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Tear-gas rains on firefighters – David Brabyn, 2004

26 July 2007

Tear-gas rains on firefighters – David Brabyn, 2004
Photographer since 2004, EPUk member since 2004

Firefighters drown in tear-gas in Paris as they clash with riot police near Place de l’Opera in Paris, 25 March 2004. Thousands of firemen demonstrated for better working conditions demanding that their job be considered as a dangerous profession, which would grant them early retirement.

This is the full extent of my war photography experience to date. There is a Reuters shot which shows me standing in the middle of the scene shooting as everyone else runs to get away from the tear gas raining down. The firemen were in full working costume – ideal rioting equipment – and had been enjoying fresh beers during the protest march across Paris that afternoon. They were understandably less than hesitant to confront the riot police. However in the end the underlying camaraderie between the police and firefighting corps prevailed and no-one was serious hurt.

David is a British-French freelance photojournalist working on news, portraits and features out of Paris (he also has a base in New York). His work has appeared in Time, New York magazine, The Times, Libération, BusinessWeek, the IHT, Paris Match, Le Nouvel Obs, Le Figaro, El Mundo and D Magazine amongst other publications. He has worked with AFP and SIPA photo agencies. He is currently affiliated to CORBIS. After studying politics and international relations, he lived and worked in Australia, Africa, South-East Asia, Central Europe and the Middle East. In 2005 he moved to New York to attend ICP. David has been photographing professionally since 2004.



Photographer since 2004, EPUK member since 2004.

See more work by David Brabyn

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