And I agree the protestors look happy - this was taken before any congregation or activity, so the small groups from each school were meeting in different locations. At this stage the atmosphere was mostly excitment rather than angry or passionate. As I mentioned above, this was a very different protest from any I had done before. I think this was mostly because the majority of protestors were woman (female teachers) who would not normally be standing in the street seeking to be noticed.
Posted: 04/10/2026 01:04:33
Leslie Larson
I heard on the radio about this protest and some of the comments. You found a good angle without a lot of extraneous background distractions. They do need to get their signage under control. Posted: 04/06/2026 14:02:24
Jen Fawkes
Thanks Leslie, it was the signage that made me laugh, they weren't prepared for any photographed and just grabbed the signage when they saw me. Posted: 04/10/2026 01:05:19
Tom Brott
Jen, I have to agree that this seems to be a very happy group of protesters that wanted to be photographed. It is these spontaneous shots that usually produce the best results. Would cropping down from the top to eliminate the yellow and black cable help visually to straighten out the tilt in the image? Colors good and people are sharp. Camera settings look right on. Posted: 04/10/2026 13:24:34
Jen Fawkes
Hi Tom, yes I could crop down but this really doesn't bother me. I think it adds to the authenticity of the image. I try to not make my images to 'perfect', although I do like to have things straight! The story for me is about the signage, and the upside down signs. Posted: 04/14/2026 00:32:35
Christine Wong
Hi Jen, thanks for sharing such a "happy" protest photo :) I really like how you've captured that early, upbeat energy before things intensified. The smiles make you pause and wonder what's going on, which pulls the viewer in nicely. The upside-down signs are a fantastic detail that they add humor and spontaneity, and really emphasize that this wasn't staged or overly polished. It makes the image feel more human and true to the moment you experienced. Posted: 04/18/2026 07:48:12
Jen Fawkes
thanks Christine, they are lovely comments Posted: 04/18/2026 18:54:01
