Injustice, conflict, and connection

Photography By Jonathan Fernandes

Photojournalist Jonathan Fernandes has been documenting social movements and protests all over the United States for the for the past few years. Jonathan opens up about his passion for resistance against injustice, getting tear gassed in Atlanta, and the idea of not seeing the perfect photograph but the perfect interaction.

New York City Metro Area, USA

How did you begin your journey as a photographer?

I started my photography journey post covid in a rather slow way. I had grown up in a Latino and Portuguese community in northern New Jersey where my friends just played soccer all day. I had two friends in particular, Bryan and Gabe, who I played soccer with from the ages of 10-17 almost everyday.

When covid hit, my entire world was left in a state of chaos. With no access to the physical activity and social interaction that soccer brought, I was forced to alter my way of interacting with the world. I first picked up a sketchbook and pencil, trying to make sense of things I saw around me by sketching them. I soon found that there was a barrier in my mind however, I couldn’t seem to find a way to really see things outside of their most basic form.

I had been hanging out with a friend of mine, Jerry, for a while. By the time I had started sketching and he was a big fan of cinema and photography, I began to think maybe I could try this medium as a way to engage with the area and people around me. My mom bought me a digicam for Christmas and it broke two weeks later. All my student loans went towards a Canon Rebel t7i and multiple lenses. After I took a few of my first photos, I knew I had found a way to see the world in a more complex rejuvenating manner.

What have you learned along the way?

I’ve learned a lot for sure; from the technicalities of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to how I approach photos and what they mean about the way I see the world and myself. I started my photo journey as someone trying to reimagine their life post high school graduation, as someone who didn’t know his identity besides of the cliche depressed teenager looking for meaning. I’m glad I was able to feel that way, that lack of meaning allowed me to adopt the camera as a tool for finding my path.

Over the last two years, I’ve gained the confidence to interact with others in a way that’s taught me so much about myself. When I ask someone for a portrait, take a candid shot, or do a photoshoot, it is not about the camera but the social and material dance between me, them, and everything around us; I allow myself to seek a genuine connection between my subject, the world, and I through dialogue. I do not seek the perfect photo but the perfect interaction. I've learned that I do not exist in a vacuum, I exist through everyone I've ever met and the influences they have left on me. I have learned that at heart I am longing for intimacy with others, and photography has allowed me to find that intimate touch.

Lots of your work focuses on documenting protests, marches, and other types of social movements. What inspired you to get into this?

I grew up in a very liberal and diverse community. My first real confrontation with politics was in 2016 with the Trump election win. It felt like a real shock at the time that someone like him could be president after all of the discriminatory remarks he had made. In the following years of his presidency, I was in high school and just going about life as any teen does, mindlessly.

However, towards the end of my sophomore year when I was 15, I had an English teacher named Mrs. O’Brien, who was a progressive who often talked about current events in class. At the time she would often speak about Bernie Sanders which piqued my interest. With the Democratic primary coming up in 2020, I began to be more politically conscious. I was reading articles on what was termed Democratic Socialism at the time but which was really Social Democracy.

I also had an encounter with the film, “The Motorcycle Diaries '' in my Spanish class that same year. By then I was on the Bernie Sanders wave strongly. This film, however, introduced me to Che Guevara and that there was an even further left spectrum in politics. If you aren’t familiar with the movie, It is based off of the diaries of Che Guevara as he traveled throughout Latin America with his friend Alberto Granada. This was before Che had ever met Fidel or become radicalized in any way. His exposure to injustices on this very trip helped push him left before his full radicalization. After being exposed to this film, I was reading the autobiography of Malcolm X, Marx and Engels, Huey Newton, Assata, etc. I had even joined a socialist organization named, “Silk City Socialists. '' in Paterson, New Jersey that performed tenant organizing and mutual aid. This was all before I even had a camera.

Tell the story behind one of your images.

Following October 7th, there was massive outcry in the media about the massacre of innocent Israelis. Many of us who have been involved politically for a time before this already knew what was coming: support from the U.S and the West for their proxy Israeli government allowing them to retaliate and force more Palestinians out of their rightful land.

Over the past months, organizations such as Within Our Lifetime, People’s Forum NYC, Jewish Voice for Peace, and others have hosted demonstrations against Israeli retaliation and the ongoing genocide. These protests have allowed me to create some of my favorite images. This photo here might not be as full of energy or abstract as my other photos, however it conveys a main point of contention with the NYPD and police in general.

At every protest I've been to, the NYPD and police in New Jersey have protected counter protesting Israelis and corporations like Mcdonalds and Starbucks. In this photo, a single police officer stands in front of Mcdonalds, which is currently being boycotted as they provide free meals to the Israeli defense forces. This helps highlight something that my other photos might not: The police serve the purpose of protecting capital and the current mode of production that we have fallen victim to in this period of history. Police are the enforcers of not just capital but also the culture that has been enforced, such as transphobia, racism, and Islamophobia; the police often out themselves at protests.

How Do you take pictures during protests?

When I am taking these photos at protests, I feel the need to be very cautious and look out for and think of many things: the settings I'm using, the angle I want, or if someone is acting hostile or could react in a hostile manner if I take their photo. I first try to think of what my subject would feel about having their face plastered on social media in the current surveillance state, where a photo of you perhaps doing something not completely legal can ruin your life at any time from now until your death. When it comes to those cases, I try to be more abstract and create an effect that might prevent identification. If the photo is identifying and feels incriminating, I will keep it for myself.

My thinking, photography wise, is often dependent on the light. I love my slow shutter in low light so I can create a more dramatic effect, however if it is during the day in harsh sunlight, I often look for maybe more intimate like slow moments, portraits, embraces, flags etc.

One of the most difficult things to navigate and most important is general hostility to media. Many do not want their photo taken at all; after all no one knows my intentions with the photo and I can’t read minds to know if they are okay with me taking a photo. With this line of thought, I simply try to read body language. If someone is acting hostile already and part of the protest, I will try to not be too direct and confrontational with my style, if perhaps they seem agitated I tend to stay away as well. However, when conflicts arise with counter protestors, I do tend to document these as well. I try to not paint my subjects in a bad light but many counter protestors of the protests I photograph can’t help themselves.

What are some highs and lows of this type of photography?

I would say it almost feels hard to look for highs in this type of photography. Protests are often about resistance towards injustice; when we feel something isn’t just, you can feel defeated. I guess in order to counter this kind of pessimism, we have to look for little moments. Over some of my protests, I often see the same photographers who I always feel a sense of connection with. At times even a simple conversation with a stranger that puts a smile on your face can feel euphoric. My favorite, however, is when music is involved. Music is always able to actualize joy. When people show out for Palestine and perform a dabke, there is nothing but joy for that small time period and a tremendous joy at that.

The lows seem to come much more often. I’ve been tear gassed, yelled at, and pushed; it can be a very intense atmosphere with everyone on edge. Many counter protestors can be quite hostile and my use of flash might not please everyone. At a Stop Cop City action in Atlanta, many protestors wore gas masks, goggles, helmets, etc. A clash with the police was expected and when Police blocked off a road while dressed down in full riot gear. As protestors pushed into the police, I was taking photos and suddenly heard a pop and a tear gas canister was in the air heading directly towards me. What could I do? I ran away. However, I was still in the vicinity and felt my throat begin to burn. Thankfully, I did not experience anything more extreme, but I did have the adrenaline rush of a lifetime.

Other experiences include being pushed and yelled at when getting too close to someone. I took photos at a protest on the same day as New York City Santa Con, where people dressed as Santa do a pub crawl. A protestor was engaged with one of these drunken people dressed as Santa. As I took photos, these people dressed as Santa Claus became irritated and weren’t very jolly so they began to yell at me and I definitely yelled back.

Which protest or Demonstration sticks out in your mind? Why?

If I had to pick one, it would be the Stop Cop City action In Atlanta. This took place on the 13th of November, 2023. My friends and I were in Atlanta for a documentary I will speak about later on. This demonstration was a pretty big part of this specific trip for the documentary so anticipation was high. However instead of excitement, I think I felt almost dread. The context behind this demonstration and the ongoing movement is that the city of Atlanta plans to build a 90 million dollar police training facility, which would need to be built by clearing forest and Atlanta’s biggest green space. Protestors have been defending the forest since the proposal in 2021. A protestor named Tortiguita was also killed by Police. The autopsy showed that they were most likely in a seated, cross-legged position when they were killed. My fear was less of getting shot but more of getting arrested and having R.I.C.O charges thrown at me similar to what has happened to other protestors. Those not familiar with R.I.C.O, these protestors were facing charges of domestic terrorism.

I knew this demonstration would be different and more intense. The protest was around 8 a.m so my friends were up nice and earl. When we got there, we saw gas masks, helmets, goggles; it was known among everyone at the protest, that this was going to be dangerous. After marching there and getting tear gassed as I mentioned before, our friend group split up. The videographer, Daniel, was separated from our now group of 3. He was thankfully fine, however the 3 of us had to walk almost an hour back to the car and had to pass a police officer and two veterans in military gear behind him, armed with assault rifles. I thought I was going to spend the night in jail. Thankfully it all went smoothly and I slept in a hotel instead.

You are currently filming a documentary. What is this about?

The documentary I'm currently filming is for Geese Magazine and focuses on the current culture war leading up to the 2024 general election. The magazine has quite a few members and the documentary crew has been a group of 4: Japhy, who handles interviews, Scottie who handles interviews and camera work, Daniel our main videographer, and I, who handles mainly back up videography and photography. We want this documentary to focus on the battle against transphobia, racism, attacks on abortion rights, and other things of the same nature. We see value in showcasing to the world the opinions of Americans on these cultural issues and what it means for our movement from here.

We’ve focused on 3 states so far. Our first was Virginia, where we went down to Danville, where our videographer Daniel grew up. We went down south not knowing what to expect really. The first day was pretty dull but heard of a confederate protest at the local museum that would be in a few days. The next day we ended up at a store called Trump Town that sold Trump memorabilia and was a former church that still looked like a church but covered in Trump flags and the like. We were able to film the shop owner and some customers and they talked to us about their issues with the woke left’s agenda. That was a very unique experience, however talking to a group of people with confederate flags the next day was even more unique. They were very hostile at first until opening up and explaining their inherently racist beliefs through some sort of southern hospitality lens. With that we were out of Virginia and onto Atlanta.

I already explained Atlanta as it was all about Cop City however we did get some interviews before the demonstration and the left’s fear of the police state and climate change converging together.

Now we’ve also been to Iowa as of recently for the Republican caucuses. At the time, the forecast was below 0 everyday with tons of snow on the ground. We took back roads with snow mysteriously leaping onto and smothering the vehicle every few seconds. We were able to make it into a few Vivek Ramaswamy rallies, where I was able to take a few photographs of him speaking. We also made it to a Trump rally, however the actual room where Donald Trump was speaking was at capacity and were stuck in the watch party downstairs. These trips for the documentary have taken me places I’ve never thought about before and allowed me to hear opinions I’ve never heard and probably never want to hear again.

What’s next for you?

This is a good question because it’s one I'm yet to figure out. In Highschool, I thought I would be a psychologist, then a labor or civil rights lawyer. Freshman year of College, I was certain I would become a professor in either Political or religious philosophy. I dropped out the next year.

Since then, my life has been defined by periods of build up, where ideas are formed and etched into the back of my head, only for them to spontaneously come to life in a second. The cycle continues as all of the major moments of my life have sort of just happened. As of now, I'm keeping my head down, working at Applebee’s and hoping to save up for a solo trip. I’m only 20 years old and I feel as if I've lived lifetimes. I look forward to meeting new people, experiencing new things, and taking more photos. If anyone would like to keep track of my journey, feel free my website https://jonathanfernandesphotography.com/ .