tech
January 21, 2026
The shot that got me a police beating: Rod Morris’s best photograph
‘After I took this, police officers bundled me into the back of a car and drove me to the local station where I was questioned for a long time. On the way out, they took turns to punch and kick me’
TL;DR
- The photographer won a competition in 1993, with the prize including a ticket to Chile, which led to a trip to Bolivia.
- He had an open-ended commission with the Financial Times to photograph financial areas in South American cities.
- The photograph was taken in La Paz, Bolivia, during the presidential campaign of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.
- The atmosphere in the city was tense due to the looming election and rumors about land sequestration.
- The subjects in the photo were likely queueing with their papers due to an approaching deadline.
- The photographer was approached by plainclothes police, taken to a station, interrogated, and had his film attempted to be confiscated.
- Upon leaving the station, he was physically assaulted by police officers.
- The photograph is part of his 'Still Films' series, which explores the interplay between cinema and photography.
- He values ambiguity in his favorite photographs, believing they should evoke narrative and transcending the frame.
- He prefers photographs that provide more questions than answers, reflecting his approach of arriving without foreknowledge or judgment.
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